Surprise Decision From Oregon House Has Wolf Advocates Howling
A surprise decision by the Oregon House favors ranchers and has wolf advocates howling, on today’s Open Range, I’m Susan Allen . Last week the Oregon House passed Bill 4158 that allows state officials to kill two Imnaha wolves that have acquired a taste for Wallowa County cattle. While the House approved the measure 42-15 if it passes the Senate the only thing stopping it would be a veto by Oregon Governor Kitzhaber. Thus pro-wolf advocates are rallying forces. The international Howling For Justice blog has posted a petition saying the little Red Riding Hood Syndrome is epidemic and that Oregon ranchers are silent about cattle losses to non-wolf causes that don’t fit into their wolf demonization campaign.” Well, the ranchers I know aren’t silent when any cow dies, yet wolf bloggers continue to vilify them for trying to protecting a passive grazing animal from a viscous predator. Another pro-wolf group Oregon Wild hopes hopes to stop the bill saying that it would lead to copy-cat measures exempting other inconvenient species and supports paying ranchers subsidies for deaths. How do you subsidize calves that are simply missing, drug off with no remains? How do you put a price on a kid’s pony, puppy or most recently, Annnie the saddle mule, whose sad fate was to be eaten alive by members of the Imnaha pack? The Wallowa Oregon ranchers are in a David verses Goliath scenario pitted against powerful international pro-wolf groups. After being in our most liberal city, Portland last week and hearing first hand how talk news and the Oregonian has turned the male Wolf OR-7 , (the two year old that’s trekked to California), into some sort of Disney pound puppy for urbanites. I better understand this mindset. Complicating matters for the ranchers is that this popular wolf’s father is one of the two slated to be killed should the bill pass.
