Highly recommend the book 'Of Wolves and Men' by Barry Lopez
Wolves are reconquering Europe. Can people learn to live with them?
11–20 of 73 posts
Re: Wolves are reconquering Europe. Can people learn to live with them?
#12Are wolves even a threat? Outside of movies theyre pretty harmless.
> Are wolves even a threat? Outside of movies theyre pretty harmless.
Are you kidding? Humans often had a fear of wolves throughout history. And rightfully so.
But the reverse is also true. Hence wolves tend to stay away from people so encounters are rare. But where not, human-wolf close encounters can end deadly sometimes. Even for the humans (especially children).
Re: Wolves are reconquering Europe. Can people learn to live with them?
#13Are wolves even a threat? Outside of movies theyre pretty harmless.
> Are wolves even a threat? Outside of movies theyre pretty harmless. Are you kidding? Humans often had a fear of wolves throughout history. And rightfully so. But the reverse is also true. Hence wolves tend to stay away from people so encounters are rare. But where not, human-wolf close encounters can end deadly sometimes. Even for the humans (especially children).
Looks like zero documented death by wolves in the entirety of the 20th century in the contiguous North America.
Re: Wolves are reconquering Europe. Can people learn to live with them?
#14Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Are wolves even a threat? Outside of movies theyre pretty harmless. Are you kidding? Humans often had a fear of wolves throughout history. And rightfully so. But the reverse is also true. Hence wolves tend to stay away from people so encounters are rare. But where not, human-wolf close encounters can end deadly sometimes. Even for the humans (especially children).
Looks like zero documented death by wolves in the entirety of the 20th century in the contiguous North America.
1. Wolves were basically exterminated in the continental US for most of the 20th century
2. There were still deaths from wolf attacks in North America during that time
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_wolf_attacks_in_North_...
Re: Wolves are reconquering Europe. Can people learn to live with them?
#15Earlier quoted context omitted.
There's the killing again. And no, it's not a glorified trail camera. Very different. Everyone wants to kill before trying measures to keep people and their animals apart. I don't think you can say it does nothing to help people live with wolves because it's not being tried. It's not being tried, because people being convince the only thing that helps is killing everything that requires a bit of effort to live with.…
A lot of people are like that when dealing with nature. Oh I don't want squirrels in my backyard, let me put some poison... We really don't deserve a place on this planet
same with mosquitoes, let's just spray or fog and kill all the other bugs too... including ones that kill mosquitos
Re: Wolves are reconquering Europe. Can people learn to live with them?
#16No, because predators follow exponential curves leading to prey collapses during winters where hungry animals will abandon shyness to hunt for humans in suburbs.
Re: Wolves are reconquering Europe. Can people learn to live with them?
#17Earlier quoted context omitted.
A lot of people are like that when dealing with nature. Oh I don't want squirrels in my backyard, let me put some poison... We really don't deserve a place on this planet
same with mosquitoes, let's just spray or fog and kill all the other bugs too... including ones that kill mosquitos
I’ll argue mozzies are responsible for more suffering than humans any day of the week. They need to go. Lets just get our targeting good enough.
Re: Wolves are reconquering Europe. Can people learn to live with them?
#18Some years ago people also said “Japanese bears are harmless, shy and fear humans” and now the country is experiencing a slowly approaching bear-pocalypse, with bear attacks occurring in densely populated suburbs. I don’t see how wolves in Europe would be uniquely different if it follows the same trajectory.
Re: Wolves are reconquering Europe. Can people learn to live with them?
#19No, because predators follow exponential curves leading to prey collapses during winters where hungry animals will abandon shyness to hunt for humans in suburbs.
I live in an extremely rural county. There are plenty of wolves here. None of them hunt for humans. Ever.
Re: Wolves are reconquering Europe. Can people learn to live with them?
#20Earlier quoted context omitted.
There's the killing again. And no, it's not a glorified trail camera. Very different. Everyone wants to kill before trying measures to keep people and their animals apart. I don't think you can say it does nothing to help people live with wolves because it's not being tried. It's not being tried, because people being convince the only thing that helps is killing everything that requires a bit of effort to live with.…
A lot of people are like that when dealing with nature. Oh I don't want squirrels in my backyard, let me put some poison... We really don't deserve a place on this planet
... What do you think wolves do all day?