Cheyenne's Howl

Printed in Mountain Messenger on Friday - October 10, 1997

Pride and Prejudice

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How often have you been around someone who has his mind so made up that even when confronted with the true facts, their egos will not allow them to admit that perhaps they might be wrong? This definitely seems to be the case with Old Timer, the author of A View From Outwest. The wisdom that normally comes with age apparently has long ago bypassed that man. Ignorance might be bliss to some, but when it is coupled with pure hatred and arrogance, and then when pen is put to paper, the outcome can only be misinformation designed to create fear and hysteria. I would suggest Old Timer that before you open your mouth and condemn us wolves, that you study up on and learn about us. If your pride will not permit you to read my columns, at least go to the library where most of the misconceptions you have about wolves can be answered. Being a writer for a paper such as the Messenger, obligates you to be factual. If you do not wish to state the facts, then go write for the National Enquirer, at least most intelligent people know to expect only half truths from them.

Each week it seems that Old Timer has fallen further away from the Halls of Wisdom and has tried to create a following of those who refuse to look before they leap. Controversy can be a good thing when it becomes a learning tool for all concerned, but when stubbornness and stupidity take over, the ones who have the most to learn and gain from the truth, lose out. I would suggest to you Old Timer that you swallow some pride and learn more about how wolves help with the ecosystem, not harm it. Find out more about how wolves reproduce and bring up their young before you state how many wolves will take over an area. It is obvious from your last column that you don't know that under all normal situations, the only female that will breed in the pack is the alpha female.

Each living thing has a part to play in the ecosystem. The role that we wolves play are especially important. We are at the top of the food chain and it is our predation on the sick, old, injured, and vulnerable grazing animals that help produce the healthy herds and trophy animals that you humans so love to kill and mount on your walls. I don't understand Old Timer, how you humans can go out and kill an animal for whatever reason you want, and it is called sport, yet if one of my cousins kills an animal for food, you call us savage beasts. You don't seem to understand that our predation on grazing animals has a significant impact upon the vegetative base and on all the of the life that base supports.

In your last column Old Timer , you stated that wolves should not be turned "loose to run in our beautiful places in Colorado...to ruin a beautiful place like Grand Mesa". Perhaps Old Timer you ought to look in the mirror if you want to see what creature has done more harm to Colorado and this world in general. We wolves, and all of the other creatures, have lived here a lot longer than you have and the earth was a beautiful place. We have not polluted it, we have not destroyed it. Everything was in balance. Then along came men, such as yourself. I end this week with, how can you be proud of what your species has done?

Cheyenne