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Cows be damned. I've had wolves howling a couple of kilometers from my
camp and awoken to the sound of a lone wolf howl on the opposite side
of me being answered by the pack in the original location. A little
disturbing when you consider a student from the university where I work
was attacked and killed by wolves in northern Saskatchewan earlier this
year. A couple of months ago I was in a remote area of the B.C.
islands and read a trail log entry from a solo kayaker who was charged
by a small wolf pack on a beach and had to defend himself with a peice
of driftwood. The encroachment into each other's worlds currently
affects only a smal percentage of people and wolves but over time the
situation is not going to improve. Bears and mountain lions have a
similar story. I have very mixed feelings about this since after all I
am traveling in very wild places so I share some of the responsibility
for a potential encounter but I also am willing to accept that risk.
Others may not share that opinion and eventually there will be a call
for action. One planet. Population exploding. People and animals have
to share it. Weapons of minor destruction everywhere. Who will win and
who will lose? Need I say more? Joe DHAJOGLO wrote: Kirk, I think I understand your position. And wolves are very keen preditors but again, I reiterate this link:http://www.ers.usda.gov/news/BSECoverage.htm Cattle inventory * January 1, 2003: o U.S.—96.1 million, down from 1996 peak of 103.5 million o Canada—13.5 million head * January 1, 2004 o U.S.—94.9 million head (cyclical low) o Canada—14.7 million head With an estimated 50,000 wolves (http://www.wolfsongalaska.org/canadian_wolves.html) it appears that Canada still has cows. Now, lets look at the per capita comparisons: .4 cows per person in Canada (32,000,000 pop: http://www40.statcan.ca/l01/cst01/demo02.htm?sdi=population ) .3 cows per person in the US (presuming 295 million as the population) In 1982, the US had about 39 Million head of beef cattle and now, we have 33.9 million. http://usda.mannlib.cornell.edu/usda/current/Catt/Catt-07-21-2006.pdf and there seems enough to go around. As far as the wildlife are concerned, that too is too complex to simply sum up with local data. So, yes, many don't see the wolf problem in the news. But then again, those who do see it probably fail to look at the broader picture and just presume that Wolves are a threat to all of us. Like I said, in Minnesota wolves are an issue but I don't fear for my life and the wildlife is certainly not doing badly with the wolves. http://www.dnr.state.mn.us/mammals/deer/facts.html and http://www.mnforsustain.org/wolf_mech_and_nelson_wolves_deer_harvest.htm show the numbers for wolves and deer in this state. The first link fails to mention the 200,000 deer harvested by hunting vs. the 40,000 by wolves. Anecdotal evidence is useful but the story, just as with the article you posted, is never told in its entirety and must be taken as just that, anecdotal and not universal. We make jokes about it, not to make fun of you but because we are not alarmed at the issue. Besides, my joke about the curtain was a subtext about the proposed fence between the US and Mexico. Regards, -dave On Tuesday, August 08, 2006 12:04 PM, Kirk McLoren wrote:Date: Tue, 8 Aug 2006 10:04:45 -0700 (PDT) From: Kirk McLoren To: biofuel@sustainablelists.org Subject: Re: [Biofuel] Wolf attack near Grangeville The Canadians wet themselves laughing when we trapped wolves to take South. And a hearty thank you eh. If you want to understand what is coming here examine where we got the wolves. One fellow setting traps said he saw 1 deer print in 10 days. Thats all - the sum total. Everything. --If that is your idea of ecology have at it._______________________________________________ Biofuel mailing list Biofuel@sustainablelists.org http://sustainablelists.org/mailman/listinfo/biofuel_sustainablelists.org Biofuel at Journey to Forever: http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html Search the combined Biofuel and Biofuels-biz list archives (50,000 messages): http://www.mail-archive.com/biofuel@sustainablelists.org/ |
_______________________________________________ Biofuel mailing list Biofuel@sustainablelists.org http://sustainablelists.org/mailman/listinfo/biofuel_sustainablelists.org Biofuel at Journey to Forever: http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html Search the combined Biofuel and Biofuels-biz list archives (50,000 messages): http://www.mail-archive.com/biofuel@sustainablelists.org/
