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Sunday, June 29, 2008

People Missing in the Wilderness

By Bruce Hemming

After Reading Greg Faber’s story, The Wolf Tree, I called him and we talked about the issue. Greg was trapped in a spruce tree for 2 days with a pack of wolves keeping him hostage. On the phone Greg told me of missing boy from a church camp in Custer County, Idaho. Immediate thorough searching turned up nothing, and he was not found until the following year. Where he was found? They believed the boy hiked up a Grand Mogul mountain sight seeing, then climbed down the wrong way and fell to his death.
http://www.ktvb.com/news/localnews/stories/ktvbn-jul1906-missing_hiker.25c6f5e.html
Authorities determined that he reached the summit, but human and dog search teams found no sign of him on two descents from the top of Grand Mogul.
http://minnesota.publicradio.org/display/web/2007/07/26/hikerfound/
The family noted the identification was preliminary and based on personal possessions found in the area. The county sheriff's office said a news release on the case was planned for later Thursday.
What the article doesn't mention is that the remains of the body were scattered around. Wolves had eaten on the body. It must be very tragic for the family to have lost such a young man. Did he fall? Was it an accident? Or did a wolf pack take him down? Thanks in part to the politics of the wolf issue we will likely never know for sure.

Greg, knowing the area quite well, said there is no way that anyone would even attempt to climb down that way without ropes and harnesses. He believes that either the wolves chased the young man over the cliff so to speak or caught and dragged the body there. I found it interesting how the officials handled it, and it reminds me of the movie Jaws when the Mayor was all upset at the Police Chief for closing the beach just before the tourist season started. All that tourism money lost. I believe the same thing is happening in wolf territory.

Why do I keep hearing about cases like this and official reports always state that the person died from some unrelated cause and then the wolves ate their remains? “Our woods are safe… wouldn't want to lose any tourist dollars by telling people the truth...”

I heard of another story in Minnesota where a man in his 40's left his cabin and was later found eaten by wolves. The ‘official’ story is that he must have died of heart attack then the wolves ate him. Heaven forbid we cloud the wolf debate with real facts that wolves have actually killed and eaten people in America... who knows what would happen.

It’s funny for me listening to the pro-wolf people. The only place in U.S. building wolf-proof bus stop shelters to protect children from stalking wolves is in New Mexico, yet rumor has it this idea is being explored in Northern Idaho.
Here are a few facts: In New Mexico, if you shoot one of the dog-hybrid wolves you are arrested, tossed in jail like a common criminal, and fined for killing the “Mexican Gray Wolf” for $10,000.00 and/or up to a year in jail. It is a felony- this means the loss of your right to own a gun. The lawyer defending you will charge a minimum of $10,000.00. Shooting one of those wolves essentially adds up to $20,000.00 and 6 months in jail.

Now in some other states a wolf can be shot and the fine is $1500.00 and about 10 days in jail. Yet when children are stalked at rural school bus stops in Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, Minnesota, Wisconsin or Michigan- then ‘officials’ ‘teach’ the wolves a lesson about not stalking children via rubber bullets or loud noises, etc. This has boiled down to fathers acting like the Americans they are with the God-given right to protect their children shooting the wolf, which really ends the ‘problem-wolf’ stalking children, if only temporarily. Any parent in America would and should do just that. Every single hunter, fishermen, rancher and rural American needs to tell the wolf ‘advocates’ that when American children are endangered, no law should give that wolf more rights than the children. Any American that shot a wolf protecting children or another human being would never ever be put in jail.
So wolves stalking children only in other states are shot as they should be- that is why they have to build wolf proof bus stop shelters in New Mexico, as it is their only hope for protecting their kids without endangering their family further by being thrown in jail and fined ridiculously for protecting their child from wolves.

Also in New Mexico they are in the heart of a bunch of eco-terrorists running around shooting cows, dogs, windmills and water tanks with Ak-47s. They also have these so-called “forest guardians” that have wolf monitoring devices and track the wolves. Then they are watching you and will turn you in for protecting your children and livelihood.

This is no longer a debate. The wolf has a place in nature but not above American citizens. The back lash on the wolves is rapidly approaching. Each new hiker missing, each new story like “The Wolf Tree,” each time a child is stalked- the American people are going to straighten this mess out when they see the reality that ‘officials’ can no longer hide.

All this can be avoided; but the only way it can be avoided is if the Federal Government starts with turning over the wolf management to the states and leaves it there. If the pro-wolf people win this latest lawsuit and stop the control, look out. People have had enough of 13 years of lies, spin and demonizing for trying to make a living. The anger is building the fuse is set- all it needs is a spark. God help us when that day comes. For, Americans will only put up with so much of this nonsense. It has already started in many states where wolves are being shot. Really when you look at rural America, we’re 90 to 100% that live with wolves and don't want them in such extremely high numbers- then there is the few but very loud that support the wolf program.

This is why I made the documentary Undue Burden - The Real Cost of Living With Wolves. I don't want to see any children hurt by wolves.

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