I’m a big fan of NW Wyoming. It’s beautiful country, and contains Yellowstone, Grand Teton, and various awesome national forests.
But no longer will I spend a dime in any Wyoming business. I’ll do all of my shopping in Montana before heading into Wyoming. I’ll be sure to get my gas from Cooke City, West Yellowstone, and Gardiner. I won’t bother purchasing a Wyoming fishing license anymore, either. I’ll continue to fish Yellowstone and purchase the park license. I always preferred the fishing in Yellowstone to Teton anyway, and preferred the photogrpahy in Teton, so it works out.
Sure, these aren’t going to make anyone change their minds about an insane shoot on sight wolf poicy, but if enough people do it, it will. I’m not going to contribute money towards an extreme populace that likes to kill things just to kill.
Wyoming, you’ve got serious issues. And no, beer and guns aren’t going to fix it. A therapist might, though.
Yes, indeed. I’m with you on this. Throw in what is happening to the Powder River Basin, and Wyoming has more than a few problems/issues.
I wouldn’t feel bad about spending money in Teton County, WY.
They have a different attitude there to a considerable extent.
Recently while on a trip to the Pacific Northwest, I ran into two types of people who live there–those who enjoy and care about the environment, and those who could care less about it. Personally speaking, that part of the country has such an amplitute of natural beauty, I dont’ understand those peole who don’t relish it daily and enjoy living in that part of the country.
It’s the sad old story of “We don’t know what we’ve got til its gone”, which seems to still be most true in the wildest places, where the archaic frontier ethic still reigns. Hopefully people will wake up before the big yellow taxi arrives.
Authorities shooting exoctic animals that escaped on October 19th from the Muskingum County Animal Farm near Zanesville Ohio is just another example of how we deal with our wildlife. I can understand this mentality when a human life is being threatened but an ignorant, blanket directive to shoot each animal on sight without making attempts to either tranquilize or capture it (particulary bengal tigers and other rare species of which only a few still exist on this planet)is very fool hardy. We have nearly 7 billion people on this planet and only a few of these rare species left. Someday, if people want to see any wildlife they will have to travel to the Smithsonian and stare at taxidermists’ stuffed masterpieces and press a little button to hear the sound the creature made. How exciting!
Jim -
All good points. That story was incredibly sad-so sad I didn’t have the courage to write about it.
Recently I heard a talk by Mike Fay, Nat Geo Explorer, about his transect of the California Redwoods. He mentioned that if redwood harvesters, of second and third generation growth forests, would use selective cutting practices and allow longer time periods between harvesting cycles the trees would, over time, produce more harvestable lumber than the status quo, clearcutting (liquidation) method. Coming from a long-line of lumbermen and saw mill owners, this was not new information to me. Put it this way, you can get more money for big trees than little trees. But you don’t have big trees if you cut them all down at once.
Regarding the animal farm fiasco in Ohio, to attempt to tranquilize those animals in the dark with the weather they were experiencing would’ve been foolish. One cat was shot with a tranquilizer and she went nuts according to the authorities. As sad as this was, lethal means was the only method to try to keep the locals safe. The blame shouldn’t go on the local law enforcement; rather, the blame should be placed squarely on the shoulders of the governor and legislature for allowing Ohio to have the most relaxed exotic animal laws in the nation.
Perhaps, I was harsh in my judgment of those charged with capturing these animals and yes sometimes lethal measures need to be taken. Only licensed zoos and animal refuges (that are regulary inspected and approved) should be allowed to have wild creatures. This guy was clearly not in that category and Ohio laws are lax. There are only 2 or 3 thousand bengal tigers left in the wild (not counting those in countries like china where people get off on eating exotic animal parts) so mark my words, someday once humans have liquidated our natural resources world wide, we will all be visitng the Smithsonian for a tour of stuffed, extinct animals.
I lived in Cody, WY for almost 13 years. I was glad to see for once in mans lifetime they were doing the right thing in bringing back the wolves. We killed them off, well our great grandparents did. It was our generation that brought them back. We didn’t approve the reintroduction of the wolves with having thoughts of later shooting them as the alternative to a containment issue.
Who said we planned on containing them.
I found most of the problem is with the ranchers. My poor cow.. Eat the cow. No problem.
Do you know how many dead cows are found laying in the fields dead from exposure. LOTS.
The wolves just clean up the mess. They take out the dead, sick and lame, that the rancher would just shoot any way. This is also true with the wildlife that get hit by cars on the roads leading out from Yellowstone.
The wolves have been shot at since they day they left Yellowstone. Very shy, can’t get with in 2 blocks, so pictures are hard to get.
I moved to Wyoming because of it’s beauty, size, open spaces, and most of all it’s wildlife.
I read one blog here that mentions some of us care and the others could care less.
Well what I found, is there is a small population in the winter time. Most offenses/offenders are the 3.8 million, yes million’s that came to Cody every year from somewhere else.
Most people outside of WY. could care less. The problem isn’t in their back yard.
I’m with you, we have to find a way to stop this senseless killing of the wolves.
Bait them, catch them relocate them. What’s the problem. They do it all the time with bears. When these out of state hunters already have to pay 500.00 for a license, and 100.00 for a permitted guide, well whats another 300.00 to support the wolves. they want to come and kill off Wyoming one animal at a time, then they can pay more for the privilege to do so.
I did add my name to the petition. Thanks for all the help..