Managing hate... wolves in the west

Standing underneath the red fir, about 50 feet off the trail, the coyote stood still.  We were panting, having ridden our bikes up the steep climb to the Twin Falls overlook in the Inyo National Forest.  We stopped, and the coyote remained in place, yellow eyes focused on us. After a full minute, it turned and seemed to saunter away without a care.

Caroline, my partner of 30 years, had tears in her eyes. Hands clasped to her chest, she whispered, “She’s such a beautiful animal.” This rare glimpse of a shy and elusive predator was a treat for both of us, and I’m a wildlife biologist. We both felt very lucky to see this animal on its terms, in the wild.

 

California coyote

And so too, of course, was this coyote. Near the California resort town of Mammoth Lakes, it was probably safe from humans, although there were no guarantees. Had we been home, then in northern Utah, any coyote showing its face was not long for this world, given the $50 bounty authorized by Utah's Predator Control Program. Statutory authority for coyote management had been given to the Utah Department of Agriculture and Food instead of the Division of Wildlife Resources. In Utah, you can beat a coyote pup to death with a log and get $50 for your effort.

 

Recently, in Wyoming, a snowmobiler (I won’t repeat his name and I won’t call him a hunter) ran over a gray wolf, injuring it to the point that it could be captured by hand. He took the captured wolf to the Green River Bar for display and to mock, before finally shooting it. Eventually, he was fined—but not for torturing a sentient animal. For possession of live wildlife without a permit. He was fined $250, and a witness noted him bragging that "it was worth it."

 

I now live in Colorado, where voters mandated that Colorado Parks and Wildlife reintroduce wolves into the state in 2023. Ten wolves have been released. At least one pair gave birth to pups this year. An agreement between Utah and Colorado directs Utah to capture and return any wolves that cross the state line.

 

“Can we do that in the form of a rug?” asked Utah Representative Steven Lund.

 *****

How do we manage hate? After teaching university courses in wildlife policy and the human dimensions of wildlife management for three decades, I understand conflict. I know wildlife managers need to learn to cope with heated disagreements. There’s a great deal of passion expressed during debates about urban deer eating garden plants or policies for trapping or hunting.

 

And I also understand fear––a legitimate management concern. The fear a homeowner has when they hear the strange scratching noises in their attic at night, from squirrels or raccoons, is logical. There are valid concerns about human safety in lion and bear country. The fear ranchers feel for the welfare of their livestock in wolf country is rational. Fear toward some animals may be hard-wired into us. For most of hominin existence, we have been prey––to the great cats, snakes, and large raptors. There is strong evidence that the “Taung child”, a 2-million-year-old Australopithecus africanus juvenile, was killed and eaten by a large raptor. Two million years is more than enough time to develop a variety of innate predator avoidance behaviors. It strikes me as somewhat extraordinary that today we can sleep with our dogs and cats, even leaving our helpless infants unattended with these animals, after two million years of fearing predators.

Evidence for eagle predation on the Taung child.

But hate is different. Intense dislike. Rage. Coyote-killing contests are a wanton waste, but hate is not why they take place. Sniping black bears over a mound of garbage or shooting mountain lions out of a tree is unethical in my book, but I would never say these bears and lions are hunted because of hate. The American Psychological Association defines “hate” as “a hostile emotion combining intense feelings of detestation, anger, and often a desire to do harm.” That desire to do harm seems to sum up a great deal of the anti-wolf sentiment in the western states. It goes way beyond the classic defiance response of “shoot, shovel, and shut up.” I monitor an anti-wolf social media site, and I can practically feel the spittle coming off the animosity and loathing expressed toward gray wolves (as well as wolf supporters). The almost religious fervor combined with a one-upmanship of who can appear to be the most violent or demonstrate extreme hate is unnerving.

 

Unlike any innate fear toward wildlife, hate is a learned behavior. I don’t know how long wolf-loathing tribalism has been around, but it’s not new. In his book, Vicious: Wolves and Men in America, author Jon Coleman recounts episodes of wolf torture dating back centuries. Early colonists may have occasionally hauled a captured wolf back to town and burned it in front of the general store, but today’s social media universe makes this hate more visible and accessible.

 

Some argue that the popularity of fables or religious anecdotes with wolves as the villains is to blame, but that seems overly simplistic. Many people have made it through their childhood without accounts of those three house-hunting little pigs or Little Red Riding Hood’s attempt at food delivery causing them to hate wolves. In Matthew 7:15, the devout are warned that false prophets “…come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves.” Symbolism, right? So, what drives this anti-wolf hate?  Is it just an anti-government reaction? An attempt to reserve valued deer and elk for hunters? A pathological need to hate something corporeal? A way to demonstrate displeasure toward bunny-huggers and vegans?

Whatever drives it, it’s here. It’s real. And we must live with it. I propose three strategies for the next century.

 

First, 100% of livestock and working dog depredations need to be addressed, through reasonable and timely compensation, non-lethal deterrents at no cost to producers, and even humane removal of chronically depredating wolves. Wolf management specialists can’t just be good at trapping or shooting wolves; they also must be able to conduct legitimate forensic examinations of carcasses, manage range riders, construct fladry, and select effective livestock guarding animals. That’s currently an issue, with wolf removal specialists belittling the non-lethal management specialists, and vice versa. That can’t continue.

 

While you can’t apply these same guidelines to predation on deer and elk since ungulates are, unsurprisingly, wolf food, that’s only a problem for now.  Over the next 100 years, the number of big game hunters will continue to decline as the percentage of Americans who hunt transforms due to demographics, education, access issues, and alternative distractions.  Wolves and their prey will reach an equilibrium. This problem will solve itself.

 

Second, no more reintroductions. The natural recolonization of wolves throughout the west may be slow, and discontinuous, but ecosystems operate on a different time scale than we do. Over the next century, wolves will live where there is space and prey. Where conflict is to be avoided, managers will intervene. Given the successful reintroduction of gray wolves into Yellowstone National Park and central Idaho, wolves have dispersed from this core. Oregon, Washington, and California got their wolf populations this way. Colorado didn’t need a reintroduction program, it simply needed to protect recolonizing wolves from being shot or trapped. Utah may have no wolf packs today, but ever since a wolf (253M) from Yellowstone's Druid Peak pack made it to Utah in 2002, dispersing wolves continue to visit. A century is plenty of time for this natural process of dispersal to occur throughout the west.

And finally, wolf managers should work to avoid making enemies. Remember, hate is a learned behavior. In a century, none of today’s wolf haters will be with us. It is critical that wolf managers and wolf enthusiasts create no new enemies. And livestock managers will learn to live with wolves, just as they live with bears, mountain lions, coyotes, and feral dogs.

 

In other words, care for your neighbors. Let natural processes go to work. Have patience. That’s my 100-year plan.

 

I used to have the Utah specialty license plate “UTWOLF.” I hoped to temper any negative responses (like having my car keyed or my windows broken) by having the plate wrapped in a Utah Hunter Instructor frame. The plate was stolen in California, and I never replaced it. The politics of hate had convinced me to take a step back, relax, and not push buttons.

 

In 2023, Colorado’s General Assembly passed HB23-1265, creating a "Born to Be Wild" specialty license plate. In its first six months, over $300,000 was raised for “nonlethal means of mitigating and preventing conflict with gray wolves.” It seems plenty of people are happy to promote coexistence with wolves, although I suspect most of them live on the eastern slope, while the people living with wolves are on the west side of the Rockies. Still, it’s a start. Care for your neighbors. Let natural processes go to work. Have patience.

 

Patience.

This article is reposted from https://www.animals24-7.org/2024/10/05/managing-wolf-hatred-by-robert-schmidt/. It has been slightly edited from the original.