TAKE MY WOLVES

“Take my wolves…. Please.” (Henny Youngman if he would have become a wildlife biologist.)

Every American citizen needs to consider what is happening with wolves. Congress passes a law (Endangered Species Act) and voila! Wolves are declared endangered and instantly a large, destructive, and dangerous carnivore that was purposely extirpated from all but one state (Minnesota) is given the status of a cow in a Hindu village. No longer does the state have ANY say in whether there will or will not be wolves within their borders. No longer can a dog owner kill a wolf attacking his pet or hunting dog. No longer can a sheep or cattle rancher protect his stock when they are ravaged by wolves. No longer can hunters expect to see big game or small game in the abundance or sizes common before wolves were reintroduced. No longer can pets or hunting dogs be allowed to roam unseen by owners. No longer can a rural grandmother let her grandchildren play outside unattended after wolves have been observed near rural residences. No longer can scouts or families camp safely in certain areas. No longer can foals be allowed to range unseen when wolves are about. Rural life, property rights, and citizen rights to make their government “insure domestic Tranquility” (per the 19th, 20th, and 21st words of the US Constitution) are all drastically reduced or eliminated.

Why? Because the wolf, of which there are millions worldwide, is said to need help or be in trouble or is purported to provide some mystical environmental enema or perhaps all three. So, if this critter evokes Federal force in all its’ manifestations what about the other ones? What other ones you ask? Well if there is a supreme Federal need to force wolves back where they used to be, what about:
-Forcing free-roaming buffalo back on the plains. There is no difference in forcing farmers and small towns to put up with the ravages of foraging and stampeding buffalo than it is to force ranchers and dog owners to tolerate wolves. In fact we (with the Europeans) cause the UN to force Africans to tolerate smashed children and crop destruction from more than a quarter million elephants every day.
-Forcing all the Eastern states to reintroduce elk and not manage them until Federal overseers say there are enough. For that matter the same goes for moose.
-Forcing Connecticut and Rhode Island to reintroduce cougars.
-Forcing New Jersey to reintroduce wolves and moose.
-Forcing Louisiana and Mississippi to reintroduce jaguars.
-Forcing California to reintroduce grizzly bears at a dozen locations.
-Forcing New York to reintroduce timber rattlers and Eastern diamondbacks in Central Park.
I could go on and on but you get the point.

Why is the wolf sacred? Why is a western rural resident of no concern when he or his property is harmed by this nonsense? Why wouldn’t any of the do-good politicians or University pooh bahs or wildlife bureaucrats whine about the “need” to importune city dog owners or Eastern grandmas or Connecticut estate owners or University campuses with the forced imposition of rattlesnakes or cougars or wolves? Why don’t state agencies that receive grants from Federal overseers defend their states’ residents instead of joining with Federal agencies that seize state jurisdictions and molest state residents?

The Endangered Species Act is illegal, unfair, and a tool that is being used to drastically revamp the most successful and freest society on earth into a cheap dictatorship ruled by the strongest factions from moment to moment. But setting all that aside, the rationale for forcing wolves and not these other things is merely a clear indication of what this is all about. It hasn’t anything to do with the wolves or the environment or the ephemeral balance of nature or even the current “Evolutionary Significant Unit” debate. It is all about the raw exertion of power. Power that the environmental and animal rights groups are inventing and putting in the hands of Federal agencies. Power that was diffused purposely by the Founding Fathers for 200+ years to keep government under the control of We The People. Power that is being used for purposes so heinous and nefarious that citizens fail to see or mention it while it perverts the very bedrock of our society.

One final observation, never say or let anyone tell you that wolves or any other listed plant or animal will be “taken off the List” or “management will be returned to the state.” Anyone who believes that is gullible, to say the least. The wolf is no different from any other plant or animal on “the List.” The Federal government will tell each state how many there shall be and where they shall be from the time it is “Listed” until the authority of the Endangered Species Act is destroyed regardless of whether management is “returned to the state” or the plant or animal is “taken off the List.” The Federal government only creates the illusion of returning management to the state; in fact they dictate all future actions taken by the state with that plant or animal. Violate their conditions and they will prosecute and seize jurisdiction immediately. Also, their radical chums will continue to get courts and regulation writers to further constrict growing lists of human activities that can be construed in any tenuous manner to “affect” the wolf or whatever. Further, as say Wisconsin “takes back management” Illinois dog owners, Iowa deer hunters, and Missouri farmers will begin to suffer from the expanding wolf populations as Federal overseers repeat their commissar-like roles until wolves saturate those rural areas (but not the urban areas.). Even putting all this aside, ANY plant or animal can be “Listed” tomorrow by the same politicians, bureaucrats, professors, and radical organizations. Not until the Endangered Species Act is buried in the dustbin of history with all the other abuses of power masquerading as necessary do-goodies will both the people and environment of the United States be safe again.

Jim Beers
1 September 2003