On Wings, August 1990 Volume 5: No. 8
Coyotes are a member of the dog family (canids), which includes wolves, dogs and foxes. They have been around for quite some time; their name comes the Aztec word "coyotl."
Adults average around 20 to 35 pounds though some weigh over 50 pounds. Adult coyotes are four to five feet long and have round, bushy, black-tipped tails. Their ears are broad, pointed and erect and they have piercing yellow eyes. The color and texture their fur varies from region to region and season to season. Winter coats are prized by hunters for their thick silky fur.
These predators possess exceptional senses of smell, vision and hearing. Coyotes are most active at dusk and dawn, but during breeding and pup rearing season they may be observed during daylight hours. Coyotes reproduce once a year - breeding during the part of the first part of the year and giving birth in the springtime. The litter size depends on the mother's age and amount of available prey. Average litters can range from four to nine pups, but can be as high as 17.
Coyotes tend to vocalize at night, emitting either a high quavering cry or a series of short, high-pitched yips. This opportunistic carnivore is highly adaptable and throughout its years on the North American continent has managed to extend its range from Alaska throughout most of central Canada to all of the United States, Mexico and most of Central America.
Coyotes aren't picky eaters and their varied diet includes rabbits, fawns, fish, assorted birds, various small mammals, insects, reptiles berries, fruits, wild plants and even garbage. Coyotes have been known to raid cornfields and gardens. Their winter diet tends to include larger prey such as deer, livestock, rabbits and hares. Coyotes often learn that sheep, lambs, calves, piglets and poultry are easy prey. They are versatile and can hunt in packs or alone. The coyote does not hibernate. It hunts both day and night throughout its range. It runs swiftly and easily overtakes its prey. This alert and wary survivor is highly intelligent and learns how to elude hunters and evade predator control techniques in its habitat.
The sharp teeth of coyotes vary in size and spacing. The average spacing between the upper teeth is 1 1/8 to 1 3/8 inches with 1 to 1 1/4 inches between the lower teeth. Coyotes typically bite the throat of their prey just behind the jaw and below the ear. Death usually results from suffocation, shock and blood loss. Coyotes may carry away young lambs, kids and pigs and disappear with hardly a trace. Coyotes are also known to attack the flanks and hindquarters of larger wild mammals as well as of domestic livestock. They are more likely to kill sheep in this manner during winter months when the fleece is heavier.
Coyotes often attack cows giving birth, and severe injuries to the cow's genital organs and hindquarters are not uncommon. The coyotes tend to attack heifers, or young cows during their first delivery. Calves are often bobtailed by coyote attacks. Animals that are not killed immediately will suffer after a coyote attack. Lacerations usually become infected and death is very slow and painful. Often coyotes will feed extensively upon a living calf's hindquarters before it dies. On dead and dying animals, coyotes usually feed first on the flank or just behind the ribs. However, others prefer the viscera (liver, heart, lungs, mesenteric fat, etc.) A milk-filled stomach is a coyote delicacy.
Frenzied coyotes often participate in killing sprees. They make frequent and multiple kills but do not feed upon them. At the kill sites where they do feed, the hide and most of the skeleton may be left unless food is scarce. Then nothing is wasted. Coyote feeding leaves ragged edges on muscle tissue and tendons as well as splintered and chewed ribs and other bones. Scattered wool and fur, bits of skin and other body parts are characteristic where coyotes feed extensively on larger carcasses. If not disturbed at a feeding site, coyotes often rub and roll after feeding, possibly to clean themselves. They may also urinate and defecate at the kill site soon after feeding.
Governmental Predator Control
In 1931 Congress established the Animal Damage Control (ADC) program. The program was originally under the jurisdiction of the Department of the Interior,USFWS, but Congress, as a result of pressure from the western states, transferred the ADC to the Department of Agriculture in 1985. It is now called Wildlife Services and is a branch of the Animal Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS). From 1988 through 1991 approximately 350,000 coyotes were eradicated. Leg hold traps, wire neck snares, shooting from aircraft, M-44 (a sodium cyanide powder that explodes in an animal's mouth, denning, shooting, hunting with dogs and 1080 (sodium f1uoroacetate) livestock protection collars have all been used in the war against the coyote.
Major complaints involved coyotes that killed sheep, goats, cattle, foals, poultry, swine and domestic pets, those that raided watermelon and pumpkin patches and still others that were just plain destructive to private property. In 1990 alone, damage to sheep cost $13,555,500 and to cattle $24,320,000. Statistics indicate that the largest number of complaints were from Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Illinois, Louisiana, Minnesota, Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico, New York, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, Washington, Wyoming though coyotes are found nationwide. (The ADC also handles destruction and predation problems caused by wolves, mountain lions, bears, foxes, bobcats, badgers, minks, raccoons, opossums, skunks and other nuisance animals.)
The Predator Protectionists
The animal rights alarmists are appalled, of course, at the killing of these "defenseless" coyotes. After all, it isn't their livestock that is threatened or endangered, is it? Due to their campaigns, many states have outlawed the use of effective traps, poisons and snares. Despite the green movement's good intentions, however, live trapping is not as humane as it may seem, because trapped coyotes desperately bite and tear at the wire, causing damage to their mouth and teeth. Lethal methods are the quickest way to stop coyotes from killing livestock. In fact, in most situations, lethal methods may be the only cost-effective solution.
The evasive coyote is not easy to catch or restrain. They easily learn how to avoid humane box traps. They soon realize that scare cannons or propane exploders are not harmful. Coyotes will even go between active propane exploders to kill livestock. The USDA electronic guard device, complete with strobe lights and sirens that come on every 15 minutes throughout the night, is also ignored by the animals. Coyotes are not afraid of people and so scarecrows wearing human scented clothing are no deterrent. There have been experiments in applying coyote repellents to sheep but they have proven ineffective.
Animal rights advocates have suggested using all the above methods to keep coyotes away from ranches and farms but they just don't work. Other ideas are to switch lambing times from spring to fall, to pen the animals at night in electrical or drift fences and to put bells on the sheep. One group suggested that talk radio programs be used to keep the coyotes away. I suppose that might work. Guard dogs that bond with the livestock and thus defend them may be one of the best ways to keep the coyotes in check. However, good guard dogs result from not only proper training when they are pups, but also an inborn disposition for this work. Not all Komondors, Maremmas, Slovensky Cuvacs, Polish Tatra Sheepdogs, Anatolian Shepherds, Kuvaszs, Shar Planinetzs or Great Pyrenees will be good at this job.
Donkeys are sometimes used by livestock producers to guard sheep, goats and hogs that are allowed to forage in the woods. Most donkeys have a natural dislike for coyotes and dogs and will bond well with livestock. Aggressive llamas and horses can also fend off coyotes.
The Urban Coyote
Once the bane of farmers and ranchers, coyotes (sometimes called "the little wolf) are now posing threats to urban areas. Many residents worry that ravenous coyotes, known to eat almost anything anyway, will attack pets and children as easily as livestock. More than one person has caught a coyote stalking their beloved dog and many family pets have been bitten, attacked and killed by coyotes. One woman's dog was carried off by a pack of coyotes and she is certain that one skinned her 13-year old cat, leaving behind chunks of fur. Let's hope we never have to read or hear about someone's child meeting a similar fate.
Because of the danger to people, pets and other wildlife, it is illegal to use toxicants and poisons to control coyotes. When coyotes are causing damage, most city folk just want the problem corrected but don't always want the coyote killed. "Can't you just catch the coyotes and move them someplace else?" is a common question. Despite the yammering from the animal rights crowd, after all is said and done, the best way to control the coyote population and the problems they cause is simply to exterminate them.
Hunting the Varmint
Most states have open season for coyotes and other nuisance animals, though coyote hunting at night is often prohibited. They are much more difficult to hunt during the day. Shooting problem coyotes is always an option in rural areas and sometimes within city limits if ordinances allow it. Using dogs is an effective way to hunt coyotes, but it can be difficult to target a specific coyote that is causing damage. Sport hunters kill coyotes because they kill hundreds of thousands of deer and other game animals each year. From 1941-89, 540,000 coyotes were harvested by fur trappers and hunters. Harvest totals from 1980-89 indicated an average annual harvest of 20,900 coyotes and their pelts were valued at $521,000.
Tracking coyotes requires patience. A hunter must learn the coyote's pattern. Some may stalk their prey at a certain time of the day. Coyotes can return to the kill site several times until a carcass is reduced to bones and hide. Sunrise and sunset are usually the best times to stake out a coyote kill. Shooters must remain downwind of this ever alert predator. Hunting dogs work best during the winter because they have difficulty scenting and trailing coyotes in dry summer conditions. Electronic or hand-held calls can imitate the sound of a wounded rabbit and draw coyotes within range, but this method can only be used during the daytime unless special authorization is granted from the Conservation Department.
HSUS Campaigns to Cut ADC Funds
HSUS is our nation's largest animal protection organization and boasts a membership base of six million. HSUS campaigned and Congress listened. Rep. Charles Bass, R-NH, a member of the House Budget Committee, and Rep. Peter DeFazio, D-OR, a member of the House Resources Committee, offered an amendment to cut $ 10 million from the $28.8 million operations budget for Wildlife Services via H.R. 4101, The Agriculture Appropriations Act. Other conservation organizations, including the Sierra Club, Defenders of Wildlife, Friends of the Earth, League of Conservation Voters, Taxpayers for Common Sense, and the Green Scissors Coalition endorsed this bill. Their reasoning? Cut funding and make the predator control program more ineffective so that coyotes and other harmful animals would be protected from cruel deaths.
After heated debates and a political roller coaster ride, the Predator Project and its coalition of environmental and taxpayer groups suffered a narrow defeat. The bill was overthrown only due to intense lobbying by the Farm Bureau and its allies within and outside of Congress. Each year, predators cause a great deal of damage to livestock and private property. These animals have killed beloved pets and attacked men, women and children as well. If the animal rights/environmentalists fight this hard to protect the common coyote, can you imagine what they do to defend a supposedly endangered or threatened species?
WOLVES ARE LIKE COYOTES ONLY BIGGER AND MEANER
Unlike the persistent and adaptable coyote that just keeps increasing its population, apparently wolves need protection from the federal government and so were listed under the ESA. Saving the "poor misunderstood" and "noble" wolf has become a pet project of animal rights and environmental devotees throughout the U.S., Canada and Europe.
The farming and ranching communities of yesteryear offered bounties for these marauding killers, but now these ravenous beasts are protected by federal law. Wolves are being reintroduced throughout the country, much to the disdain and detriment of farmers, ranchers and property owners everywhere. Captive release breeding programs are being funded in order to increase the wild populations of these predators.
As early as 1982, the FWS and Mexico jointly approved the Mexican Wolf Recovery Plan calling for expanded breeding efforts and the establishment of a wild population of at least 100 wolves. Not long thereafter, the Defenders of Wildlife became active and generated public support and funding for El Lobo's reintroduction. The pro-wolf groups have worked very hard to see that wolves were released into the wild. They have fought the FWS, the Farm Bureau and legislators. They have initiated lawsuits and letter writing campaigns. The "save the wolf" project has become one of their most important and popular campaigns.
In January of 1998, three Mexican wolves were released into the Ponderosa pine mountains of eastern Arizona's Apache National Forest. Bruce Babbitt, who released the first wolf proclaimed, "As we bring these wolves back to the wild, we strengthen the human spirit."
I suppose he is right. We will have to be more diligent and stronger than ever to stave off the danger brought on by these federally protected predators. Similar recovery and re-introduction schemes have taken place for the gray wolf in Yellowstone National Park, the timber wolf in Minnesota and the red wolf in North Carolina and Tennessee.
However, you should know that the red wolf is actually a hybrid coyote that was never found in North Carolina in the first place. Even though it was their mistake, the FWS will spend mil-lions of our tax dollars to protect this unwanted mongrel. How many more ESA listing mistakes will be made in addition to those On Wings and other publications have already reported?
Nevertheless, the Defenders hope to release these so-called red wolves into Mississippi. Why does Mississippi need them? Why are our tax dollars wasted for such foolishness? The Defenders also want to reintroduce the eastern timber wolf into New York's Adirondack Park and the gray wolf to Washington State's Olympic National Park. For those of you who enjoy camping and hiking in these beautiful parks, now is the time to voice your concerns. Natural populations of gray wolves that migrate from Canada into Wyoming, Montana and Idaho already pose a threat to livestock, pets and people. Citizens want this wolf delisted, but the pro-wolf faction is fighting it. Something is very wrong when people cannot defend themselves, their families and their animals without being fined and jailed for doing so.
The government cares more about these predatory animals than it does its citizens. Babbitt has proclaimed that he wants to "hear wolves howling throughout Montana and other western states." I bet there will be howling, but not from wolves! Gray wolves have been returned to public lands in Yellowstone and central Idaho with the hopes they will repopulate and one day be removed from the ESA list. In the meantime, however, a U.S. District Court judge said the reintroduction effort harmed the native population of endangered native wolves and that the introduced wolves would have to be recaptured and removed.
Babbitt vowed to fight the court order saying that "no wolves will be removed from Yellowstone on my watch." This wildlife war continues. Just like other ESA listings, wolves are listed by populations rather than actual subspecies. To add to the confusion, where the wolf populations overlap, hybrids occur. There are also hybrids which result from matings of coyotes and wolves and domestic dogs and wolves. Many of these hybrids are even more aggressive and predatory than their parents.
Alaska has the largest wolf population but it not listed under the ESA. Hunters and trappers kill the wolves that kill caribou and moose. The Defenders of Wildlife objected and rallied to conduct a successful ballot initiative to end same-day-airborne and land-and-shoot wolf killing. Now Alaska will have even more wolves and even fewer game animals. What is it with these people?
Wolves, wolves, everywhere wolves
Soon they will be as plentiful as the coyote and because they are federally protected, they will be even more impossible to control. Spirit of the Predator:
New Age Politics
Many earth and nature worshippers have adopted the wolf as their totem animal. The wolf and coyote can be found in contemporary art including wearable talismans such as jewelry and clothing. Homage is paid to these animals in books, movies and music. The pantheistic hodge podge that is new age religion includes the worship of animal spirits. Devotees invoke these spirits and can be literally possessed by them. Is it any wonder then, that these people are unable to separate reality from myth; science from fiction, or common sense from deception?
A White House press release written by Al Gore, praised the gray wolf recovery effort as follows, "There is perhaps no greater symbol of the American wilds than the howl of a wolf roaming free. The return of the gray wolf is a testament to nature's resilience -- and to the remarkable success of the Endangered Species Act." So much for a well-balanced earth.
Actually, the wolf and coyote are appropriate symbols for Eco/ARFs. Their numbers continue to grow and thrive. They are everywhere and are out of control. They run in packs and their cries can be heard echoing throughout our land They are mobile and territorial. They seek out new turf and more land. They can be illusive and evasive or blend into their surroundings. They are opportunistic and clever. They gang up on others. They are immune to the sound wisdom. They have no fear of people's resistance. In fact, they disregard other people's needs and struggles, private property and safety, and ideas and beliefs in the same manner that predators mark their territory and their kill sites. While preaching tolerance; they are intolerant. While defending the rights of animals; they taking away the rights of man. One day the wolves will be as numerous and far ranging as coyotes, and the animal and earth worshippers will outnumber everyone. Are you ready for the new millennium?
The Trouble With Wolves
On Wings February 2000
Volume 6: No. 2
Wolves can't be blamed for their inherent nature. They are wild animals, after all. However, man has free will and the ability to make decisions based on reason and common sense as well as the ability to rationalize and justify actions that run counter to that concept. Man has the ability to recognize and accept the inherent nature of wolves and act accordingly. Nevertheless, the green elite and animal rights crowd have convinced themselves and will attempt to convince you that man has no more rights than animals. In fact, if anything, he has fewer rights. Human life is not sacred to them. They believe in human population control for everyone but themselves, but that is a topic for another article.
Here is a true story about a wolf at the door. An 81 year old great-grandmother who lives in the small town of Alma, New Mexico, located near the Gila wilderness, was confronted by the consequences of the wolf reintroduction program first hand. She was washing dishes one afternoon when she heard the alarmed barking of her daughter's dog. Looking out the window, she watched helpless as a Mexican Grey wolf sauntered away with Fuzzy, her favorite cat, in his Jaws. She called to her husband, who was able to identify the animal right away. He had been been a rancher in New Mexico for most of his life and he knew the difference between a coyote and a wolf.
He wanted to shoot the cat-stealing critter, but he also knew the animal was federally protected and that he could be charged as a felon for doing so. The wolf killed Fuzzy in their yard in broad daylight and they could only thank God that their five-year old great-grand-daughter had not been playing outside that day - something she usually did. Mrs. Klumker called the U.S. FWS to report the incident. Agents didn't show up till late the next day to conduct an investigation. They left without comment and she and her husband haven't heard anything from those agents since.
A woman with the FWS Wolf Introduction Program in Albuquerque wasn't concerned about Fuzzy's violent death. She told the couple that it was probably a coyote that killed the cat. She further claimed that the investigation revealed no sign of a wolf on their property. The couple voiced their concern for the safety of children in the area. The wolf introduction program employee told them that "The Fish and Wildlife Service does not believe that wolves will attack children." Nor would they care overly much if they did, I bet.
This was not the first wolf sighting in the Alma area. Children at the school bus stop also reported seeing the wolf and other neighbors had seen it too. Some have seen its collar, which proves that it was part of the Galvan pack that was reintroduced in Arizona, but which drifted into New Mexico. Those wolves have been responsible for several documented domestic animal slayings. Down the road in Glenwood, NM, the elementary 31 school teachers are a afraid to let children play in the schoolyard because the Galvan pack recently killed a 1600 pound bull about two miles from the school. If the wolves could take down a 1600 pound bull, wouldn't children be easy prey?
Facts refute the FWS "harmless wolf" theory. John James Audubon, in an 1830 book, reported an attack by a pack of wolves on two men travelling through Kentucky one winter. One was killed and the other escaped up a tree. The Saint Paul Daily Globe, March 8, 1888, reported a pack of wolves surrounded a farmer and his son and ate them alive. An Ontario, Canada newspaper reported in 1995 that a group of wolves killed and mangled a wildlife reserve employee. Officers at the scene had to kill three wolves to get to her body. The Pittsburg Post Gazette, August 28, 1996, ran a story about a boy that was attacked by a wolf while on a camping trip with his family. While the boy slept, a wolf attacked and dragged him through his tent. The menacing animal clamped its jaws so tightly on the boy's face that they penetrated his cheekbone and broke his nose in five places. Zach sustained gashes that bisected his cheeks under both eyes and he suffered severe blood loss before reaching an emergency room. A week after that attack, two other campers were forced from their campsite by ravaging wolves. The New York Times recorded that wolves killed 33 children and seriously mauled 20 others in India from April to September in 1996.
In the late 1800's, 624 human killings by wolves in one area of India were reported. Human killings reached 100 in one year of the 1980's. There have been reports of wolves killing humans for over a thousand years and that includes numerous cases of wolves running off with small children. One diligent anti-wolf activist recently discovered that a wolf reintroduction plan for the Mexican border was being planned even though the US FWS out and out denied it.
The citizens of New Mexico are taking a stand and have organized a large rally to protest the introduction of the Mexican Gray Wolf into the Gila Mountains. The rally is scheduled for Saturday, February 26th and will feature several well-known speakers. Art Porter, a former Arizona game Commissioner will relate how the US FWS made it appear he favored the wolf release program when he was really against it. NM State Senator Bill Davis will express his concern about the release of wolves in this area. Concerned mothers will speak about being afraid to let their children outside to play. Judy Collins, environmentalist turned rancher, will tell about being sold out by the Defenders of Wildlife. Hunters will explain how wolves destroy game populations. The speaker list continues to grow and J. Zane Walley will be the moderator.
60 Minutes is interviewing citizens for their national show and several publications will carry the story. It's about time.
Next door in Arizona, the Humphrey family and their two dogs experienced a close encounter of the worst kind with Mexican wolves. The Humphreys live in suburban Tucson, but every free moment is spent in the desert and mountains camping. Hunting, hiking and camping is what they love doing most in the world. The family is well traveled and the couple home-schools their children - often while camped out in the wilderness.
Their story begins at one of their favorite camping spots, a campsite they had used for 20 years. In fact, Richard and his daughters were in the tent studying when the wolf attack began. Helen cried as she helped her husband tell the story of how Buck, one of their dogs, saved their two daughters from a very likely wolf attack. It was Buck who first discovered the recently released Mexican wolves lurking close to the tent behind a thicket of undergrowth. He found two wolves exactly where the younger daughter was getting ready to build a playhouse later that day. The brave dog confronted the wolves tooth and nail and fought the good fight to defend his family. Helen Humphrey heard the commotion and the cries of pain from their beloved dog. She ran out of the tent to see what was happening and began to scream.
She yelled for Richard to get the rifle. He tried to frighten the wolves off as Buck fought for his life but one of the wolves left the dog fight and came at him in a run. Richard remembered being surprised at just how fast that angry wolf charged at him. He had no choice but to shoot and kill the vicious animal before it attacked him or one of his family. Richard was very frightened during this ordeal and was unsure how many more wolves may have been in the area at time. After he shot, the wolf ran at him and the other wolf ran Buck staggered out of the undergrowth on three legs, severely mauled and with a shattered leg.
The Humphreys bandaged his wounds with towels and raced to find him a veterinarian. They stopped at a highway maintenance yard to report the killing, but there was no phone there. Richard wanted to comply with the mandatory 24-hour reporting period for killing an endangered species. He was eventually able to notify Arizona and Fish of the incident via a construction worker's mobile phone.
A vet in the nearby town of Clifton-Morenci was only a available two days a week and the day of the attack was not one of them. The family had no choice but to call a vet in Safford to let them know they were on the way, and then began the nerve wracking 100 mile trek. The Safford vet later told Richard that Buck's injuries were the worst he had ever attended.
They left Buck in the vet's care and drove back to their campsite. On the way, they stopped at Clifton-Morenci to return a borrowed pencil and that is where they met an undercover U.S. FWS agent filling a large cooler with ice - presumably for the wolf carcass They all went back to the campsite. This is where the real tragedy began.
The traumatized family was interrogated and received no sympathy from the bureaucrats for what they had been through that terrible day. An agent from Arizona and Game was also present. Though he seemed hesitant and took no notes, he offered the family no comfort either.
Six drawn-out weeks of questions and interrogations followed. One agent and his supervisor brought the investigation into the Humphrey home and by then, Richard was prepared. An attorney and a video camera to record the meeting awaited FWS. You better believe the agents didn't like that and they tried every way they knew how to trip Richard up. In the course of the ordeal, Richard discovered that the agents hadn't even checked the wolf carcass for dog bites. F
WS was focused on analyzing the way the bullet entered the wolf. They even had the gall to tell Richard they doubted that Buck had been attacked at all! The green media sunk their teeth into this story and came up with the campaign slogan "Real Men Don't Kill Wolves." I wish that every one of those idiots who jumped into this kangaroo court against Richard Humphrey could have experienced the same thing he, his family and their brave dog, Buck, experienced. Instead, they took the side of the ravenous wolf and set out to make an example of Richard Humphrey.
They accused him of lying; said he had no excuse to kill the wolf and emphasized that the act was illegal. The Southwest Center for Biological Diversity pressed for an indictment and then came down on the FWS for failing to prosecute. Their spokesman threatened to charge FWS with "dereliction of duty" and indicated they would seek legal action against Humphrey themselves. The wolf defenders continued to stir up the controversy and the negative publicity grew by leaps and bounds. They went so far as to state that the killing of the wolf was "malicious and not just ignorant."
Humphrey maintained his silence and looked for some way he could get the true story to the press. A friend of his, the publisher of Outdoor News, got involved in Richard's plight. He had known Richard for many years and knew what kind of man he was. A little investigation on their part revealed that a rather large controversy had been brewing about this particular wolf release. Because of the controversy, FWS conducted a covert release, that is to say, they did not issue public notice of the release. The FWS release pens, where the wolves were fed road-kill twice a week by the FWS, were less than a mile from their camp even though the FWS had guaranteed in public meetings that "Notice of general wolf locations will be publicized."
The Humphreys had been completely unaware they had set up camp in a wolf release area. As unconscionable as releasing the wolves without public notice was, it was even worse when the FWS continued their coverup. FWS chose instead to harass, interrogate and intimidate their innocent victims, the Humphreys, all but accusing them of wrongdoing. This nonsense has go to stop. Taxpayers have contributed well over $6 million on the wolf release program, yet the FWS deliberately did not warn U.S. citizens that dangerous predators were being released close to populated areas and a major highway. No, the FWS chose to release those hungry wild animals in an area frequented by large numbers of tourists where camping was common.
Do you think the FWS will continue to maintain their "harmless wolf' policy? You would think they'd learn from their mistakes, but don't be surprised if they don't - not while the powerful green political machine chums out their garbage - garbage that folks with more common sense and a better grasp of reality must clean up and throw out.
P.S. Buck continues to mend slowly and his courage and devotion to his family are to be commended. Information taken from articles written by J. Zane Walley of The Paragon Foundation. J. Zane Walley is a writer from Lincoln, New Mexico. In an effort to feel what the Humphreys felt when the wolf rushed at them, he called a neighbor who owns a hybrid wolf. Walley got in the pen and allowed the wolf, which was on a long chain, to charge at him. Needless to say, he felt fear run through his veins and completely understood why Humphrey had to shoot the wolf. Walley interviewed Kieran Suckling, champion of the wolf-release program and director of the SCBD, the one who began the "Indict Richard Humphrey" crusade. When Walley suggested that Mr. Suckling experience the "wolf pen" experience, without the chain of course, Suckling quickly declined.
