Horses And Wolves

Recently I read a magazine article that really ticked me off. Then I read another magazine article that was full of information that I found to be really informative. I think I'm about to get a little political here. (That's a warning)

The first article I read was in a sporting magazine that Hubby subscribes too. The Article in question is called Big Bad Wolves Pt 2. I was horrified to read in that article that there are those out there who still think of the wolf as a nuisance. They think that shooting wolves is an expedient way of helping their survival rates and that they are a deadly and dreadful threat to human lives. This article astounded me with its deceptive stupidity. I just felt I had to say something.

So here is what I have to say and please remember that I am no expert.... if the subject interests you I suggest you find out the facts. Don't take my word or the word of the author of the above article as fact. This is just MY opinion.

I have always had a great respect for wolves and think they are a beautiful and thrilling species. I have had very little interaction with them usually in the form of hearing distant calls while I sleep peacefully in a campground. I am of the philosophy that the more diverse the planet's species are, the better and healthier our planet's ecosystem is. A few years back Hubby and I and the girls and our two dogs were hunted by a pack of wolves. It was the most thrilling experience I have ever had in my life. I will never forget it and I would never change it for one moment. We were never in any serious danger so that probably makes a difference. I do not hold it against the wolves that they were hunting us. The situation arose because they picked up the scent of our dogs after we had been hiking on a trail and so they followed that scent in to our campsite. We were in our tent trailer in bed and heard them coming, howling in triangulation for a good half hour as they moved closer. they were on the same trail that we had taken earlier in the day and since we were the only campers in that park at that time we knew they were after us. They sat around our tent trailer and probably hoped that they would be able to coax one of our dogs out of our campsite but since both of them were in the trailer with us and we follow very strict safety rules about putting food away in our vehicle where it can't encourage foraging from wildlife, we felt quite safe the whole time.

There are those in this world who believe that species such as wolves and coyotes and bears are nothing more than a nuisance because they prey upon domesticated beasts such as chickens, cattle, and sheep. They feel that the best way to survive and co-habitate is to hunt these animals and keep their numbers controlled so that they pose less of a threat to human survival.

This is where the other article comes into play. In my most recent Spin-off magazine there is an article about spinning wolf fibre and the author sites some statistics which I cannot find any problem with (and believe me I have looked). There she says that there were over 250,000 wolves in the US alone before European contact. By the 1960s that number had been reduced to around 500. With diligent care and a reintroduction of wolves from Canada the number has now increased to about 5000. Now if I have my numbers right then that is a mere 2% of the original population. To me there is something wrong with that picture especially when I read in sporting magazines that, and I quote, "True environmentalist/conservationists are hunters, trappers, and anglers, not the feel-good, save-the-world, haven't-got-a-clue crowd who have yet to realize that when they bought into the beliefs held by the protectionist regime, they added to the dangers associated with large carnivores habituating to human environments. A hunted wolf is a wolf that will successfully coexist with humans."

That just steams my pajamas. These hunter types who profess to be doing the farmers a service by taking out the problems of loss of dollars due to wolf/coyote kills of livestock are delusional. Yes wolves and coyotes do kill livestock,and God knows that given the opportunity a hungry predator will chomp down a human given the right circumstances. It is their way of eating and surviving. That does not give us humans the right to wipe out their numbers. Wolf hunts often run a muck and this species cannot re-assert itself to healthy numbers if not given the chance. 5000 compared to 250,000 is not healthy numbers in my estimation.

I am a member of a Yahoo group called Canspin and recently there have been discussions of spinning wolf fibre since the article in Spin-off magazine has generated many comments. Wolf fibre is not readily available as you can imagine. They will not stand to be sheared and so the fibre must be gathered from the wild where wolves dens are littered with sheddings or from wolves that for whatever reason are held in captivity. I am lucky to own a Wolf/Husky cross dog who still carries a lot of the traits of the wolf in her. She does not eat my lambs when they are out on the grass grazing, and as a matter of a fact, she paroles the perimeter of our property keeping watch over our sheep. She has chased away coyotes from our ducks when we had them and chickens even now. She has chased off foxes and cares for our animals as if they are part of her family. She has wonderful fibre to spin and though she is half dog she reminds me daily of how important it is not to lose wolves from the genetic pool of diverse species on this planet.

What it comes down to, in my opinion, is that wolves should only be hunted in extreme circumstances, where they are a direct threat to children's play areas....or when occasionally they become a constant nuisance (which is usually due to ill health). Farmers should not have the right to indiscriminately kill them. There are methods of keeping safe, herds of cattle and other livestock and these methods should be utilized fully before we get our testosterone flowing and start racing out the door with guns roaring to eliminate the threat of wolves.

Now about the title of this blog.... well you understand the wolves part.... but here's where horses come into it...

Daughter #1 has finally gotten her long wanted horse. We have bought a lovely 17 year old well broken mare named Dreamer for her. She is lovely. Daughter #1 is over the moon. Hubby and I are happy that she is happy.