Wolves Are Not the Dangerous Predators; Humans Are
Published September 22, 2009 @ 06:39AM PT
If you want an example of essentially all that's wrong with the way humans think of, talk about, and interact with their fellow animals, do I ever have an editorial for you. The publisher, editorial board, or some unnamed journalist from an Oregon newspaper (the byline is vague) yesterday published this doozy: "Give Ranchers Right to Kill Problem Wolves."
Early on in the editorial, the authors set up wolves as the indisputable bad guys. First we learn that wolves in one general area killed twenty-something sheep total in April and August incidents, and thus those wolves were deemed "rogue" and were tracked and killed by the trusty U.S. Wildlife Services. This, it is argued, was justifiable because the wolves clearly intended to cause the ranchers trouble: "Since the wolves were bent on mayhem, and since efforts to relocate them did not work, it’s right that they were killed."
Bent on mayhem? Seriously? I mean, seriously? It gets better:
But this is not the end of the story. Decades and decades of wolf vs. human conflict lie ahead. The two species never have and never will be able to peacefully co-exist, not totally anyway.
Let's be clear. The "rogue," "bent on mayhem" wolves aren't creating conflict with humans. They aren't villains refusing to peacefully coexist with us. We are creating conflict with them. We are the ones hell-bent on unnecessary violence. Wolves aren't maniacally breaking down humans' doors and eating their babies. They are doing what they have always done, what they are designed to do, and what they must do to survive in their own world. They are hunting, in their habitat that we have invaded and populated with domesticated, penned-in species. We created and continue to create these situations. We could choose to coexist. But we refuse to acknowledge that it is our insistence on killing -- on commodifying and killing one set of (domesticated) animals, in this case, sheep -- and on looking at all nonhuman animals as less important or worthy-of-life than us that guarantees the continuation of the cycle.
And what is more rogue and less justifiable? Nonhuman animals killing other animals out of instinct and for survival? Or human animals bringing animals into existence so that we can kill them unnecessarily, while also killing all other animals who dare to get in our way of killing the original bred-to-die animals?
The article's authors go on to whine about how unfair it is that "people in the livestock industry" should have to jump "through an endless series of hoops" just because wolf populations need to be reestablished -- they shouldn't have to suffer the inconvenience of permits and laws when they want to gun down wolves "to protect their own private property" (again, not to truly protect their real property or their families, but to protect their chance to kill their own victims themselves). They shouldn't have to "move stock closer to home, build double pens and electric fencing, install alarm systems, deploy guard dogs, and hang flags from fences"; they should be able to shoot first and explain later.
The whining continues even while the article concedes that Defenders of Wildlife has consistently reimbursed ranchers for the "value" of the sheep killed by wolves. That's not good enough, the trigger-happy ranching enthusiasts insist.
It is questionable whether Jacobs or other ranchers should be put through so much inconvenience and stress just to defend and keep what is theirs. On their own land, they should be able to take quick and decisive action against predators, even wolves.
"What is theirs." Such a short phrase says so much. Everything that -- and everyone whom -- we humans decide is ours simply is ours. If we see something or someone, and we want to possess and take that life, we do; it is ours because we say so. We take "ownership" of billions of fellow animals and of inexcusably vast tracts of land and scream in an indignant, childish, collective voice, "Mine!" And we mercilessly kill any other animals who dare think they have a right to live and eat as well, to live on the land that was theirs before it was ours, to merely survive. By destroying their habitat and controlling (and refusing them) access to food, by poisoning them, by shooting them, by whatever means, we kill them. And we call mass, indiscriminate killing our duty, our right. We have a right to kill. But no one else has the right even to live. Show me another "rogue" species that does this.
The most dangerous predators on this planet are not wolves or coyotes or sharks or lions or bears. The world's most dangerous, most violent, most mayhem-inducing predators are humans, by and far.
The species killing 10 billion domesticated animals each year in the United States, 50-some billion across the world, so that they can eat the flesh and secretions and wear the dead skins of their victims, not for survival but for selfish convenience and pleasure, isn't wolves.
Show me another species that has waged outright war on this planet -- against ecosystems and against all the planet's other animals. And then tell me a species other than our own is the planet's rogue predator.
The editorial concludes,
Wolves may have some rightful and useful place in the wilderness, but they have no business raiding stock pens and killing sheep for the fun of it.
Right. Killing for pleasure is humans' job.
---
Photo of Idaho sheep by Flickr user brew ha ha
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Comments (48)
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Author
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Stephanie is an independent animal rights advocate, a vegan, a tree-hugging environmentalist, and a freelance editor and writer. She lives in St. Louis with an aging corgi-lab and an adolescent rescued pit bull.
So well stated. Thanks!
Posted by Kim Johnson on 09/22/2009 @ 09:44AM PT
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I always find these arguments infuriating. People don't seem to notice the subtle slippage. For many of these people, everything in "nature" is defined teleologically - their purpose or "useful place" is X -, and this reasoning extends to human animals as a justification for killing and eating them. Right: "Why can a lion eat a deer but I can't." But our telos is defined as whatever we choose to do and however we choose to do it. While nonhuman animals in their entirety have a telos not defined by "nature," hence our criticism of them hunting and killing "prey" animals, but by their use-value to us.
It simply doesn't make any sense, but it does suggest just how irrational we really are. We don't reason consistently; we have a preferred conclusion and then make-up random lines of reasoning that are totally inconsistent.
Posted by Alex Melonas on 09/22/2009 @ 10:56AM PT
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To bad that the human being did know the word 'ambition'. Ambition for the materialism. The human's cruelty don't realize their own souls inside of themselves fighting with their ego to not hurt our co-brothers and sisters. I have faith that someday they will realize that and will be ashamed for eating and mistreating the wonderful animals.
Posted by Neusa Silva on 09/22/2009 @ 12:26PM PT
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Yes, we are SO bad.
Everyone should read Farley Mowat's book - Never Cry Wolf.
I love FARLEY MOWAT with my WHOLE HEART... dang I love him so much.
i will NEVER forget how he described the perfect love and mothering of a beautiful shewolf "wife." How she greeted her "husband" with such playful, endearing sweet love. How tender, solicitous and patient she was with her children.
How gentle, kind and devoted her "husband" was... a perfect fellow in every way. How they played, intertwined, and exhibited utter joy with each other.
Magnificent.
Sometimes I'm just so upset with God...
Posted by Cdin Org on 09/22/2009 @ 01:02PM PT
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Wow... I take that statement back about being upset with God. I just wish animals didn't have to suffer so.
Two Wishes
1. That Change.org lets us edit our comments
2. That Change.org allows us to donate via Paypal
I never have credit card info ready. I think it's always best to make giving money as easy as possible.
Posted by Cdin Org on 09/22/2009 @ 01:07PM PT
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Well written, Stephanie.
Someone mentioned Farley Mowat's book "Never Cry Wolf". There is a passage about how one small incident turned into an epic battle for survival in Churchill. It describes how a drunk corporal crossed paths with a rabid wolf. He wasn't bitten or scratched. It turned into an all out war against The Wolves (one wolf turned into a starving pack of slathering beasts.) The entire town went into lockdown and, when a supposed wolf was spotted, the mounted police and army were sent out - the wolf ended up being a Cocker Spaniel. By the end of the standoff, eleven huskies and two humans became casualties. The rabid wolf was eventually killed when he was hit by a truck (by that point the wolf was nearly unconscious).
To quote: "To this day there are residents of Churchill who will, at the drop of a hat, describe the invasion of Churchill by wolves in 1946. They will tell you of desperate personal encounters; of women and children savaged; of dog teams torn to ribbons; and of an entire human community living in a stage of siege. All that is lacking is the final dramatic description of the North American equivalent of a Russian troika fleeing across the frozen plains, inevitably to be overhwlemed by a wave of wolves, while the polar night resounds to the crounching sound of human bones being cracked by wolfish jaws."
Posted by Animal Place on 09/22/2009 @ 02:52PM PT
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Great post Stephanie! We have the same irrational, knuckle-dragging, territorial, melonhead mentality up here in the Great White North too, only it's with coyotes.
"They have to be annihilated!" "I was stupid enough to leave my chihuahua outside at night even though I've heard and seen coyotes in the area but because a coyote ate my beloved snookums let's declare war on the evil menace lurking in the shadows! If we don't, they'll soon be eating our children!"
Honest, this was some of the garbage coming out of people's mouths at a town hall meeting I attended last November. Forget being responsible for your animals, just kill the vermin!
"I heard those beasts howling last night and I just knew they killed something!"
Please. One person told me that they saw a coyote "up to no good" on the outskirts of town late one night that looked like a golden retriever, was the same size as a gold retriever and the same colour as a golden retriever. When I suggested that it might BE a golden retriever, he said, "No way, it was a coyote."
It scares me to know that these people are driving cars on the same road as me!
Posted by Daniel Wilson on 09/22/2009 @ 04:58PM PT
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We should also remember that Sarah Palin also upped the anty on wolves in the Great White North. She increased the amount of wolves to shoot...no matter if they were snarling beasts or animals looking to eak out an existence. When will we learn?
Posted by Jerry Collins on 09/28/2009 @ 12:21PM PT
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Really REALLY well written Stephanie! It is always such a pleasure to read your posts, you are amazing!
Yes, I feel this way when I see 'killer' sharks on tv, or documentaries about 'man eating' lions or 'blood thirsty' bears....it is all ridiculous. WHY do they want to protect farmed animals from wolves....so they can slaughter 50 billion of them a year. Yes, it is the wolves who are the bloodthirsty ones bent on mayhem....
Posted by The Voracious Vegan . on 09/22/2009 @ 11:56PM PT
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I think I am liking Stephanie's articles more and more. :D I like to see improvement!
Posted by Luella - on 09/23/2009 @ 12:40PM PT
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Very well wrote. So many true facts. It's humans that destroy life, and sadly it's innnocent life.
Posted by Soodle Billy on 09/23/2009 @ 01:33AM PT
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Great post! And that's us alright - Always "protecting" animals from predators - So we can kill them ourselves.
I think this quote from C. David Coates. ... "Old MacDonald's Factory Farm" says it all:
"Isn't man an amazing animal? He kills wildlife by the millions in order to protect his domestic animals and their feed. Then he kills domestic animals by the billions and eats them. This in turn kills man by the millions because eating all those animals leads to degenerative and fatal health conditions. So then man tortures and kills millions more animals to look for cures for these diseases. Elsewhere, millions of other human beings are killed by hunger and malnutrition because food they could eat is being used to fatten domestic animals. Meanwhile, some people are dying of sad laughter at the absurdity of man, who kills so easily and so violently, and once a year sends out cards praying for "Peace on Earth."
Poor dissonant us. :(
Posted by Bea Elliott on 09/23/2009 @ 05:41AM PT
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"Isn't man an amazing animal? He kills wildlife by the millions in order to protect his domestic animals and their feed. Then he kills domestic animals by the billions and eats them. This in turn kills man by the millions because eating all those animals leads to degenerative and fatal health conditions. So then man tortures and kills millions more animals to look for cures for these diseases. Elsewhere, millions of other human beings are killed by hunger and malnutrition because food they could eat is being used to fatten domestic animals. Meanwhile, some people are dying of sad laughter at the absurdity of man, who kills so easily and so violently, and once a year sends out cards praying for "Peace on Earth."
Bea...this is amazing! Isn't this the definition of IRONIC? Wow, you are right when you day poor dissonant us. Truly sad this world is to it's animals.... :-(
Posted by Kathy Jackson on 09/23/2009 @ 07:18AM PT
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Oops....TYPO.....I meant to say......Bea...this is amazing! Isn't this the definition of IRONIC? Wow, you are right when you say poor dissonant us.
Truly sad how this world really is to it's animals.
:-(
P.S. I agree with Cdin Org that Change.org should allow us to "edit" our comments! ha ha ha ;-)
Posted by Kathy Jackson on 09/23/2009 @ 07:24AM PT
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Once again a well crafted and nearly indisputable post. Good job Stephanie. Today as every day before this one, my heart goes out to the wolves, struggling to make it in a human-dominated world.
Posted by Julian Russell on 09/23/2009 @ 11:20AM PT
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Not even in their WORST nightmares, could little animals ever CONCEIVE of the diabolical atrocities committed upon them in laboratories.
They suffer untold agonies that most of us have NO conception of.
Everyday, doctors, researchers and assistants blithely go about their day committing acts that would absolutely devastate them if they were able to step aside and see what they do, from their child's heart's point of view.
For we are MONSTERS of incalculable breadth and depth to these most innocent of creatures, wolves, hamsters, birds, monkeys, fish...
Do we really think that the tender mouths of fish, designed to relish the most tasty of tidbits, little tongues with little tastebuds, do not feel the tearing and piercing of hooks?
They most likely go mad with the pain. But, to us, we're living our dreams, fishing by the lake.
Better to catch them with a net and kill them instantly.
It is the devil who should fear US... in our abysmal ignorance.
We must regain that child within us that KNOWS how wrong it is to hurt creatures that have similar nervous systems to ours, and were PUT HERE ON EARTH to find PLEASURE, and to AVOID pain.
I apologize preaching to the choir. Everyone here is so aware. I guess it's all about learning to express ourselves, and working together to Save these beautiful animals, and thus, in the end, save ourselves.
Posted by Cdin Org on 09/23/2009 @ 11:27AM PT
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Very powerfully and beautifully written, Stephanie. All animals only kill for survival. It is man that kills for "ego". Mankind should be humbled by his intellect and skills, yet he (she) does not use these qualities wisely. When will we ever get it right.
Posted by Barbara McNamara on 09/23/2009 @ 12:23PM PT
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Also, it is only man that kills his own kind.
Posted by Jerry Collins on 09/28/2009 @ 12:24PM PT
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It is amazing and frightening how we project our own bloodlust onto nonhumans but don't recognize it in ourselves.
Posted by Gary Loewenthal on 09/23/2009 @ 06:20PM PT
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Really great article Stephanie. It's so sad to think that we're the one's that have encroached on their environment and yet we always point the finger at them!!!!
There's a really good documentary about wolf re-introduction and how ranchers are working with conservationists to live with wolves on the landscape that's available online, for FREE.
It's called 'Return To The Wild' and can be seen at www.returntothewild.com
Posted by Mofilms on 09/24/2009 @ 03:29PM PT
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Well written post. Horrible to hear about the wolves. "killing sheep for the fun of it." - ridiculous
Posted by Marc Rasmussen on 09/27/2009 @ 05:41AM PT
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Great post Steph (as always)! Thought you'd like to check out this program about wildlife conflict- resolution http://www.nwf-wcr.org/ - hopefully with success of this program we can give wolves some space!
Posted by Danielle Brigida on 09/27/2009 @ 11:49AM PT
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Excellent points Steph. Ranchers are certainly the intruders and are wholly in the wrong here. Ranchers wanting to kill the wolves would be akin to a large degree to Israeli settlers in Palestinian territories killing Palestinians who oppose the unconscionable, illegal incursions. If anything, these kinds of intrusions need to be prevented from occurring in the first place.
Posted by Louis Gedo on 09/27/2009 @ 12:57PM PT
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Great analogy Louis. My gov't here in Canada is the most pro-Israel regime in the world (yes, more than the US). Never a word from them about the war crimes, human rights abuses, violations of international law,... Makes me ashamed to be Canadian.
Posted by Jamie Rivet on 09/27/2009 @ 10:39PM PT
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Yes Jamie, Your Prime Minister seems to be one of the most zealot supporters of the Zionist's ethnic cleansing agenda in the region...it is appalling.
Posted by Louis Gedo on 09/28/2009 @ 01:39PM PT
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Excellent post.
The only righteous solution is to somehow control or dismantle the destructiveness of humans.
Posted by donald watson on 09/27/2009 @ 04:42PM PT
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I would like to know the name of this newspaper. If enough people wrote to "re-educate" this person maybe things would change. Can't hurt. Please let us know Stephanie!
Thanks
Posted by Ann Collins on 09/27/2009 @ 04:51PM PT
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That is all so true man is the true beast.thanx Stephanie.
Posted by mike kowalchuk on 09/27/2009 @ 07:16PM PT
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I'm never surprised by human stupidity and this is just another point to add to my list. When are people going to get with the program and wake up. We have to learn to share this planet with other creatures and not just be a virus on this earth. We need more people like Stephanie to point out just how ridiculous and ignorant others are being.
Thanks Stephanie and Keep blogging!
Posted by Jennifer Kilgore on 09/27/2009 @ 07:41PM PT
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Here in South Africa we have the same kind of problems. In our urban areas we have a "problem" with vervet monkeys and baboons. People are laying down traps, poison and other inhuman ways of eradication, forgetting that we are living in their habitat, not the monkeys in ours.Through widespread building of townships without leaving green belts through which the troops might pass freely, the people come into conflict with the animals, and it is the animals that suffer. I asked one of our church leaders one day, "Who is going to be held accountable one day for all the animal species that man has wiped out?" He very wisely replied, "Don't you think we're already being punished, by not having those animals around?"
Posted by Eunice Robertson on 09/27/2009 @ 09:54PM PT
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I volunteer at a wildlife rehab center-- Toronto Wildlife. We have corpse eaters working there. Now, aside from the hypocrisy of saving animals while eating animals, these people are taking their paycheck (gotten from saving animals) and using it to buy dead animals, which also pays for killing the very same animals we work to save! Fucking morons.
Oh, great piece Stephanie.
Posted by Jamie Rivet on 09/27/2009 @ 10:31PM PT
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The article is absurd, but let's not keep in mind this came from the Lagrande Observer. Lagrande is in Eastern Oregon, which is rancher country. It is not representative of most of Oregon. The link clearly says the paper of the name and Wikipedia would have told you where the city was. A little leg work that was missed on the article.
Posted by David English on 09/28/2009 @ 02:30AM PT
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Sorry the sentence above should read, "The link clearly says the name of the paper..."
Posted by David English on 09/28/2009 @ 02:31AM PT
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Great insight Stephanie, as a animal activist I could not have said the "truth" any better. Defenders is going to have to fight a different way. They do not take a stand on hunting, seems to me they should, by accepting it, to me means you not against it. The reach out to farmers is really unrealalistic. We lost in court recently to re-list the wolves. So the wolves will always be in the crosshairs. The fact is less that there is 1% of wolf predation on cattle. This means all cattle that die before being excuted in the veil slaughter houses from disease, poor care and excessive crowding and rancher inept care and compassion for these poor creatures is 99% human predation and 1 % wolf predation. The mistake was bringing back wolves in an enviroment LONG known for it's hostile attitude towards wolves. I so regret now the re-introduction of the wolves. It is the wolves that suffer and die, not humans, from this now obvious total failure. Wolves are a great species tha has ALWAYS been persecuted whenever they get anywhere near man. So many American will not get involved in this country's problems, that it saddens me to the extreme. Most people really don't care, and that is a shame, because if a significant percent of the public would say
"No More", things would change. I have so little in common with most American people on issues such as this. Seems as long as they don't have to see it then it's ok. I am inspired by the few that make it their life's work to protect all animals and demand some rights for exploited animals (all animals are include in this) in every way imaginable.
Posted by Paul Hester on 09/28/2009 @ 03:43AM PT
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One of the details of this that is often missing is that quite a lot of the time, the ranchers are actually grazing their animals on public land. They have grazing rights for little to no money and still think that they should be able to decide what other animals should be allowed to live on public land. That land belongs to all of us and I believe the majority of people would rather have wolves and buffalo etc. on the PUBLIC land than some rancher's cattle that he kills to SELL to the public.
This is only an aside. I agree that the greater issue is what has been written about in the above emails. I just find this aspect of it ironic also.
Leigh
Posted by connie neish on 09/28/2009 @ 06:29AM PT
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All life is precious! We must work to secure space to animals before it's too late and have our posterity decry our active or passive predatory behavior.
Posted by Alcio Lapa on 09/28/2009 @ 08:17AM PT
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While I'm not about to go vegan/vegetarian, I do agree with you, Steph. Wolves just happen to be at the top of the food chain, same as us. What these ranchers just don't get - cognitive dissonance, rampant throughout the right wing - is that wolves are beautiful, independent, strong creatures who deserve to be LEFT THE FUCK ALONE! What the anti-wolf people really want is to wipe out the competition. And I cannot stress it enough, but for anyone who really wants to know the truth about wolves, visit Wolf Hollow in Ipswich, Massachusetts (Google them online, shouldn't be hard to find at all). This is a wonderful group of people dedicated to saving a few wolves and educating the public about these lovely animals - who also happen to be my totem/spirit animal, thus why I feel so passionately about this issue myself.
Posted by William Feagin on 09/28/2009 @ 04:50PM PT
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I live in Texas. We lived on a ranch with nearly 3000 acres, yes we did have wolves, and coyote's also. We raised cows and horses both. We rarely lost an animal to wolves or coyotes, we lost 3 colts to a pack of wild dogs, that had banded together after being dumb by so called owners. We took care of as many as we could. Sometimes we fed up to 37 dogs and 23 cats. But back to the wolves. Most people that raise cows know that wolves are only going to take the sick and the weak. That means they probably would have lost them anyway. Sounds like to me someone is not taking care of their herd and want to make it the wolves problem. They are just being greedy, every dollar counts to them, they see it as an assault on their wallet, not a animal trying to survive, they don't care. They need to be better educated about livestock there are things that can be done to stop wolves from killing, gosh they used dogs even in the bible, for sheep I guess they think they know more than the Bible. I feel the wolves have a right to have a place in our land, they shared with us when we first started to destroy their world. All the animals had to adjust to their freedoms being taken away. As for stupid people like Sara Palin, Otter, and others, they should all have a red x painted on their back and open season declared on them( even if its only pretend, they should know how it feels for a day) . I do not have much compassion for anyone who hunts for the fun of it. If its because you have to eat then that is one thing, but you do not eat, wolfs, bears, mountain lions, trophy hunting should be outlawed for ever.
Posted by JOHN wHITE on 09/30/2009 @ 08:54AM PT
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If hunting for fun is wrong because you are causing suffering and death for a trivial reason: fun. Then doesn't it follow that causing suffering and death for taste is also wrong because the reason, again, is so trivial? John, we don't need to eat flesh or reproductive excrement's to live happy and healthily, so doesn't your own challenge to the hunter equally apply to you?
Posted by Jen Ruff on 10/03/2009 @ 05:43PM PT
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Man was given stewardship over the animals, which means to use and conserve WISELY. I guess what we have , in these people who want to eradicate anything that will interfere with them making money, is people who need to be re-educated in what stewardship really means.
Posted by Eunice Robertson on 10/01/2009 @ 12:43AM PT
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It's a matter of opinion regarding whether humankind was "given" stewardship over the animals. But, we now have such stewardship over the animals, plants and the rest of our environment, regardless.
As we hopefully move toward being a one world culture where we celebrate the diversity of our many cultures, we will hopefully be good stewards of this plant's ecosystem, so we can increasingly celebrate the biodiversity of Mother Earth and the richness it provides our lives. How we treat the wolves is just a facet of how we deal with our stewardship, overall. Do we attend to the natural world with compassion and with the view toward a bio-diverse planet that is increasingly green and pristine, or turn this planet into a putrid, poisonous, pallid perfidy.
Posted by Andrew Heugel on 10/02/2009 @ 06:09PM PT
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It is a luxury to live in a non-violent world.
This luxury is created by people that are willing to be violent toward predators.
Why not move to a place where the land was not populated by animals before people arrived, if it is so irksome? I'm sure some rabbits or gerbils used to live on the ground where your apartment was built. A house is even more wasteful.
We should all burn down our dwellings, pulverize the foundations, and live in grass huts. The indigenous people of this land did it. We can too.
Posted by Chuck Reynolds on 10/03/2009 @ 11:24AM PT
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We live in a non violent world? Millennia ago on our rise to become lords of our ecosystem, our primary predator became ourselves. The predators of the distant past, such as the poor wolves and polar bears, have now become so many "sitting ducks" to shot down by Sarah Palins in heliocopters for "sport."
Is this what it means to be a lord; to kill each other and kill defenseless "lower" creatures for "sport" as we poison this once pristine planet and thus foul our own nests?
Posted by Andrew Heugel on 10/03/2009 @ 12:36PM PT
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Hi Chuck... Your basing your argument on what was - should be now. That just doesn't work with "progress". We need to discover new ways to co-exist (peacefully) with Others.
Furthermore, the idea of man being violent simply "for pleasure" is well illustrated in that we also breed millions of "prey" and "game" species for hunters "to protect" us from.
Posted by Bea Elliott on 10/03/2009 @ 04:12PM PT
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I will kill woves any time I have a chance to do so. Untill you have had them come after you because you are hunting some thing to feed 7 people you don't know what it is all about!!!!!!!
Posted by James Brouillette on 10/16/2009 @ 09:57AM PT
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Hi James, Feeding 7 people? A nice butternut squash soup as an appetizer, one pound of rice, one pound of black beans - a loaf of whole grain bread with some hummus and some baked apples or sweet potato pie sounds like a reasonable alternative. Probably wouldn't even amount to what your ammo costs... Just a thought...
Posted by Bea Elliott on 10/16/2009 @ 12:09PM PT
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James,
Coincidentally, I was just now reading an ethics professor's blog on the intrinsic worth of all species:
Go to http://practicalethics.net/blog/author/williamlynn then scroll down to his March 2, 2008, post on wolves ... and further down to the August 7, 2007, entry on wolves.
Choosing protein-rich plant-based foods will allow your family not only to eat well and inexpensively, as Bea points out, but will also save you the time-consuming job of tracking down your next meal.
Better yet, meatless meals will enable you to coexist peacefully with all Earth's inhabitants.
And isn't that how to sustain your family, James -- by living in harmony with the world, instead of in violent conflict with your fellow beings?
I'm sure you would love the incredible feeling of freedom and power that comes from doing no harm to animals. And you'd be such a (gentle)manly role model for your kids!
Posted by Olivia White on 10/16/2009 @ 01:38PM PT
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James,
I agree with what Bea and Olivia said. But, I need to add that you're the first person I've heard of that needed to kill wolves because they felt threatened. Wolves are almost always far more scared of humans than we are of them.
This sounds like fiction to me.
Posted by Andrew Heugel on 10/16/2009 @ 03:27PM PT
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