Mange – Thoughts From The Middle of Nowhere

Am I supposed to feel bad that the <a href="http://www.billingsgazette.net/articles/2007/03/02/news/state/25-century.txt">wolves in Yellowstone Park have the mange</a>? n nI'll guarantee you I don't feel bad about it. I only notice mange in coyotes whenever there is too many of them around so this must be a sure sign God/Mother Nature believes there are too many wolves in the area of Yellowstone Park and they need thinned out. n nAs for the State of Montana introducing this disease over 100 years ago? I can't change that, I wasn't alive at the time. All I can do is deal with the consequences of what they did. The consequences is a disease that thins a population out when it gets to large. Let me repeat that, it doesn't kill them all, it just thins them out. I don't see what the problem is. Almost all animals have consequences if they breed themselves up to high. Disease is one way of thinning a species down. I always say that is why diseases are getting harder and harder for humans to control. God/Mother Nature keeps trying to find a disease to thin us, humans, out. We keep outwitting it. When God/Mother Nature finally finds the right disease, watch out, the death toll could be high. n nDo these statements by me mean I wish every wolf in the world to die? No. I think the populations need to be kept in check and managed. The Greater Yellowstone Park area has seen a very large decline in elk numbers since the introduction of wolves. Talk to any elk hunter that uses this area and they will confirm the stories. This indicates, to my small mind at least, that there are too many wolves in the area and something needs to be done about it. Reducing the population will also reduce the problems that ranchers have with these animals which is only a good thing. n nPeople get way to wrapped up in this wolf issue both in favor of it, and opposed to it. For those in favor of the wolves, believe me, they are no great, noble creature harvesting animals on need and having some mystical connection with the All Mighty like you think they do. For those opposed to them, they are no salivating, evil devil that only exists to eat animals and small children who only kill for the pleasure of killing. WOLVES ARE ANIMALS, JUST LIKE ANY OTHER. Their instincts lead them to be what they are, just another animal with needs and desires which are no different than any others. Food, family and survival. No mystical special animal or devil incarnate, just an animal trying to survive like all of us. n nI've pointed out before, ranchers oppose wolves on the grounds that they are a danger to their animals and lifestyle. Blaming ranchers for being upset with wolves is like blaming wolves for killing animals. They can't help but do what in their mind is the right thing to survive. We are natural antagonists, wolves and ranchers, that see the issue from different sides but both want the same thing, survival for who and what we are. Are we ranchers any more wrong than the wolf for this drive? I think not. n nIn the survival of favoured individuals and races, during the constantly-recurring struggle for existence, we see a powerful and ever-acting form of selection. Charles Darwin