Some of the on-line comments in response have wrongly and angrily suggested that wolf hunt opponents are caricatures of Madison liberals and Native American citizens.
One item I posted on August 15th about Native American tribal objections - - Opposition Growing Against Wisconsin Wolf Hunt - - provoked these anonymous comments, among others:
From "anonymous" - - Apparently everyone in Madison believes the native eco-stereotype in tuned with the earth mother and all that other happy horseshit, when in reality they are nothing but publicity hounds, pounding drums and disrupting whatever they can to appear important and knowledgeable due entirely to their racial heritage...
From "how can you be so clueless" - - You Madison liberals are truly clueless. The 10,000 plus people who put down good money for the chance to kill a wolf should tell you what Wisconsinites really think. The only thing Indians care about is cheating you out of your money at their casinos and gaining political power by pretending they have a right to that which they do not own and did nothing to produce.
It is best that you stay in your little imaginary world in Madison and type on your computer and stay away from the reality of northern Wisconsin.
From "real american" - - These Indians must be the most delicate, fragile creatures on earth; they are threatened by everything from killing a few wolves to someone digging up a few rocks. Real Americans, on the other hand, see no threats, accept no threats and have no threats. We kill off the wolves and then we bring them back and then we kill them again. We dig up the earth for iron and then make the hole in the ground into lakes and parks. We burn coal and oil and when we run out of that we just dig and find more. We spill a few chemicals in the river and then we clean it up. We don’t stop doing things for fear of the consequences, we just do it and when we break something we fix it. We cut down all the trees, and then we plant new ones. We nuke the shit out of cities and then we go in and plant flowers. We don’t sit around whining and crying about how we destroyed the earth, we just go about and build a new one and its no big deal. Stand up! Be strong! Be Proud! Be a real American! Get that wolf tag today.So I was struck by the thoughtful tone and informative content at the top of an editorial in the Oshkosh Northwestern - - a Gannett chain paper, by the way, so hardly a lefty, underground freebie - - that raised some basic questions about the DNR's permitting dogs in the hunt.
Some organizations have earned the community’s respect and the right to be heard as authoritative voices on issues where their expertise and judgment have never been called into question.I'm not sure if criticism of the hunt, or a lawsuit filed against it over the issue of allowing dogs in the chase - - a practice barred in all other states - - will have any impact before the hunt opens in October.
One such organization is the Oshkosh Area Humane Society, which joined a chorus of voices across Wisconsin in speaking out against the rushed and ill-advised regulations for a wolf hunt this fall
“We received our first inquiry for four large dogs to be used for hunting wolves in the upcoming October wolf hunting season,” executive director Joni Geiger explained in an e-mail message to area media. “I find this appalling and I am ashamed Wisconsin would take such a giant step backwards when it comes to animal welfare.”
But I am glad to see that there are serious voices - - Dave Zweifel of the Cap Times is one - - asking important questions, as are experts supporting the lawsuit, according to the Journal Sentinel:
Several acknowledged wolf experts in Wisconsin, including retired DNR managers Dick Thiel and Randy Jurewicz as well as University of Wisconsin researcher Adrian Treves, filed statements warning against the use of dogs to hunt wolves.The DNR still has time to listen, and act.
In written testimony, Thiel said wolves would regard dog packs as a threat.
"Attacks will be swift and furious," wrote Thiel, former manager of the Wisconsin wolf program. "Dogs will be seriously injured and die, and wolves will be injured and die as they both fight by slashing out."
