It is people like the man that wrote this letter to a Redding Paper…. Art Isberg, that speaks of wolves obviously out of Narrow Minded fear….
I have to say all I could do is shake my head and laugh while reading your recent piece about “wolf management plans” in California, now that these apex killers have made it into the state.
Anyone who knows anything about game animals and the predators that prey on them warned this would happen long ago. I was one of those and did several pieces in national outdoor magazine predicting it. It took no genius to foresee.
The piece says flagging fences with material of some kind waving in the breeze is thought to turn wolves back. That is pure bunkum. It also states ranchers and livestock people should hire full-time “herders” to watch after cattle and sheep. That is another load of baloney. No one in that business has the funds to do anything of the kind.
But I will tell you with certainty what will happen. All you have to do is look to western states where wolf packs are growing leaps and bounds and their effect on big-game animals.
Wolves spread fast. Ask the wildlife departments of Idaho, Montana and Wyoming, all of whom came out against the wolf reintroduction into Yellowstone Park by the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service. They also grow their numbers equally as fast. As their numbers grow, adult males move out tens and hundreds of miles to establish new packs of their own.
Wolves hunt in numbers, not just single animals one on one against big game. California’s mule deer numbers are down and have been going down for years. Wolves will take those numbers even further. Elk in Northern California are spread thin over a large area. Wolves will move into those areas and reduce their numbers. Blacktail deer, the most popular big game in this state that hunters pay for to help propagate, will also go down, not to mention mule deer and elk we pay to support.
Ranchers and livestock workers are told they can’t shoot wolves harassing their cattle, sheep or goats, not to mention farmyard fowl and other farm animals. They are also told they can’t run off wolves that move in to attack domestic stock. This lunacy is supported by the California Fish & Wildlife Department.
Decisions by this state agency come as no surprise to California hunters who largely view them as anti-hunting. Gov. Jerry Brown picks and chooses who will serve on the Fish & Wildlife Commission. Is it any wonder who they support and who they do not?
Maybe ranchers can stand and shout at wolves, keeping them off their animals. I’m sure it’s just a matter of time before they outlaw that, too.
This is not 1816 or even 1916. Wolves will have a negative impact on big-game animals in this state while hunters pay the price to feed them. There can be no other outcome. It’s just that simple.
The time has long since passed listening to sentimental baloney about how wonderful it is to have these top-end killers working over reduced numbers of big game.
Art Isberg lives in Redding.
Source: Art Isberg: Wolves will become a bigger problem in California