The White Mountains of Arizona are a rugged range that extends across central Arizona and into New Mexico. These mountains are beautiful, and elevations can reach over 11,000 feet. Alpine is a tiny little town tucked into a mountain valley. It seems that the locals there have taken up torches and pitchforks against the federal government and the wolf reintroduction program. Again. This program has been fought over for years, and there are many facets to both sides of the argument.
The presence of wolves, who are responsible for the killing and
harassment of livestock, is resulting in “despair, fear and
hopelessness” in the rural community, she said. Wolves are also
responsible for lowering the quality of beef. “Consumers demand high
quality meat, the product of gentle handling, a low stress lifestyle.
Growing up in a den of predators is not conducive to choice beef.”
Many speakers described U.S. Fish and Wildlife
Service, the architects of the wolf reintroduction program, as a failed
agency. Patrick Bray, Executive Vice President of the Arizona
Cattlemen’s Association, said Fish and Wildlife “has stalled out. I
think it’s safe to say the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has failed at
this program. It seems the only way we can manage this program is by
dragging our feet.
“The sad thing about the wolf program now is that it
is not managed by science and common sense, it’s managed by politics and
lawsuits.”
You can read more
here.
Watching the wolf controversy unfold over all these years, first as a resident of the area and now as an internet onlooker, I'm struck by how a few wealthy ranchers have galvanized and organized the locals into this rebellion of federal policy.
ReplyDeleteThe locals have nothing to gain from banning wolves; only the ranchers, who run their cattle on federal lands (oftentimes to the detriment of the locals, who are discouraged from enjoying the land because of the heavy-handed way the ranchers guard their leaseholds).
Is this how the wealthy planters of the American south persuaded ordinary citizens to take up arms against the feds in 1860?
It's an interesting dynamic.
I suppose my question wuold be how much damage the wolves may actually do.
ReplyDeleteRunning cattle herds certainly gives them a larger food base than would naturally be there, but are the wolf packs growing out of control because of that?
If they are becoming an actual danger to children, then yes, destroy them, pretty much indicriminately.