Wolf Tales

February 12, 2008

Felice Pace

Writer of Diatribes

The January 21st HCN had several letters reacting to the excellent John Dougherty report on the situation of the Mexican Gray wolf and human co-inhabitants in the Southwest’s wolf recovery area.

There was the ex-city person who once believed the environmentalists but - since moving to Catron County - has bought hook line and sinker into the anti-wolf hysteria.

There was the local whose job is “wolf interaction investigator,” playing his assigned role, accusing the author of a lack of “compassion for the safety of our children.”

And there was the fellow who pointed out that one of the individuals upholding the anti-wolf, anti-wild nature “custom and culture” of Catron County is a rich absentee landlord who is also a Mexican national.

Welcome to the Rural West!

I have heard this many times. That’s because for 35 years I lived in Siskiyou County , California , near the Oregon border. Siskiyou County is best known for Mt. Shasta but — while it is not as well known as Catron County — Siskiyou stands second to none in asserting its “custom and culture” ideology. For example, the county recently considered a natural resource policy that would have declared all rivers and streams in the county “non-navigable” except for the Klamath River . The County fathers and mothers appeared genuinely surprised when the fly-fishing, mountain-climbing, river-running, nature-loving and mostly-newcomer population of the South County (around Mt. Shasta ) rose up in rebellion.

The policy has been tabled but will likely be back. Like so many Old West rural counties, Siskiyou declares its fierce opposition to federal interference…except when the federal checks come in.

Siskiyou’s natural resource policy would also declare the wolf and all predators unwelcome in the county. Will this mean the hunters from the coast won’t come anymore?

Siskiyou County politicians know that it is important to prepare for the wolf in this area. Biologists tell us the Idaho packs, if unmolested, will move through Eastern Oregon and arrive in the Klamath-Siskiyou-Cascade California border region in a decade or so. Homeland security is therefore the order of the day!

While it is easy to joke about, however, the fear of predators in these rural Old West counties is not theoretical. People truly BELIEVE that they are at risk. While the probability that a wolf will kill a human in Catron County or anywhere else is extremely low, it is nevertheless possible. And that possibility is transformed into a hodgepodge of local legend, misinformation and exaggeration concerning the behavior of predators in general and wolves and cougars in particular. Rural people are constantly exposed to the anti-predator hodgepodge in conversation, in the pages of local newspapers, at school, at church and at the local post office. In this way the myths, legends and half truths come to be believed and fear — real fear — is engendered. It is a small step from this to actually coaxing wolves to misbehave so as to confirm what is already firmly believed.

It is one of the rules of propaganda that if a thing is repeated constantly, it will come to be believed by many, if not most, people. This is particularly true if there is motivation to believe what is said. In the rural West, one of the most powerful shared motivations is our desire to feel aggrieved toward city folk. Predator myths serve well as a vehicle for this resentment.

So where do we go from here? Are we doomed in the West to live through this bad movie script again and again? Maybe you have something to say on the subject.

1 Comment »

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Comment by Gary Cascio

February 13, 2008 @ 8:19 am

While I might not be considered an impartial observer of this debacle in Catron County (readers of wolfcrossing.org wants to sue me for defaming the county because of my pro-wolf t-shirts), I hope someone in our government does investigate the statements made by the ranch hand on the Adobe Ranch who said they baited the wolf pack located near their ranch so as to have them killed or removed from the area.

And I would strongly suggest individuals with information they believe may be helpful to this incident or any others (remember, wolves are being illegally killed down there almost as quick as they are being introduced) should call one of these three agencies: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service special agents in Mesa at (480) 835-8289 or in Pinetop at (928)367-5689 or the White Mountain Apache Tribe at (928) 338-1023 or (928) 338-4385 or Arizona Game and Fish Operation Game Thief at 1-800-352-0700.

HCN, please keep up the good work on this issue. Continue to bring this illegal activity out into the daylight before the Catron county lawbreakers finish off this wonderful creature.

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Source:  http://blog.hcn.org/goat/2008/02/12/wolf-tales/