No word yet of Sarah Palin riding in on a UH-1 Huey with rocket pods blasting away as you herds the terrified wolves into a kill zone with "Flight of the Valkyries" blaring from skid-mounted speakers.
Still...
villager (17,603 posts) Profile Journal Send DU Mail Ignore
Half of Idaho's wolves gone in a year, thanks to Obama's Sect'y of the Interior
thought this recent letter from Defenders of Wildlife was worth posting, as a reminder that this administration is every bit as lousy at "protecting" wildlife as all its predecessors:
Dear Villager,
It was one year ago tomorrow: the day that the fate of wolves in Idaho was handed over to state officials.
It was a deal endorsed by Interior Secretary Ken Salazar -- and has resulted in the elimination of almost half of Idaho's wolves.
<snip>
jmowreader (21,471 posts) Profile Journal Send DU Mail Ignore
11. So long as there's one teabagger in Idaho, there won't be room for even one wolf here
<snip>
bhikkhu (6,107 posts) Profile Journal Send DU Mail Ignore
2. The west is full of wolf-haters, regardless of Obama or the Interior Secretary
Thinking otherwise doesn't change the facts; I can say that even the rumor of a wolf in my area has hundreds of hunters swearing they'd shoot it on sight, whatever the law said. To a large extent, the back-tracking of the administration is to gain some traction and compliance out here.
As in many things, the older people are, the more likely they are to be on the hating side of the issue. The younger generation seems more tolerant, and I think the longer wolf populations are maintained and adapted to, the better chance they have going forward.
villager (17,603 posts) Profile Journal Send DU Mail Ignore
14. All the more reason not to have cut a deal with them.
Sadly, this administration has been slow learning that lesson.
bhikkhu (6,107 posts) Profile Journal Send DU Mail Ignore
18. You miss the point. No deal=no wolves
If you lived where I live, you'd understand. If you can't get some kind of compromise that at least gains people's grudging compliance, the wolves are finished in a few years. They aren't hard to hunt and kill, as was well proved in the past century.
Its easy to say you'll just ramp up game enforcement and so forth, but again, if you lived where I live and talked to the people I know, that doesn't help the wolves. Unless the laws are seen as at least partially or arguably just, they aren't going to be followed.
Around here we call it, "Shoot, shovel and shut-up."
life long demo (139 posts) Profile Journal Send DU Mail Ignore
3. I also received the info from Defenders of Wildlife
But I brought back the anger I had with Pres. Obama who allowed the wolf to be removed from ESA because it was supposed to help Tester in a hard election battle. I was so mad I sent him an e-mail, and I sent my Representative in Washington a e-mail saying that I was not going to support Pres. Obama for re-election in 2012. I was so angry because I (we all) knew what was going to happen to the magnificent wolf. And it has, those "outdoors men" couldn't wait to get their bullseyes on the wolf. And here I am with no alternative but to vote for Pres. Obama (whom I campaigned for the first time he was elected). And the wolf is still in the bullseye. And I am so sad.
villager (17,603 posts) Profile Journal Send DU Mail Ignore
16. for me, it was the selection of Salazar-the-rancher for Interior that signaled "business as usual"
...for this administration. It would take a true visionary to truly defend wilderness and wild nature, from the Oval Office.
Obama isn't one.
AnotherMcIntosh (913 posts) Profile Journal Send DU Mail Ignore
4. Are any of these top-level officials ever held accountable?
To whom?
For what?
LAGC (3,794 posts) Profile Journal Send DU Mail Ignore
6. I'm sorry, but wolves ARE a predatory species.
Their devastation to live-stock and wild game populations cannot be understated.
Native Idahoan here, why some folks feel the need to go out of their way to defend these predators is really beyond me.
***NEWSFLASH*** Hundreds of species go extinct every single year. Yet life still manages to soldier on somehow...
I'm sure we'll find a way to survive even if wolves completely die off. Might just have to hand out more hunting permits to keep the deer and elk populations in check.
It's really no different than other invasive species, like kudzu in the southeast or beavers in Tierra del Fuego. Nothing but trouble.
I credit President Obama for listening to overwhelming sentiment here out West, from Republicans and Democrats alike, that these animals need to be put down like the feral creatures that they are.
SolutionisSolidarity (167 posts) Profile Journal Send DU Mail Ignore
8. You're the invasive species.
Wolves have been there, you're the one who encroached on their territory. And now you want them all wiped out, even though they have a small population and there are few attacks on people or livestock. You and your fellows are cowards through and through. You want to sterilize the planet to make yourself feel safe. Humanity would be better off if you started with yourself.
Fags are natural.
Humans are the aberration.
LAGC (3,794 posts) Profile Journal Send DU Mail Ignore
10. Look, I appreciate that you think all life is sacred...
But the fact of the matter is, nature just doesn't give a damn. Some life on this planet exists solely to torment other life-forms and make their lives miserable before being snuffed out of existence itself.
Granted, humanity may not be all that different in that regard, but we are sentient beings at least and do have dominion over the earth, for better or for worse.
Now if it were dolphins they were slaughtering, I might be more concerned. But wolves? Cry me a river... I just can't work myself up to give a damn.
Sorry.
tomp (8,440 posts) Profile Journal Send DU Mail Ignore
41. wow! i strongly urge some serious soul searching.
you are clearly troubled.
Darwin didn't give me a soul.
IDemo (10,864 posts) Profile Journal Send DU Mail Ignore
43. "dominion over the earth"?
You're really giving away your perspective with biblical phrasing like that.
And - "Some life on this planet exists solely to torment other life-forms and make their lives miserable before being snuffed out of existence itself." I hope you haven't offered that bit of wisdom to an actual wildlife biologist - the howling you'll elicit might even sound a bit wolf-like.
My great-great grandparents settled the Meadows Valley and were among the founders of McCall, and you absolutely do not speak for me.
MineralMan (43,447 posts) Profile Journal Send DU Mail Ignore
45. Humans do not have "dominion" over anything.
We're part of the very nature we seem to want to destroy. That "Dominion" thing is a biblical concept, and has nothing to do with the reality of nature and our planet. If we destroy the planet, we destroy ourselves, since we are entirely dependent on that planet.
sabrina 1 (25,659 posts) Profile Journal Send DU Mail Ignore
53. Why don't we just wipe out all wild life? This way human profiteers would not have anything more
worry about. Polar Bears, Tigers, Lions, Wolves, let's rid the earth of all these predatory creatures and make it safe for Republicans.
The democrat secretary for a democrat president cuts the deal to save the hide of a democrat governor but its the republicans' fault.
LAGC (3,794 posts) Profile Journal Send DU Mail Ignore
58. I wasn't aware that Polar Bears or Tigers or Lions were a nuissance to anyone.
They all seem to mind their own business in their respective regions of the world.
It's not like Polar Bears are coming down from the Arctic and stealing all the fish from our ponds and lakes. LOL.
sabrina 1 (25,659 posts) Profile Journal Send DU Mail Ignore
59. You haven't been paying attention.
Polar Bears are a huge nuisance to Climate Change deniers. It makes it hard for them to deny Climate Change when the natural habitat of Polar Bears is melting away. But to save them would require cutting some of those profits which we all know take first place in the neanderthal minds of the Right.
They are a stark reminder of what all this profiteering without responsibility is doing to this planet. Big nuisance to Climate Change deniers.
But they're numbers are increasing.
They breed like heterosexuals!
And it goes on like that.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/1002648760
