Tuesday September 22, 2009, 11:02 am
Wow! I must quote quite a long piece of the article here. I'm surprised there are no comments here.....
===================================================================================
And what is more rogue and less justifiable? Nonhuman animals killing other animals out of instinct and for survival? Or human animals bringing animals into existence so that we can kill them unnecessarily, while also killing all other animals who dare to get in our way of killing the original bred-to-die animals?

The article's authors go on to whine about how unfair it is that "people in the livestock industry" should have to jump "through an endless series of hoops" just because wolf populations need to be reestablished -- they shouldn't have to suffer the inconvenience of permits and laws when they want to gun down wolves "to protect their own private property" (again, not to truly protect their real property or their families, but to protect their chance to kill their own victims themselves). They shouldn't have to "move stock closer to home, build double pens and electric fencing, install alarm systems, deploy guard dogs, and hang flags from fences"; they should be able to shoot first and explain later.

The whining continues even while the article concedes that Defenders of Wildlife has consistently reimbursed ranchers for the "value" of the sheep killed by wolves. That's not good enough, the trigger-happy ranching enthusiasts insist.

It is questionable whether Jacobs or other ranchers should be put through so much inconvenience and stress just to defend and keep what is theirs. On their own land, they should be able to take quick and decisive action against predators, even wolves.

"What is theirs." Such a short phrase says so much. Everything that -- and everyone whom -- we humans decide is ours simply is ours. If we see something or someone, and we want to possess and take that life, we do; it is ours because we say so. We take "ownership" of billions of fellow animals and of inexcusably vast tracts of land and scream in an indignant, childish, collective voice, "Mine!" And we mercilessly kill any other animals who dare think they have a right to live and eat as well, to live on the land that was theirs before it was ours, to merely survive. By destroying their habitat and controlling (and refusing them) access to food, by poisoning them, by shooting them, by whatever means, we kill them. And we call mass, indiscriminate killing our duty, our right. We have a right to kill. But no one else has the right even to live. Show me another "rogue" species that does this.

The most dangerous predators on this planet are not wolves or coyotes or sharks or lions or bears. The world's most dangerous, most violent, most mayhem-inducing predators are humans, by and far.

The species killing 10 billion domesticated animals each year in the United States, 50-some billion across the world, so that they can eat the flesh and secretions and wear the dead skins of their victims, not for survival but for selfish convenience and pleasure, isn't wolves.

Show me another species that has waged outright war on this planet -- against ecosystems and against all the planet's other animals. And then tell me a species other than our own is the planet's rogue predator.

Tuesday September 22, 2009, 11:03 am
Humans are definitely the rogue species here - and the only 'animal' that breeds other 'animals' for their appetites, their clothes, their entertainment etc.

Kudos to this author - as for these ranchers and their spokesmen - THEY ARE THE SCUM OF THE EARTH!

Thank you Cher

Tuesday September 22, 2009, 12:32 pm
I could not agree more..thanks Cher

Thursday September 24, 2009, 2:40 am
all animals only hunt for food while evil sick monsters humans only kill for the sake of it (pick on something your own size) me

Thursday September 24, 2009, 3:04 am
We are the one who seem to destroy all Mother Nature has.

Plant trees for life...................