Discussion Topic |
|
This thread has been locked |
jstan
climber
|
|
|
Mar 12, 2010 - 09:57pm PT
|
Not that I'm an expert......
Wild animals are very concerned about not being injured.
Injury=death
For some years we have not been shooting anything that moves.
Animals are, in many ways, as smart as ourselves.
Got that?
We are at a cross over point.
If we don't adapt our behavior to account for this
it is we who are being dumb.
We can't just go running anywhere........
alone
anymore.
|
|
jstan
climber
|
|
|
Mar 12, 2010 - 11:05pm PT
|
Wolves don't particularly like subcutaneous fat.
Or silicone for that matter.
Met an Artic Wolf down at the beach here once. His companion said he had sixty acres in which to run out in Montecito and he "just loves people."
Whaever the animal loved,
you knew he deserved respect.
|
|
TGT
Social climber
So Cal
|
|
|
Mar 12, 2010 - 11:12pm PT
|
why didn't the wolf maul sarah palin and her brood?
Because they instinctively know that they would have ended up as a nice fur coat.
Safer to eat progressive prey.
They emit a nice non threatening vegan odor.
Tasty too!
|
|
Ghost
climber
A long way from where I started
|
|
|
Mar 12, 2010 - 11:17pm PT
|
I almost got mauled by an angry momma bear while jogging down a country road in Alaska once. I didn't, and am very thankful...but I wouldn't have blamed the bear if she had got me.
What Laura said!
I too have come to what I thought was the end of my days, cornered by a polar bear. And like L, my feeling was simply that it was a righteous ending. I was in that bear's house, and the house rules were that I was dinner.
If she had killed me, should a posse have been organized to shoot her? Anybody who says that is f*#king crazy?
I spent 25 years roaming the coast mountains in BC, and the last ten in the hills of Washington. Cougar country. Should we kill all the cougars just to keep the hikers safe when they go into cougar country? Should we even be sad when someone is killed by a cougar? Or a bear? Or a wolf?
So, yeah, I feel sad for the woman that was killed, and for her friends who will never again share the joy of being with her. But how can you be angry that a wolf (or bear or whatever) killed her?
D
|
|
L
climber
Yeah it's a furball...I TOLD you I was a cat!
|
|
|
Mar 12, 2010 - 11:35pm PT
|
"why didn't the wolf maul sarah palin and her brood?"
Because, Merciless, there are some things even a starving wolf won't eat...heh-heh-heh...
Blahblah--Whatever your line of work is, it's not animal husbandry, animal rehab, wildlife documentary filmmaking, or repopulating wildlife habitat. I've done all of those things, with mostly wild animals--and also a bit with domesticated ones.
You are speaking from a place of being spoon-fed media hype...and you can't even taste the kernel of truth buried in the BS. You've also got your own mental constructs in place around "LET'S KEEP WILDLIFE WILD", without the least concept of reconstructive stewardship for diminishing habitat, poisoned water and food sources, invasive domestic stock--just to name a few.
Compound that with the general public--as jstan points out--religiously following The Idiots Guide To Dying In The Wilderness through lack of education and/or understanding of wilderness protocol, and you've got species being hunted to extinction simply because they are animals. Yes indeed...animals. Notice how that term is used in a derogatory manner...as if there's something wrong in being a perfect vehicle of evolutionary creation.
So--whatever your "line of work" is, I suggest you get really good at it, and leave the animal work to people who aren't afraid of animals.
BTW--the worst injuries I've ever received from an animal was a torn finger from my friend's Rottweiler, a lacerated cheek from a friend's beagle, a bloody ankle from my aunt's poodle, and a bruised ear from a man trying to rape me when I was in college. Now which "wild animal" were you afraid to trust again?
|
|
franky
Trad climber
Bishop, CA
|
|
|
Mar 12, 2010 - 11:48pm PT
|
What kind of sidearm do you guys carry to protect yourself from cars?
You know, those things that kill thousands of pedestrians each year?
|
|
L
climber
Yeah it's a furball...I TOLD you I was a cat!
|
|
|
Mar 12, 2010 - 11:52pm PT
|
Franky,
I carry a big MoFo Lawyer with me. If I live--I'll live in luxury.
|
|
Patrick Sawyer
climber
Originally California now Ireland
|
|
|
Mar 13, 2010 - 06:30am PT
|
Heck, I was swallowed by a whale once, but it spat me out, and then the time the Siberian tiger took me in Kamchatka, but it too spat me out, and then the time I was ingested by a HUGE, I mean HUGE, python, but it spat me out. And then the HUGE Jaws great white off of Santa Cruz, but it too spat me out. My conclusion? I must not taste very good.
Are wild animals dangerous? Who cares, as long as they don't find me tasty.
Condolences to the gal's family and friends.
|
|
willie!!!!!
Trad climber
99827
|
|
|
Mar 16, 2010 - 11:47am PT
|
Extrablue -
You are correct about the feral dog issue in some communities, but follow up news reports have stated that this incident was definately wolves. The village had been dealing with the pack for a while.
Very sad. You can see by the look on her face while holding up the crab that she was stoked to be here.
|
|
Toker Villain
Big Wall climber
Toquerville, Utah
|
|
|
Mar 16, 2010 - 12:48pm PT
|
A sad incident but I can't help but wonder if she would have wished her legacy to include oppression of a natural component in the web of life that actually IMPROVES the health of other prey species.
Read your Farley Mowat.
She could easily have avoided this by firing a mouse gun into the dirt and assuming appropriate body language, instead she made herself into easy pickens; worst case scenario.
Now the ignorant wolf haters have a rallying point and a victim to avenge.
Ugh! It is sickening.
|
|
krahmes
Social climber
LP
|
|
|
Mar 16, 2010 - 12:52pm PT
|
I was in Chignik for about 3 day offloading a purse seine catch towards July(?)in the early 80’s. Idyllic place in bloom, I remember walking a knife-edged ridge, but I was pretty torched. In reading the story I wondered about the iPod and if in way it doesn’t lessen your connection/awareness to the “real” world. I’m more worried about the situation where I’m riding my bike (with the iPod on) and getting hit by a car. I try to walk/run/ with a knife in a sheath when moving fast in the outlands. Not so much that it would make any difference, in say a cougar attack, but I like to go down getting a lick in. A gun is just so much hassle and weight.
|
|
reddirt
climber
|
|
|
Mar 16, 2010 - 01:13pm PT
|
She could easily have avoided this by ... assuming appropriate body language
while I don't disagree w/ your sentiment for the attackers, I'm not sure that this would really be possible, considering she wasn't even 5 ft tall (& thus prolly weighed a buck when soaking wet). She sounded tiny, potentially smaller than her attackers.
|
|
Dolomite
climber
Anchorage
|
|
|
Mar 16, 2010 - 01:20pm PT
|
They already killed two of the wolves (and "the" is a big assumption, I think)and more will die. It's shameful and senseless. Check out Barry Lopez's fine book, Of Wolves and Men. According to his research the number of actual attacks of wolves on humans is miniscule and most of human reactions to wolves throughout history is based on myth and hysteria.
Sorry for the death of the woman, and of course, in hindsight, her death was preventable. But as we all know, when your number's up, your number's up.
|
|
AKDOG
Mountain climber
Anchorage, AK
|
|
|
Mar 16, 2010 - 01:36pm PT
|
This is a very rural area (nothing even remotely close in the lower 48) did a trip near there a few years ago and saw over 25 brown bear in one day. Luckily they were all feeding on salmon and not interested. Alaskans unfortunately shoot wolfs from airplanes when they can……….
http://www.adn.com/2010/03/15/1184827/officials-kill-wolves-responsible.html
|
|
tolman_paul
Trad climber
Anchorage, AK
|
|
|
Mar 16, 2010 - 05:40pm PT
|
R-jox, you are clueless, Alaskans do shoot wolves from planes in the areas where it is allowed.
But back on topic, it is a shame that the woman was killed by the wolves. Sounds like she really loved the state, and working special ed out in the bush must have been a challenging career, as well as rewarding in it's own way.
The wolves were just doing what they do, not much to say about that.
I have no problem with killing wild animals that attack people, just as I have no problem killing people that attack people. There are plenty of wolves in Alaska, and no one is going to wipe them out, or come anywhere close to wiping them out.
|
|
Dolomite
climber
Anchorage
|
|
|
Mar 16, 2010 - 06:21pm PT
|
Rok--Alaskan civilians ARE killing wolves from the air, under the "predator control" loophole. It's real simple: wolves are predators, thus it's legal to kill them from the air. Not really what the "loophole" was intended to create, but it's a fact.
Another thing Paul said is right on too: wolves are not threatened or endangered up here, there's a bunch of them.
What I don't understand is the concept of killing the killer wolves. Is there science behind it, as in "they'll kill again." Or is it mindless revenge?
This was the first recorded killing of a human by wolves in the U.S. in fifty years.
|
|
blahblah
Gym climber
Boulder
|
|
|
Mar 16, 2010 - 06:58pm PT
|
Dolomite: I read the link RJ posted, and your post *seems* to contradict it.
Did you read his link?
Do you have personal knowledge of "civilians" (as RJ used the term) actually shooting wolves from the air in Alaska?
The article and these issues seem a bit confusing and I'd like to get to the bottom of who is allowed to shoot wolves from the air, without engaging in any name calling if possible.
Regarding killing the wolves who ate the women: I'm sure liberals would love to set up a multi-million dollar study program, but I think most people are will to accept the proposition that wolves that have acquired a taste for human flesh will be more likely to kill humans again and therefore should be removed for public safety. If you have evidence that that is *not* correct, let's see it.
|
|
|
SuperTopo on the Web
|
Let us know!