A quick rant · 12:08am Jan 19th, 2013
First off, I must apologize for subjecting you to this, but I have to get this out of my system.
On New Year's Eve, some fuckwit decided it would be funny to cut through a fence at the Haliburton Wolf Reserve. This allowed four wolves to escape, two of which have since been shot and killed. It's important to note that these wolves were still essentially wild; they received no human contact, and people could only observe them through a one-way mirror. They still possessed a fear of humans, and as such there was no need for them to be killed.
After formulating various schemes to torture/execute/creatively murder the guy who broke in (which included dipping him in honey, flying him down to Honduras, and jamming him headfirst into an army ant nest, where he'd likely die of anaphylactic shock after a few thousand bites), I realized there was a more serious issue. And that is that people still seem to think wolves are some sort of ruthless killing machine, fit only to be shot on sight.
Seriously? That's a mindset that stems from the bloody Black Plague, which if I recall correctly was seven hundred fucking years ago. You know what a wolf's first instinct when it sees a human is? Run in the opposite direction. Sure, it's an apex predator and all, and certainly capable of messing you up, but that's only if you decide to piss one off, or are stupid enough to trigger its hunting instincts.
I recall that about eight years ago, we were woken up in the night by a rapid chorus of gunshots. Before that, hearing wolf and coyote howls was a fairly common occurrence. But after that night, we didn't hear any. We could only conclude that some local farmers or something had lured them in and exterminated them. And you know what happened after that? The rabbit population exploded. For the next two winters, they were bloody everywhere. And, of course, they devoured most of the low-lying greens, which included new tree shoots and the local gardens. After that, the township realized something had gone wrong and brought a few wolves in. The population still hasn't recovered, but at least now we can hope to hear that mournful howl again.
But I digress. The main point of the rant is this: if you hear anyone mouthing off about wolves, do me a huge favour and punch them in the face. Because they're fucking awesome. And I'll be fucking damned if I let that happen quietly.
Admittedly, there's not much I can do right now. Most people won't even listen to me until I get my bachelor's degree. But just humour me for a moment here and let me pretend that with even my limited resources, I can make some sort of difference.
Edit: The wolf reserve has now offered a $3,000 reward for information leading to the guy who let the wolves out. Me and my father have donated a hundred dollars to increase the reward, and have challenged others to do the same. With luck, someone who knows the guy responsible will be tempted and come forward.
On topic response: I probably won't have to do that. Most people I know think wolves are awesome.
On topic questions: Does anyone you know near you have small pets or animals, or children who could have been endangered by the wolves? Was there no effort to try and tranquilize and then relocate the wolves instead of pacifying them permanently?
Slightly off-topic question: Do you live near or on a farm, or are you otherwise close to a large open area?
Well said. Thanks for posting this. Hopefully the human population will stop being so goddamn stupid (in general, there's some hope out there I'm sure).
...
Okay that was the optimist in me, the cynic in me is telling me "bullshit the world's royally fucked and you know it." 3 CHEERS FOR WOLVES!
725314 First off, this in in Haliburton. Two and a half hour's drive from where I live, and otherwise known as the middle of bloody nowhere. The wolves were not killed by reserve staff, who are making a huge effort to locate the other two and safely bring them back. They were shot by some random gun-toting assholes who probably thought they were good sport.
Also, I live about half a kilometer from several open fields, which probably total a few hundred acres.
725324
I see. From the way you described the event alongside the coyote incident, I'd thought that this happened near where you live. Oops.
I didn't mean to imply that the wolves were killed by the preserve staff; rather, I just found it odd that those whose defense policy is "shoot first, ask later" or otherwise intended the wolves harm had found them first. Unless of course, the wolves had wandered on to someone's property, which could explain it.
I wish you luck on your endeavors to do some right amid all these wrongs. Keep us posted.
As an environmental science major and amateur biologist, I can say that wolves are an essential part of the balance in ecosystems. Like you said with the rabbit explosion, the same happens with deer and such. This leads to overgrazing and can collapse entire ecosystems. As humans move into wolf territory, they are only acting out of instinct and a natural balance. I completely agree the idea of wolves as bad is old fashioned.
What is your bachelor's going to be?
GODDAMNIT! I have always loved wolves! Really if this had happened near me I would've found my bloody kitchen knife and hunted those bastards down.
Good thing it didn't happen near me. I don't like the idea of jail where fights are always fair or a gang beatdown.
Off topic: Yay, you're still alive!
`Undeaddade
725368 Bachelor of Science, major in Environmental Biology. So obviously we're on the same page here.
725382 And no, I'm not alive. This is a carefully programmed AI designed to emulate me.
Oh, I adore wolves. All I'd need to do to complete my life is pet one.
It sucks that some of those that escaped were shot, and I hope the rest are either recovered or at least not killed.
It is too late for this world, so do not worry about it. Just do whatever while shit dies
726567 You know, that's the exact attitude that's causing the majority of the world's problems. Just the fact that humanity's had an effect on the world shows that we can fix everything that we've cocked up. You can make a difference. All you have to do is get off your lazy ass and actually do it.
Do what you want. Pah! Even if this world's screwed, you can be sure I'll be fighting tooth and nail the whole way, if for no other reason than to compensate for people like you.