Peter:

1} We "eradicate nature" all the time. Antibiotics, pesticides, antiseptics, antiviral drugs all have appropriate uses. You guys who think that we and "nature" all must live happily together are completely sucked into a modernist pipe dream of fantasy. People who live close to nature know that is absurd.

But you do mention a red herring argument frequently tossed at those like myself. I am not advocating "eradicating nature". I am advocating eradicating disease, and the wolf is AND ALWAYS HAS BEEN a disease everywhere it has interacted with dense populations of people. Just like rats, tuberculosis, malaria. All are biological organisms that I would be delighted to know are gone. We, and you, do it all the time and rightly so. Peter, do you vaccinate your horses? If so, you are doing exactly what I am advocating. Why not live "close to nature"? Why not allow West Nile Virus to claim its own. For that matter, lets all drink some more Cool-Aid and give up on and shun modern medicine entirely.

Many modern folks weep and fawn all over certain fuzzy critters that make them feel good all over, not understanding at all the repercussions of the spread of the disease.

Just a few weeks ago a self-described "wolf lover" in Shoshone County shot a wolf that was part of a mob wreaking mayhem in his area and one that ripped up his dog. After weeks of trouble and culminating in the shooting of the wolf, he is no longer a "wolf lover". Now he understands the DAILY added cost of wolves. All written up in the paper.

Wolves are trouble pure and simple. You guys who actually believe wolves are a good thing simply do not undersand what a wolf IS and what they do, how they function and the cost to society they exact. There is good reason for your lack of knowledge. The reason is our good forefathers DID know and they killed them all off {or most of them}, and we have been the happy recipients of the blessing of their hard work. You do not understand wolves because you do not live among them. We are not a scattered population here in the context of wolf biology. That is why, with total confidence I say, save this post. Count the years; in 10 it will be an accepted fact that wolf introduction was a disaster. In 20 measures to curb their numbers will be introduced and functioning. The state game dept officials I have spoken to agree, their jobs and the future of hunting in the state are in the balance, and it goes far further than merely sport hunting.

This week it was revealed that the wolf management program costs the state $772,000. Money we simply do not have. money better spent to support the foster care program and other healthcare and programs.

Already the grumblings are there from the widest circles. I know leftist Democrat sorts who thought they were "OK" who are now seeing the light. This is no longer a pure left vs right issue, tho it was at the start, with the left begging for them. But things change. But it will take some years for all the facts to be made plain. Why am I so confident? Because I have lots of experience with stray dog packs and wolves are no different than them, except for the fact that they are protected and in vastly greater numbers, smarter and even more efficient killers. I am telling you guys who sit there and lean back in your easy chair and fill a bowl and listen to Mozart and dream about the wild days of yesteryear, wolves in populated areas are an unmitigated disaster.

2} It isn't "wolf country". We didn't "move into wolf country" anymore than my cousins moved into "malaria country" in Georgia and Alabama. And we rightly eradicated malaria from both those states by eradicating the anopheles mosquito.

3} Peter, I truly mean no disrespect when I say that your suggestion for folks to change their livestock management habits is indicative of your lack of knowledge of this subject. People already HAVE changed their habits and are adapting as best they can. I know the country where you live as I have been there, but you must understand something of the country where we live. What you suggest in the context of protection from wolves is not possible, that is, the adaptations you suggest are already being done by everyone and already were by my friends, but unless you are going to stall the horses and cattle and feed in the barn, never let them graze and never let them out of your sight, well, I could go on but such a suggestion as a solution to wolf predation is really quite unworkable.

4} You have nothing like the numbers of wolves here, and your idea about changing dog breeds is, as you may someday find out, also quite unworkable. Wolves take any dog on the planet. The Shoshone fellow's dog was a Great Pyrennes. The houndsmen here are taking hits all the time from wolves.

5} Your comparison of "wolf country" to "south central L.A" is in a sense a very good one. Personally, I do not like to assign moral responsibility to animals, only to those who manage them.