The Lobos (wolves) haven't heard of SB 36

Today the University of New Mexico's basketball team defeated Brigham Young in a thriller that went down to the wire. What does that have to do with senate bill 36? Well, not much, but New Mexico does have a wolf as its mascot, and from observing the way the UNM played, apparently they had never heard of the political initiative to remove all wolves from the state.

In this entry I am going to define some terms involved with this issue by simply stating and defining. Here is the list.

1. Wolf: defined as canis lupus. Commonly known as a grey wolf.

2. Service: the United States Department of Fish and Wildlife

3. Endangered Species Act: Law passed in 1970 to protect specious in danger of becoming extinct.

4. Sympatric: When different organisms geographical boundries overlap. An example would be when wolves and livestock live in the same area, or wolves and humans.

5. Ecosystem: An environment where organisms are interdependent on one another.

6. Livestock: Domesticated animals raised for agricultural purposes.

These terms will hopefully help you as read my blog and form your opinion on SB 36.

Wolf Stories

If you think back to your childhood you may remember some fairytales involving wolves. These stories include The Three Little Pigs (wolf tries to blow pigs’ houses down), Peter and the Wolf (wolf is captured and taken to the zoo), The Wolf and the Seven Kids (wolf eats a family of goats only to be gutted and filled with stones), and what you might remember hearing from these stories is that the wolf was the villain and sometimes the subject of nightmares.

Most wolf stories in the first half of the 20th century have been portrayed wolves as violent, cruel, and dangerous. Characters are to avoid ravenous wolves, or they end up paying the consequences. This may have something to do with public opinion of wolves in the first half of the 1900’s. In Utah, wolves were captured and killed by the hundreds from 1900 to 1930. Eventually, in 1930 the last wolf was killed.

More recently you may have seen wolves portrayed in stories as being honorable (Dances with Wolves), family oriented (Jungle Book), and most familiar to many as masculine and sexy (Twilight Series). This more recent portrayal of wolves has come with a new effort to bring wolves back into the places they once thrived.

Now that the wolves have made a comeback, which one of these two stereotypes are more accurate? This is one question I will try to answer throughout my blog. Should we see these animals as the hungry, Big Bad Wolf, or as the hunky and honorable Jacob, from Twilight? At least we don’t have to deal with conservation efforts of vampires.

The Big Bad Wolf

Who's afraid of the big bad wolf? Well, according to Utah state senator Allen M. Christensen, Utahns have a great number of reasons to fear lassie's more muscular cousin. Christensen feels that wolves have become such a large problem in Utah that he has proposed a bill to eradicate wolves from the state. Senate Bill 36 allows the hunting of wolves and serves the purpose of "manag(ing) the wolf to avoid the establishment of a viable pack" In areas where the wolf is considered endangered, the bill asks for federal assistance in the removal of the wolves. The wolves have been blamed for hurting deer, elk, and livestock populations.

My blog will serve the purpose of getting to the bottom of this bill. I will find out if the supposed threats of the wolf population are real, and if so, are they worth the cost of removing them.

At least for now, if I was a wolf, I would hold off on buying any real estate in Utah.