Sounds like a law firm doesn’t it? But here a couple of ibis jockey to hold their position as a larger egret seems intent on dismounting the perch.
Milt Inman Photo
Last week Ed Bangs, head wolf recovery guru for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, said that the decline in moose populations in the Yellowstone National Park area was due to climate change and that his reintroduction of wolves has nothing to do with it. He also was quoted as saying that the presence of wolves worldwide, was “no big deal”. In the context in which that statement was made, let me post it here as it appeared in the Salt Lake Tribune as of January 21, 2010.
“People who don’t like them [wolves] give them supernatural powers. It’s that way all over the world,” Bangs says. “In reality, they’re no big deal.”
That’s really the ultimate in ignorant statements, especially coming from a professional working for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. It also appears I’m not alone in that assessment.
Tony Mayer, owner/administrator for Save Our Elk, is challenging Bangs on his statement that wolves are “no big deal”. He is asking if Bangs intends to stand by that statement and gives us all a list of reasons the presence of wolves may be a bigger deal than Bangs or others are willing to admit.
Consider the impact to an ecosystem that was previously untouched by wolves (prior to 1994). Consider that this same Rocky Mountain Wilderness area now has a top-tier predator thrust into its midst. The predator has experienced phenomenal growth and currently exceeds 2,000 to 3,000 wolves depending whose numbers you believe. This predator is a borne killer and hunts 365 days per year. It is responsible for killing 6,000 and 12,000 elk monthly. Do you still want to stand by your statement “In reality, they’re no big deal?”
Consider that Elk/Calf recruitment has plummeted to record lows in many areas where these wolves roam and is now below replenishment levels. Do you still want to stand by your statement “In reality, they’re no big deal?”
Consider that wolves are primarily responsible for rapid spread of parasites and diseases within their range. These parasites Neospora Caninum and Echinococcus granulose were largely undetected prior to the introduction of wolves and now are infecting other wildlife and livestock at alarming rates. The impact of these 2,000 to 3,000 wolves exponentially spreading disease within our borders is catastrophic, and will forever impact our game, domestic livestock and potentially to humans. Do you still want to stand by your statement “In reality, they’re no big deal??”
Consider the hundreds of millions of dollars that have been wasted and that wolves are continuing to cost our government and the citizens of our states. Do you still want to stand by your statement “In reality, they’re no big deal?”
And being as Mr. Bangs declared that wolves worldwide were no big deal, I can add to this list more than time would allow, the negative impact wolves have had on people’s lives. Mayer points out what is taking place in and around the Yellowstone area. Most of us are uninformed about the long and sordid history of wolves worldwide and the death and destruction to humans and their property caused by wolves. In America we scoff and claim such stories to be myths, as does Bangs in his own ignorance, much due to the indoctrination we have all had beat into our brains since birth. He was only one step away from referencing Little Red Riding Hood and the Big Bad Wolf.
No, the sky is not falling or the world coming to an end. Real wildlife conservationists are interested in first protecting the health and safety of humans and then their property. Where wildlife populations once were sparse and in need of help, hunters’ money from license fees etc. brought back to the Yellowstone and many other areas of this country, bountiful and healthy species of game and wildlife. It is irresponsible to sit by and allow ignorance, driven by special interest groups, to destroy this investment.
Ed Bangs works for all taxpayers. If he honestly believes that an overblown population of a ravaging predator, known to carry diseases, is “no big deal”, then it is time that USFWS found a replacement for him.
Tom Remington
JAN 29
2010
Posted by Tom Remington
FREE DINNER
February 10, 2010
6:00 PM
Washington County Fairgrounds
Cambridge, Idaho
URGENT: Two-Thirds of Idaho Wolf Carcasses Examined Have Thousands of Hydatid Disease Tapeworms. Despite warnings from experts, FWS and IDFG ignored diseases, parasites spread by wolves. These disease can spread to humans! — Wolves are infecting livestock pastures and moose habitat with Neospora Caninum, the parasite that causes abortions in cattle and moose and other members of the deer family (The Outdoorsman Dec 2009).
PLEASE FORWARD TO ANYONE WHO NEEDS TO HEAR THIS INFORMATION. THIS IS AN EMERGENCY!
Guest Speakers:
Ron Gillett – Chairman of the Anti-Wolf Coalition
Wayne Krasselt – Cattle Rancher (will be speaking on the likely Neospora Caninum outbreak in cattle spread from wolves that causes spontaneous abortion in cattle) He will be speaking from his own experience. Wayne lost 100% of his cattle production from suspected infected range pasture in 2009. Wayne is awaiting test results to confirm.
Dr. Rex Rammell – Veterinarian and 2010 Idaho Republican Gubernatorial candidate (The only candidate with the knowledge, will and determination to eradicate this problem in Idaho). Rex will also speaking on other hotbed issues such as NAIS/Premise Identification, states’ rights, nullification of unconstitutional federal mandates, his “Billion Dollar Pledge” to Idaho, and the fight to return control of Idaho’s public lands back to Idaho.
Read more about diseases carried by wolves:
http://mainehuntingtoday.com/bbb/2010/01/06/two-thirds-of-idaho-wolf-carcasses-examined-have-thousands-of-hydatid-disease-tapeworms/
NOTICE: Although this dinner is free, space is limited to 400 so you must pre-register by phone or email. If you register early enough we will mail your tickets to you, otherwise they will be held at the door for you. If you are not pre-registered you will not be admitted unless there are un-issued tickets remaining at the door.
To request tickets by email: rexrammell4governor@gmail.com (Include names, contact info for those attending)
To request tickets by phone: 208-301-2412
James Dilingpole, who writes for the Telegraph in the U.K. among other varied writing projects, has what could be the best headline for a story I’ve seen in a long time. Dilingpole writes often about global warming issues as is the content of his piece today titled:
“‘AGW is real!’ insists Al Gore’s new soul mate Osama Bin Laden”
I’m full of it alright but some of you probably think I’m full of something else besides journalistic integrity, whatever that is.
Maintaining journalistic integrity. What is that? It’s something to try to hide behind I think. There are few journalists by definition anymore. Most in the media business are “political provocateurs” and that’s okay. That’s what people want to hear. But there are some “journalist” who are the biggest defenders of journalistic integrity who have no integrity at all and are quick to find fault in others. I think we call that hypocrisy.
The below ditty showed up in my in box this afternoon. It really sounded more like a few lines from a Rodney Dangerfield stand up act. Here goes:
The economy is so bad that I got a pre-declined credit card in the mail.
I ordered a burger at McDonald’s and the kid behind the counter asked, “Can
you afford fries with that?”
CEO’s are now playing miniature golf.
If the bank returns your check marked “Insufficient Funds,” you call them and ask if they meant you or them.
Hot Wheels and Matchbox stocks are trading higher than GM.
McDonald’s is selling the 1/4 ouncer.
Parents in Beverly Hills fired their nannies and learned their children’s names.
A truckload of Americans were caught sneaking into Mexico.
Dick Cheney took his stockbroker hunting.
Motel Six won’t leave the light on anymore.
The Mafia is laying off judges.
Exxon-Mobil laid off 25 Congressmen.
Congress says they are looking into this Bernard Madoff scandal. Oh Great!! The guy who made $50 Billion disappear is being investigated by the people who made $1.5 Trillion disappear!
I was so depressed last night thinking about the economy, wars, jobs, my savings, Social Security, retirement funds, etc., I called the Suicide Lifeline. I got a call center in Pakistan, and when I told them I was suicidal, they got all excited, and asked if I could drive a truck.
I’m tellin ya! I don’t get no respect.
60 democrats vote to raise the debt ceiling to $14.3 trillion and 40 republicans voted against it. As quickly as we are eating up those trillions of dollars, I was just wondering what comes after a trillion? Not that it much matters. Nobody in Washington seems to grasp a trillion dollars.
My wife and I, now both 57, worked our buns off to make sure we were debt free going into retirement. We were debt free but now we each take the load of $45,000 in overspending debt by our government on our shoulders. Ah, yes! That American dream.
Tom Remington
WGOA Press Release:
“I’ll never forget the first time I heard a wolf howl. It was September 26, 1998 at 8:26 in the morning. I had just bugled and in response, came what I now know all too well…the howl of a wolf. Since that day, wolves have caused one of our hunting camps to be abandoned and another is only running at twenty-five percent capacity. Our bull elk harvest has gone from over 80 percent to less than 50 percent-even with fewer hunters. My neighbor outfitters are no different. I see them with fewer hunters and fewer weeks of hunting too. One week we have elk in our country then the next week we don’t. It has hit me and my family hard. We have counted on providing back country elk hunts to our guests for the last 25 years but now we are not sure where we’re headed. I do know this-Wyoming will always have wolves and we should be given the chance to manage them. It is time to delist the wolf.” BJ Hill, Jackson Hole outfitter
Wyoming outfitters employ 1,400 people, pay $6 million in local and state taxes, contribute $100 million to our economy and support wildlife management. Before wolf introduction in 1995, some family owned and operated hunting camp businesses were worth an average $500,000. Nowadays, many of these wolf impacted camps are worthless and families forced to look for other work. Those hard working, taxpaying families face financial ruin from uncontrolled wolf populations. It is shameful.
The people of Wyoming own the indigenous wildlife resources but federally transplanted Canadian wolves are decimating our wildlife birthright at an alarming rate-especially elk. Wyoming’s hunting, agriculture and tourist economies are in peril and our lives have been terribly disrupted by wolves. Hunters and ranchers have been unfairly punished by wolves and they have borne a disproportionate burden of the wolf experiment. Hunters have quit hunting traditional elk areas in northwest Wyoming because of wolf predation and they are moving to other areas around the state causing a domino effect. This increases hunter density and diminishes the quality of hunting in these areas. The time to stop the destruction caused by wolves is long past and the federal government must return control of state resources to Wyoming where it rightfully belongs.
Every month, wolves kill 700 Wyoming elk-not to mention numerous cattle, sheep, mules, horses and dogs! Ironically, the federal government won’t allow us to control those wolves. If we don’t have the right to protect ourselves and our property from wolves, then we have no rights. A government that outlaws the inherent right of self defense and the right to protect our property is a government that has over stepped its authority. The people of Wyoming must be granted permanent control of the wolf.
