A Facebook friend recently
posted a video link that documented a coyote caught in a leg hold trap being torn apart by a pack of hunting dogs under the control of Federal Fish and Game employees. I did not watch, for the same reason I will not watch Jihadi John decapitate his victims, or watch ISIS burn alive a man in a steel cage. I do not need to have my mental clarity polluted by exposure to such evil to know that evil exists and must be resisted.
But it did get me thinking about coyotes and dogs and wolves. And why a nation that loves dogs so much (some days I think half of Facebook posts are cute puppies and kitties) at the same time harbors such hatred and fear of coyotes and wolves. My ideas about this are continuing to evolve, but here are some thoughts.
“Ranchers say coyotes take their lambs, and I guess they do. But the question is, do they take enough lambs, enough to keep their coats sleek and their pups fat and well-fed.” Edward Abbey
So there is the economic argument – ranchers lose lambs and calves to coyotes and wolves. Then there is sport hunting for elk, deer, mountain goat and sheep, a major economic factor in western states. Ranchers and game managers imagine that if these predators are suppressed, both herd animals and game animals will increase, as will economic gain. The superficial logic of this view fades quickly under close observation. Both coyotes and wolves subsist mainly on small rodents, whose population would explode absent these predators. And when they do take large game animals, they contribute to the health of the herd by culling the old, the sick, the weak and injured as well as the unprotected young.
This economic argument belies the savagery of the attack on coyotes and wolves. Hunted from horseback with dog packs, shot from aircraft, jeep or snowmobile, or with long range sniper rifles, these are merely the “sporting” approaches. Leg hold traps are a commonplace, as are poisoned baits. Both are indiscriminate in what animals they take, and the baits poison the scavengers of the dead as well. No other control measure equals the cruelty of “denning” where a den containing infant pups has gasoline poured in and ignited.
There are deeper forces being expressed here. I think it has to do with the wild and the tame, the free versus the domesticated, wilderness versus civilization. Our culture is increasingly separated from the natural world, many of its’ members seemingly eager to be controlled, regimented, exclusive, hostile and warlike. To the believers in a founding myth that tells us to have dominion over the earth, the presence of intelligent creatures who are wild, free and uncontrollable may be felt as an intolerable affront.
So bring on the gasoline.