It seems at times that our efforts to save wolves and grizzlies are being devoured by ignorance. Why, after a wolf is tortured by one sick individual in Wyoming, is he not in jail? Why is the Wyoming legislature not banning in a special session the killing of any animal by snowmobile, something that does not resemble anything but cold, brutal torture and killing?
Why is Montana preparing to try once again to make trapping part of the state constitution this coming January? Why is Idaho doing all it can to kill more grizzlies while maintaining bounties and a 12-month killing season for wolves?
The answer, besides all the sportsmen’s groups and the Don Peary’s of the world, is the desire for Republican-led Governors and legislatures to empower their rural constituents. That is the core of their support, and the goal is to make wildlife fodder for votes.
Yet before I make this all about Republicans, the Biden Administration, likely on the advice of their horrible head of US Fish and Wildlife Service Martha Williams, and the panic of close Senatorial elections now are trying to delist wolves in the upper Midwest so that Democrat and wolf hater Tammy Baldwin can convince herself that rural farmers in northern Wisconsin will vote for her if wolves are slaughtered.
All of this comes back to how politics are killing wolves. We cannot allow this to continue. Much like the Civil Rights era, we are pushing back against ingrained thinking. We also are dealing with the propaganda machine that is the sportsmen industrial complex. But they are fools. Allowing and supporting children as young as 4 years old to kill wildlife is not tradition, it is indoctrination.
I have spoken to many people in rural parts of Montana and said, “You can make more money leading tours to see wolves than killing them. They see that as a betrayal of their neighbor’s trust. So rather than profit, they live to kill.
Increasingly, rather than finding common ground, they are ramping up their means of killing, and so far, no one has been able to stop the mass slaughter. Not that we have not tried.
There remains an anger and status in rural America, one that is self-reliant. Hunting is part of the manhood quest that is explored before one goes off to war. Hunting organizations looking for ways to attract younger hunters use wolves as an incentive, much as they will grizzlies.
Companies are cashing in with high-tech ways to kill, and it shows glamorization of such slaughter.
It’s ironic as species lay in peril, many want their chance to kill, rather than save critical species. Yet, the wolf has become the symbol of rural ressentiment and pockets of ignorance.
The answers are complex, but like any struggle, we need to consider the long term while achieving goals that move us forward. For us, that means creating a safe space for wildlife.
Closing Sourdough Trail from trapping and looking for more opportunities to close trails across the state will lead to safer communities and keep removing trapping's rotten heritage from our modern world, making life safer for wildlife and people.
It means creating a Monument FOR wildlife, one that bans trapping and killing of predators and gives these animals more than 1.7 million acres of protection. But I also have hope, maybe desire, that if we elect a woman President, perhaps we can have a new sensitivity to the wildlife that so inspires our lives. Perhaps we can get bolder, move these killers, and place them on defense.
Perhaps if rural America can be part of a real economy and education is improved, maybe we can find people more willing to co-exist, and like everything about our country these days, perhaps the anger and hate can be toned down. But hunting and manhood must be erased. Thus, by allowing honest dialogue and thought, we could find common ground that allows wolves and grizzlies to live and prosper. Still, we must be prepared for any outcome and focus our hearts on joy while understanding the need to make that life-giving organism stronger for the years ahead. We need a sea change. But nothing opens up dialogue more than winning, something we have been short of for far too long. It’s time that we move beyond Hillbilly and evolve into a kinder, more sharing nation, something I remember in times past.
One thing you can count on is that we will never stop fighting for the very species that need our voice.
THE FINAL SOURDOUGH VOTE IS THIS TUESDAY, SEPT. 24TH!!
TO CONTACT THE BOZEMAN MAYOR AND CITY COUNCIL.
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