How dare you identify wolves with target practice. Humans are better targets than wolves.

If there's anything we should have learned over the centuries is that if we screw around with Mother Nature, she has a tendency to screw us back in return.  I spend about 1/3 of my time each year at our place in the U.P., and I've seen three wolves over the last several years, and I think they're a welcome addition to the area because of the balance of nature, and I feel the same way about eagles, hawks, coyotes, humans, etc.  

OTOH, I also do believe that thinning the population of some species may be necessary.  I don't hunt, but thinning out the deer herd through human, wolf, and coyote intervention is necessary unless they just starve to death.  Would I rather be shot or starve to death?  Definitely the former, however my wife wants to do that to me now.  ;( 

In Virginia we have periods where the deer herds are thinned and the venison given to charitable organizations. It is more humane for them to be harvested than starve to death.

However, when the deer wipe out my Hosta garden each year my feelings are a little less charitable.

Mar 5, 2012 -- 10:40PM, solfeggio wrote:

I always wonder why people use terminology like 'harvesting' or 'thinning out' to describe what is, in fact, plain old-fashioned killing.  Why not just say that you're killing deer? 

At any rate, people complain about there being too many deer in the suburbs and other places, which I'm sure is true.  What is also true is that all that killing over the years has not done anything to reduce those herds, has it?

So, it's not working, then, is it?

The only answer to keeping down a deer population is some sort of sterilisation for either the males of females.  If scientists can come up with a birth control pill for humans, surely they could invent a pill or powder or liquid that could be left about in the forest for deer to eat and thus not have babies.

It's certainly better than killing.

But, of course, if you couldn't kill them legally, then the hunters wouldn't like that.  And I'm sure that's why nobody has ever seriously tried to find some sort of birth control.

 

 

Take care of your animals in NZ and we'll take care of ours according to our wisdom.

At any rate, people complain about there being too many deer in the suburbs and other places, which I'm sure is true.  What is also true is that all that killing over the years has not done anything to reduce those herds, has it?

So, it's not working, then, is it?

It is not working for the simple reason that humans got rid of the natural predators. Every time man gets his hand in the natural order of things, he creates another imbalance  to be solved by further manipulations and attempts to control.

We will have this problem as long as the mindset of "controlling or subduing nature" keeps driving    people's actions.

We have to learn from the ideals of the zen people :  to "walk without leaving any trace", rather than trying  to change  the world to fit our desires.  But unfortunately  hunmanity is too far away from that kind of understanding.