Why Not Put Dangerous Predators Back in Central Park?
Anti-human policies make wolf reintroduction evil

Despite false information imparted by many textbooks and greenwashed teachers, some students still seek truth. Yesterday we were gratified to receive this letter from Matt Fleming and Seth Holehouse, Plain City, OH:
"We are sixth grade students at Canaan Middle School. Currently we are studying wolves and how they are being reintroduced into Yellowstone National Park. We are glad wolves are coming back to Yellowstone. If you have any free information we would be very grateful if you sent it to us."
Our Response: Thanks for writing. There's nothing inherently wrong with having wolves in Yellowstone, but anti- human policies engineered by environmental leaders have made it disastrous.

Since you're studying wolves, we hope you're being taught they aren't tame or friendly. Actually they're wild meat-eaters like tigers, and lions, or the cougars (mountain lions) you hear so much about lately. They like deer and sheep, as well as smaller creatures. While they usually operate in packs, it's not unheard of for a lone wolf to bring down a beast as big as a moose.

Some say wolves are no threat to humans. This is false. In eastern Russia, India and other places where large wolf populations exist they have a long history of eating people. Americans don't have that problem because our forefathers found them quite dangerous.

My grandad, for example, resented them gobbling his sheep and horses, and was concerned about his family. So he set traps or shot them on sight. So did other people. And by the early 1940's America had few left.
Now they're termed "endangered" and are protected by law so people can't shoot or trap them.

The same is true of bears and cougars. They became scarce because, like wolves, they eat most anything. So people shot them. We'll bet your parents would shoot anything that tried to eat you. And we'll bet you'd be glad they did.

In Minnesota, wolves have come back remarkably, Today state officials say there are over 2,000 of them. Actually, there are probably many more because they're attacking farm animals and livestock just as when our grandparents and great-grandparents tried to eliminate them.

I don't know about Ohio, but things are so bad in Minnesota the state now pays people for livestock killed by wolves. Nonetheless, they aren't allowed to shoot or trap them because the law forbids anyone to harm or "harass" any endangered creature.

As to Yellowstone, if we have wolves there we must recognize they won't honor Park boundaries. It's crazy that we let them gobble livestock and threaten children on farms and ranches well outside Yellowstone, yet forbid people to shoot them.

We have much data on wolves at home in Silver Bay, but we're traveling and your letter was forwarded. However we brought along information on other predators. Enclosed is material you'll find interesting.

In Colorado there were 245 black bear attacks and 127 cougar attacks on people between 1995 and 1996. And in 1994 and 1995, wolves and bears killed many hundreds of thousands of sheep and cows. How can anyone justify forcing ranchers to endure this?

They can't. But environmental fanatics, with whom we strongly disagree, say animals - including wolves - are as important as people. Fortunately, a federal court recently disagreed, deciding that wolf reintroduction in Yellowstone must be reversed!!

Most green zealots live in big cities. Since they want dangerous predators reintroduced, why not put wolves and bears into Central Park in New York and Rock Creek Park in Washington? Then forbid anyone to "harass" them while they roam the streets searching for food.
This makes as much sense as what's been happening in Yellowstone. What do you and your classmates think?

(To comment, write: Environmentalist, Box 146, Silver Bay, MM 55614. For personal response enclose self- addressed, stamped envelope.)