If there is one thing learned in the media, it’s don’t mess with animals. Comments come from across the globe if one makes any statements which somehow decry people’s rights to have any kind of animal they want. Animal lovers are a passionate lot .
Tom Fletcher has written an opinion piece about trying to save the mountain caribou herds from wolves. Wolves will be shot. The wolf population is not endangered but the caribou population is and man is going to try and even up the odds. Is this right? Will this work? No one will know at this point, but when man tackles Mother Nature and intervenes, it usually turns out to be the wrong thing to do. Man is the problem, not the wolves. We’ve invaded the back country and opened up the areas for easier caribou kills by wolves, now we’re trying to reverse that.
There is a video shown about the impact of wolf kills in Yellowstone Park. Wolves had not been in Yellowstone for more than 70 years. Without the wolves the whole geography changed, river patterns changed and vegetation changed. The elk and other animals were able to access all areas without being killed off by wolves and what they ate changed the landscape - for the worse. With the re-introduction of wolves the whole park once again became healthy and in balance with Mother Nature.
When man attempts to “fix” things, it usually fails. What man needs to “fix” is himself. Some areas of the planet need to remain wild and un-accessible. With our modern means of transportation everywhere is accessible and that is what is killing off the caribou, not the wolves. The wolves are just doing what they are meant to do and that is to kill off the weaker animals thereby ensuring the healthiest survive to reproduce. We shouldn’t be thinking we can alter Mother Nature, we should alter ourselves instead.