Hunting and wolves
Wolves have unique features; they are smart, sly, and curious, but for many hunters they kill them for their fur. Hunters take wolves and kill them for their fur. For example, the residents of Alaska have the idea that killing wolves are okay. Well, this horrendous and vile act that they are committing should be illegal. This act that they are doing is putting the fate of wolves in a dangerous place and they will be promoting their extinction if they continue doing this.
“Killing Wolves”, by Sherry Simpson will give some examples of the acts these people do in order to kill many of these wolves that are defenseless, and yet get killed; almost to extinction. Wolves are an incredible animal that resides in mountain, forest areas; they mostly resemble the average dog. Wolves are very necessary to balance the ecosystem by naturally controlling the population of animals that eat vegetation. Wolves also help evolution in other species. These creatures are needed by the natural community to maintain the delicate balance of life.
Without them, caribou, deer, elk and rabbits and many more animals would clear the land of plants, and the ecosystem would be unable to maintain itself. The wolf population is not even the same size as it was in the historic time, back when they lived in most regions of the United States. State government’s needs to let go of this unnecessary and merciless desire to control the population of animals who are just trying to simply survive.
Hunters view this animal as a killing machine and “it considers them vermin” (Matsuoka).
To make the situation worse the government is allowing the states to encourage these hunters to kill these wolves. For example, “Wisconsin will issue 1,160 permits for 116 animals. Minnesota will issue 6,000 permits for 400 animals” (Peralta). They think by allowing these hunters to kill these wolves is going to be a great benefit for them; when in reality they are driving them closer to extinction. Another example for instance, Simpson states that “between 6,000 and 7,000 exist in Alaska and hunters trap, shoot or poison wolves” (Simpson 137).
This means that by the vile act that these hunters are doing by killing these wolves today’s human society will see the number of wolves in that area will decrease, because of the great impact Congress has made. Congress took them off Endangered Species Act protections from our nation’s wolves, the state government is encouraging people to kill them (Matsuoka). Now hunters can kill up to 220 wolves during hunting season. Their justification for the large killing of wolves is that the wolf population is at a “healthy” number. This does not give them a valid reason for the unnecessary killing of this poor animal.
Wolves have been gunned down by hunters and federal sharpshooters in many areas. Wolves had been hunted for sport to near extinction in the United States. The Endangered Species Act was their saving grace, providing them with protection from hunters under the law. Even though there are some people that have the opportunity to kill the wolves many do not even though the wolves have been taken out of the Act. Simpson had that opportunity, she has been brought up and taught how to kill a wolf, but she states “I know I will never kill a wolf” (134).
She is one of the few people who have gone to schools like Wolf Trapping School and have maintained their mind intact to not kill this creature. She has witnessed how these hunters put “the trap cloaked beneath the snow” (137) and how wolves unfortunately fall into these traps. She also says that some of these hunters say that these wolves are like puppies but instead they meant that these were “full-grown but inexperienced wolves” (137). An example of how the hunters kill the wolves are by bringing along a gun and ammunition to hunt wolves.
Also hunting rifles are the typical choice, but bow hunting is a popular alternative (Fuller). With this said we can see how these hunters try to make it seem to children that it is ok to kill these wolves; and how from a young age they start to brain-wash these children into committing this disgusting act yet the wolves are still getting killed by these hunters. In the article Petersen’s Hunting, Bob Robb gives six reasons why they should kill wolves. His first statement is that there are “too many wolves”.
This is false since the hunters made sure to almost extinct the wolves. Next his second and third points are “wolves are decimating ungulate populations” and “deer and elk are hiding”. A wolf’s diet consists of ungulates; which are large, hoofed animals, but hunters, for the sake of not dragging an entire dead deer or elk out into the wilderness, will usually bring cuts of meat from larger prey or meat from smaller prey, wolves will eat gladly (Fuller). These wolves are helping the hunter by not carrying such a heavy load. His fourth is “wolves love ‘muffy’”.
This is right, but if these hunters left them alone and would not make them run to these certain situations these wolves would have the urge to have a meal whether it may be livestock or a domesticated animal. Robb’s last two statements are “wolves are poster-boy animals” and “continued litigation”. He says that organizations just tell the government what the hunters are doing to the wolves and they gain money from them. This is false since not only do the organizations provide valid facts and proof to the government to protect the wolves.
These hunters just want the opportunity to kill these wolves and almost drive them to extinction. Also, hunters can kill wolves to protect people, property or livestock (Landers). The decision to kill wolves has been very difficult for people because they do provide the warm that is needed when it is cold. After they have stripped the poor wolf’s fur what is done to the rest of the wolf? The carcass of the wolf will be thrown away and they will get more wolves and kill them for the same reason; even if they do not need them anymore for the wolf’s fur.
The lifting of the ban has made hunters giddy and excited, because killing a wolf is a once-in-lifetime opportunity (Peralta). The main reason they are like this is partly because of the long-standing ban. These hunters know that wolves are incredibly intelligent animals with a keen sense of smell, so shooting them is very hard and trapping them is also difficult. This makes it seem in their point of view as a game to see if they can handle this challenge they are in. as well as they are spending a lot of money just so they can go and shoot wolves.
Now that money will come from permits and licenses; the sale of the permits brought in $202,720 for the government. The sale of license is expected to bring in about $120,000 more (Peralta). Since the government needs more money they are allowing for the evil hunters to kill wolves so that they can get money. There valid and good reasons to kill wolves, yes they do provide warm, and also they can injure a person, but does that mean that we can also kill them for fun? As if was a game to see who can kill the most wolves? They try to give a good reason why they do this.
They just want money so they can get out of having money troubles. Since the government knows that these hunters will do anything in order to start shooting at this creature they have set up this plan for the hunters; knowing that they will receive large amount of money. There are organizations that put a halt on their large amount of money they gain, by protecting and giving the wolves a voice. These organizations are the ones give these wolves a voice including ASPCA (The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals) and PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals).
These organizations show many people the cruelty that some people are doing to these animals. They speak the true about how these animals are killed and how the government is allowing these hunters to kill them. Many people may not know what kind of torture this poor animal is going through, but also there are many people that encourage this appalling act just so they can get the latest wolf coat. Now for the grand help these organizations are doing to aid the wolves has made it possible for the wolves to go into some sort of protection until recently.
In conclusion, people can see how the killing of wolves is the worst thing they can possibly do. These wolves are very beneficial to have in our ecosystem because they help us and themselves to have and live a better lifestyle. The selfishness from the Congress to remove them from the Endangered Species Act was the most shocking thing they did, because they are giving these states the opportunity to drive these wolves back to extinction. Along with that they are gaining sufficient amount of money from these hunters to hunt which gives the government the money that they need.
Killing this creature gives the government a “justified” reason to start gaining profit from the despicable acts these hunters make. Also thanks to these organizations the wolves have a voice and have a chance to survive and live long enough for the future children to be able to see this majestic creature. There are many people that do live and grow up in this circumstance and some do have a valid reason to kill wolves for their fur, but that does not mean they can promote their extinction.
Lastly, this is why these wolves should not be hunted and should be able to go back into their natural habitat without having to worry that a hunter or hunter’s trap will kill them.
Works Cited
- Fuller, John. “How Wolf Hunting Works. ” HowStuffWorks. HowStuffWorks, 30 June 2011. Web. 25 Oct. 2012. Landers, Rich. “Groups Write Governor to Protest Killing wolves. “
- Spokesman. com. The Spokesman Review, 25 Aug. 2012. Web. 15 Oct. 2012. Matsuoka, Rachel. “The Environment & Wildlife Cause.
- ” Western States Killing Wolves By the Hundreds. Care 2, 21 Dec. 2011. Web. 15 Oct. 2012. Peralta, Eyder. “Fair Game: Wolf Hunting Begins In Wisconsin, Minnesota. ” NPR. NPR, 15 Oct. 2012. Web. 15 Oct. 2012. Robb, Bob.
- “6 Reasons We Should Kill Wolves. ” Petersen’s Hunting. Petersen’s Hunting, 02 Nov. 2011. Web. 25 Oct. 2012.
- Simpson, Sherry. “Killing Wolves. ” In Fact: The Best of Creative Nonfiction. Ed. Lee Gutkind. New York: W. W. Norton &, 2005. 133-62. Print.
