—by Amy Brunvand
We reached the old wolf in time to watch a fierce green fire dying in her eyes. I realized then, and have known ever since, that there was something new to me in those eyes—something known only to her and to the mountain. I was young then, and full of trigger-itch; I thought that because fewer wolves meant more deer, that no wolves would mean hunters’ paradise. But after seeing the green fire die, I sensed that neither the wolf nor the mountain agreed with such a view. — Aldo Leopold
Another wolf killed in Utah
Last year a Utah hunter shot a wolf after mistaking her for a coyote. No charges were filed. This past November a second wolf was killed in Utah after getting caught in a strangulation snare set to kill coyotes. A third wolf was killed in Colorado last April by a hunter who also claimed he couldn’t tell a coyote from a wolf. It’s bad enough that so many hunters don’t seem to know what animal they are shooting at, but “accidental” shootings are also preventing wolves for dispersing back into their historic range. In Utah, indiscriminate killing of coyotes is encouraged by a $50 bounty created under the 2012 Mule Deer Protection Act and in parts of Utah wolves were also stripped of Endangered Species Act protections due to a sneaky rider on a 2011 budget bill. In a press release, Michael Robinson, a spokesperson for the Center for Biological Diversity, says “Utah should end its futile and brutal war on coyotes, which in turn has had a deadly effect on at least two wolves that have wandered into the state.” He adds, “There’s plenty of room for wolves in Utah and with an effort to educate hunters, they would almost certainly come back on their own.”
biologicaldiversity.org/news/press_releases/2015/wolf-11-30-2015.html
More January 2016 Environews:
$14 million for misguided effort to privatize public lands
Utah national park visitation soars
Utah air quality problem, “serious nonattainment”
Lake Powell pipeline a costly water boondoggle