Sunday, November 23, 2003

Wolves Around the World

There has been a lot of resentment from ranchers and some hunters around the area about the re-introduction of wolves in Yellowstone National Park. Here is an interesting story about the increasing numbers of wolves in Spain.

They are having the same controversy we are here about it. Farmers whose animals are being killed by them are upset about them. The article states "official data shows 1,000 cattle were either killed, injured or disappeared in 59 attacks in 2001". Now if you figure that out it is almost 17 cows hurt or killed per wolf attack.

Then people in the U.S. wonder why us ranchers are so scared of the wolf and what they are going to do to our herds. We do our best to take care of and keep our cattle from harm but running cattle on the open range precludes penning the cattle up every night to protect them like Spanish farmers are doing.

I also note for all you wolf lovers out there that the article states "The most recent recorded fatal attack on a human was in 1974, when a wolf killed two children in Galicia." Now I keep hearing from wolf lovers that there is no recorded incident of a wolf killing a human. I guess to them children are not human.

Do not anticipate trouble, or worry about what may never happen. Keep in the sunlight. Benjamin Franklin (1706 - 1790)