California Wolves Don’t Fear Humans

Modoc, Plumas, Sierra and Shasta county officials have recently declared that the wolves they’ve been forced to live in close proximity to are a threat to the well being of the people. In other words, those folks are afraid that the wolves, who have a penchant for killing livestock in and around homes and ranches, have grown complacent toward humans thanks to California laws prohibiting people from so much as hazing the predators away from homes and domestic animals. 

“These are wolves that have been in people’s back yards, including walking through children’s sandboxes,” Coe told Farm Press. “An elk was killed by wolves literally on the doorstep of a home that had a family in it during the night.” 

Shasta County in particular has declared an emergency on May 13th, as supervisors stated a, “significant threat to public safety from the presence and impact of gray wolves in close proximity to rural residents,” 

Others, including Amaroq Weiss, a “senior wolf advocate for the Center for Biological Diversity,” are downplaying the concern expressed… ‘“People’s enormous fears of wolves attacking and killing humans have no grounds,” she said.”

I’ve got another take, one that is echoed by the residents of the affected California counties – it’s not the 1800’s, modern wolves live in an environment lacking in abundant natural prey, especially in California, and so they turn to the easiest readily available food source – livestock and pets. When those wolves encounter zero negative repercussions from their actions they grow increasingly brazen until, you guessed it, tragedy strikes. 

“Pray for our ranchers in Northern California who’ve basically been told they can do absolutely NOTHING about the wolves killing their cattle. I don’t even think they can throw rocks at them without being charged with a felony.

The fact that the citizens of California cannot so much as “throw a stone” at the offending wolves for fear of legal penalty, shows how out of sync and backward wolf advocacy is. When people begin valuing animal welfare over human life we have a systemic problem. 

As usual, leave your thoughts in the comments. 

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