Fw: Wolves coexsisting with men

Continuing corresspondence with Wall Street Journal reporte, Joe Barrett regarding his may 29 wolves and men in Wisconsin article

----- Original Message -----
From: Meril, Rick
To: 'Joseph.Barrett@wsj.com' <Joseph.Barrett@wsj.com>
Sent: Sat May 29 13:01:11 2010
Subject: Re: Wolves coesisting with men

A true hunter(I know some) loves the challenge of stalking a woodland balanced with both predator and prey.......not simply picking off deer in an unnatural overpopulated deer "park". :)

----- Original Message -----
From: Barrett, Joseph <Joseph.Barrett@wsj.com>
To: Meril, Rick
Sent: Sat May 29 12:45:59 2010
Subject: Re: Wolves coesisting with men

Thanks.... As you can imagine, I'm also hearing from the hunters!

----- Original Message -----
From: Meril, Rick <Rick.Meril@warnerbros.com>
To: Barrett, Joseph
Sent: Sat May 29 15:09:23 2010
Subject: Re: Wolves coesisting with men

Joe

Appreciate your reply

We have played god for 500 years in north america from a human-centric point of view.

Time to give our fellow earth-traveling creatures some "restoration" opportunities

We will be a better species for it

You and family enjoy a fun holiday.

Be great for you to do a follow-up that incorporates some of the wildlife restoration themes we touched on in our corresspondence today.

Thank you again for having an open and inquisitive mind

Rick

----- Original Message -----
From: Barrett, Joseph <Joseph.Barrett@wsj.com>
To: Meril, Rick
Sent: Sat May 29 11:58:23 2010
Subject: Re: Wolves coesisting with men

Thanks, Rick. Lots of good points. Wish I had space to get into all this. I telegraphed a bit of it. As I worked on the story, I had my 12-year-old vegetarian son's words echoing in my ears: "that's what you get when you play god in the woods."

----- Original Message -----
From: Meril, Rick <Rick.Meril@warnerbros.com>
To: Barrett, Joseph
Sent: Sat May 29 14:39:11 2010
Subject: Wolves coesisting with men

Joe

Read your article today on Wolves in Wisconsin and beyond........

I read The Journal daily and am in business. Realizie that The Journal leans conservative and yet it is important on these type of "specialty" topics-- the return of Wolves-- to truly get all the facts and not just emphasize the subjective commentary of one or two farm families........ or conversely, generically say that environmentalists(whatever that means in an era where so many of us are rightly feeling humans are part of the circle of life--not standing outside of it) favor wolves because they fit into the circle.

Here are some facts to digest for a follow-up article:

A total of 6000 wolves in the USA and 300 plus million humans

Who are there too many of?

It is universally recognized that deer populations are at out of control llevels and wolves can (with other predators) trim their numbers to better reflect land carrying capacities.....

.Wolves provide a keystone trophic cascade insofar as wolves trim deer herds...allowing trees to regenerate(deer overpopulation denudes the forest floor of seedlings, thus preventing a new generation of trees and shrubs to grow)........

With the understory level of trees and shrubs denuded, birds, insects and small mammals who require underbrush for food and cover die off........overpopulation of deer also fouls our rivers and streams because deer eat all the browse by the riverbeds. The force of the rain erodes all the topsoil into the river killing the fish.......making the forest soil sterile........

As Our great naturalist Also Leopold came to learn...........mountains live in fear of the wolf, Cougar and Bear going extinct.........they know that too many deer means there is very little green and a dearth of diversity of green plants to hold the soil in place.......to foster the wide spectrum of life that truly makes the mountain thrive......
.
Remember that Dogs are immediate competitors of wolves and they(like coyotes) will seek to kill them....the wolvew attack dogs..... not the men in the woods

If u graze cattle or sheep, u need guard dogs or llamas as deterrents........u must pen the livestock at night...........

In short practice good husbandry.......do not seduce wild animals to eat domestics because we humans make them easier to grab than wild prey

Same as us......if u could go into a store and take the food without paying, u would.........our system saids u go to jail if u do that( our legal system is our lamas and guard dogs)......therefore, we pay for food rather than risk going to jail......wolves will hunt deer rather than risk being killed by our deterrants more often than not

Make wolves and bears.....cougars and coyotes pay for their meals....... killing deer, elk, beaver and thinking twice about the risks they run if they go after domestics

A few scant wolves exist in the USA.........we should make room across the usa in our rural and wilder sections to restore what we as Americans brag about......our frontier and independent spirit......all conservatives should cheer our "wild america"......not seek to destroy it......that would truly reflect that "familiy values" are real, not some trumped up, pseudo religious/political maifesto to charge up the masses.

A good holiday weekend Joe.

When not selling tv shows, I am blogging at coyotes-wolves-cougars@blogspot.com

Check it out please.

Rick

Rick Meril
Executive VP Gen Sales Mgr
Warner Bros Television
4000 Warner Blvd
Burbank, Calif 91522
818 954 5747