Visitor Counter

hitwebcounter web counter
Visitors Since Blog Created in March 2010

Click Below to:

Add Blog to Favorites

Coyotes-Wolves-Cougars.blogspot.com

Grizzly bears, black bears, wolves, coyotes, cougars/ mountain lions,bobcats, wolverines, lynx, foxes, fishers and martens are the suite of carnivores that originally inhabited North America after the Pleistocene extinctions. This site invites research, commentary, point/counterpoint on that suite of native animals (predator and prey) that inhabited The Americas circa 1500-at the initial point of European exploration and subsequent colonization. Landscape ecology, journal accounts of explorers and frontiersmen, genetic evaluations of museum animals, peer reviewed 20th and 21st century research on various aspects of our "Wild America" as well as subjective commentary from expert and layman alike. All of the above being revealed and discussed with the underlying goal of one day seeing our Continent rewilded.....Where big enough swaths of open space exist with connective corridors to other large forest, meadow, mountain, valley, prairie, desert and chaparral wildlands.....Thereby enabling all of our historic fauna, including man, to live in a sustainable and healthy environment. - Blogger Rick

Subscribe via email to get updates

Enter your email address:

Receive New Posting Alerts

(A Maximum of One Alert Per Day)

Saturday, August 17, 2013

The "Anti-Christ" of the Wolf rewilding debate, Dr. Val Geist stands on the outermost peripheral circle as it relates to the merit of Wolves regaining their place in the circle of life.................Somehow this biologist with all of his training lost his way through the years in his thinking that somehow Wolves throw natural systems out of whack.................That the Wolves decimate and extinguish all ungulates in their path............He literally became blinded to the the larger historical record showing how Wolves, Pumas, Bears, Wolverines, Martens, Fishers, Bobcats and Lynx all manage to persist in rough equilibrium with their corresponding ungulate suite of deer, elk, bison, moose, caribou and pronghorn...................All of these animals persisted through "thick and thin", for "better and for worse" through the lean as well as the "flush" times down through the ages.....................Geist is so WRONG in labeling any of natures creations as a "PROBLEM",,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,Instead of cowering in the path of Dr. Geist's mistruths and narrow minded proclamations that the "ignorant and scared among us latch onto and yell loudly,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,Instead, let us find a way for peer reviewed truths on Carnivores to win the day in our statehouses and communities so that the America that the rest of the world admired for it's rugged and wild spirit persists into the next millenia..................LIVE FREE OR DIE said our Revolutionary fathers,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,The ultra conservative wolf haters in the room should remember that wilderness and wild creatures defined America and the American spirit of goodness and grand possibility......................Limiting our land to humans, rats and pigeons makes us no better than the many backwaters of the world that are erupting in violence in the name of "sameness",,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,that one group must be in charge, that one religion must reign, that one way of thought must prevail.................Our American legacy is of plurality, of tolerance for all of natures creation.................May the Dr. Geist's and his kind be allowed to exist but not tame our land of the things that have made us as a nation and a people, FIRST AMONGST EQUALS on the one planet where we are certain that life exists

OPINION

The Future of North American Wolves, Interview with Dr. Valerius Geist

outdoorhub.com
Dr. Valerius Geist has several decades of experience studying wildlife and has developed a seven-stage habituation pattern for wolves when wild food runs out.
Dr. Valerius Geist has several decades of experience studying wildlife and has developed a seven-stage habituation pattern for wolves when wild food runs out.
All across North America, efforts are underway to restore wolf populations. Much of the press has painted a rosy picture of co-existing with wolves. For another opinion, I talked with ethologist Dr. Valerius Geist. Val has published 17 books on wildlife and large mammals (humans included) and served 27 years as a professor at the University of Calgary.
During some 50 years in the field, he had observed wolves on many occasions. "My early experiences with mainland wolves indicated that they were inquisitive, intelligent, but shy and cautious. During my academic career and four years into retirement I thought of wolves as harmless, echoing the words of many North American colleagues. I was wrong!"
He changed his mind when he retired to Vancouver Island in 1995, where he and his wife found themselves living with wolves as neighbors. He relayed some of his first-hand experience with them to me:
The meadows and forests near our home contained about 120 blacktail deer and half a dozen large male black bears. In winter came some 60 to 80 trumpeter swans, large flocks of Canada geese, widgeons, mallards, and green-winged teal. Pheasants and ruffed grouse were not uncommon. In the fall of 1995 I saw one track of a lone wolf. Then in January 1999 my son and I tracked a pair of wolves in the snow. A pack arrived that summer. Within three months not a deer was to be seen, or tracked, in these meadows–even during the rut. We saw deer at night huddling against barns and houses, where deer had not been seen previously. For the first time deer moved into our garden and around our house. The damage to our fruit trees and roses skyrocketed. The trumpeter swans left. The tame geese and ducks avoided the outer meadows and lived only close to the barns. Pheasants and ruffed grouse vanished. The landscape looked empty, as if vacuumed of wildlife.
Eventually the wolves became even more of a problem. Geist explains: "These wolves progressively became bolder, seeking out human habitation, killing and maiming pets and livestock, and inspecting and confronting humans. No attacks on humans materialized by 'our' wolves after they began approaching us, for they were shot. A predator control officer trapped others."
After the first "misbehavin' pack" was eliminated, a second one moved into the area a couple years later, and a similar pattern unfolded. Geist found the behavior of both packs followed a similar seven-stage habituation pattern when wild food runs out and they are close to people.
  1. Within the pack's territory prey becomes scarce not only due to increased predation on native prey animals, but also by the prey evacuating home ranges en masse. Wolves increasingly visit garbage dumps at night.
  2. Wolves in search of food begin to approach human habitations at night. Their presence is announced by frequent and loud barking of farm dogs.
  3. The wolves appear in daylight and at some distance observe people doing their daily chores.
  4. Small-bodied livestock and pets are attacked close to buildings, even during the day. The wolves preferentially pick on dogs and follow them right up to the verandas of homes. People out with dogs find themselves defending their dogs against wolves.
  5. The wolves explore large livestock, leading to docked tails, slit ears, and hocks. Livestock may bolt through fences running for safety. Wolves become more brazen and cattle or horses may be killed close to houses and barns. Wolves may follow riders and surround them. They may mount verandas and look into windows.
  6. Wolves turn their attention to people and approach, initially merely examining them closely. They may make hesitant, almost playful attacks, biting and tearing clothing, nipping at limbs and torso. They withdraw when confronted. They defend kills by moving towards people and growling and barking at them from 10 to 20 paces away.
  7. Wolves attack people. These initial attacks are clumsy, as the wolves have not yet learned how to take down the new prey efficiently. Persons attacked can often escape because of the clumsiness of the attacks. A mature, courageous man may beat off or strangle an attacking wolf. However, against a wolf pack there is no defense.
Val met Dr. Robert Timm at the University of California at Davis, who has been studying coyotes targeting children in urban parks that act in virtually the same manner.
Geist's habituation model has been translated into Swedish, Finnish, and German. It has become known in Finland as "Seven Steps to Heaven."
"A century ago North America's wildlife was largely decimated and that it took a lot of effort to bring wildlife back. When predators are scarce, and herbivores are abundant, wolves are well-fed. Consequently they are very large in body size, but also very shy of people. Wolves are seen rarely under such conditions, fostering the romantic image of wolves prevalent in North America today. However, when herbivore numbers decline while wolf numbers rise, we expect wolves to disperse and begin exploring for new prey. That's when trouble begins," Geist says.
Former Alaska wildlife biologist Mark McNay and others have established that there have been wolf attacks on people in Canada, historical and recent. On November 8, 2005, a 22-year-old geological engineering student at the University of Waterloo, Kenton Joel Carnegie, was killed by four wolves at Points North Landing in northern Saskatchewan. This was the first direct human fatality from a healthy wolf attack in North America in recent times to receive an investigation. Geist was an expert witness in the inquisition. Val says that the four wolves that attacked Carnegie had long been observed by others, were garbage-fed, and four days earlier attacked two employees of the camp who beat back the wolves.
Candice Berner, a 32-year-old school teacher, was killed on March 8, 2010 by wolves in the village of Chignik Lake on the Alaska Peninsula. These wolves were also habituated to garbage.
Val says that wolves learn differently than dogs:
They learn by observing, and they also are insight learners. They can solve problems by observing, such as how to unlock a gate. In some studies of captive wolves researchers have found that wolves and coyotes not only learn to open their own cages, but those of others. With these intelligence traits wolves also develop an ability to assess the vulnerability of prey. For example, the sight of a human, walking boldly and carrying a firearm, will give them enough information to know that the potential prey is not vulnerable.
How did North American scientists ever conclude that wolves were no threat to people? Geist responds:
They were unaware that starting in the 1800s, tens of thousands of trappers in Canada and Alaska were killing every wolf they could, legally and illegally, while predator control officers also removed wolves. Aerial poisoning and shooting campaigns were carried out and wolves were free to be killed by anybody. Little wonder wolves were scarce, very shy, attacks on people unheard of, livestock losses minimal, and wolf-borne diseases virtually escaped notice. In the absence of personal experience, they chose to disregard the accumulated experience of others from Asia and Europe.
I asked Val to look into his crystal ball and predict what he saw as the future fate of wolves for North America.
He said that wolves throughout North America will come into contact with millions of coyotes and feral dogs–the numbers of which are much higher than any previous time in history. The wolves will kill some of the dogs and coyotes, but others will breed resulting in hybrids. In short, pure-bred wolves in the wild will become a thing of the past.
His second prediction was on hydatid disease:
The most important thing about the fate of wolves is hydatid disease. The threat scenario involves ranch dogs feasting on gut piles left by hunters or winter-killed elk and deer whose lungs and liver are infected with hydatid cysts. Deer and elk infected with cysts try to crowd in on private ranches trying to get away from wolves. A ranch dog gulping down the cysts will have mature tape worms in his gut within seven weeks or so and will then pass the deadly eggs in the ranch yard, kennel, veranda, and so on. People will bring infective eggs on their shoes into the house. Carpets and furniture will soon be hosting live, infective hydatid eggs. Children will be specially affected. Cysts take about a decade to mature. I will take at least another decade for cysts to grow to orange or grapefruit size in people. Nobody is facing up to the disease threat.
He added, "I do not think wolves have a happy future in the Lower 48."

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

This Geist freak is an alarmist idiot. The Vikings, and then the Native Americans, lived for thousands of years with wolves and dogs, even using their pelts in their households and as headresses. They did not get eaten by wolves, nor suffer from "hydatid disease", and they did not even have modern medicine.
They were much healthier, happier and better fed than modern man. The war on wokves being spearheaded by the satanic new world order and spoon fed to the dumbed down among us, is a spiritual war, bent on destroying every spiritually strong and beautiful thing in nature, and replacing it with manmade death and profit. The wolf profit!everything s spjritually

Anonymous said...

My apologies for the typos, keyboard sticking. (Interesting, isn't it?) I was trying to add one last sentence, when this really began occurring....That sentence is: Wolves represent a familial and societal example that the NWO seeks to diminish and destroy among the people. They have been actively tearing down the family and society with rebellion, divorce and crime since at least the 1950s. A fighting, unfaithful and fearful public is much easier to rule and control in a tyrannical manner, than a tight knit, faithful and content one. The wolves pick one mate for life, and the pack cooperates beautifully for survival. The NWO architects want for us, disharmony, discord, fear and division! No way can they allow us to witness or emulate the wolves as our free ancestors did before official government control became the norm!

Coyotes, Wolves and Cougars forever said...

how right you are about Geist having no sense of the historical............how humans easily coexisted with them prior to European colonization of North America...............the disease thing is akin to Texas insisting that creationism be taught in public schools...............science be damned!

Just Me said...

Anonymous, your comment is right on track. I have known this since they first began planning the destruction of the species around 2007. It is an anti-life agenda, to be sure, against the wolf. Imagine what secrets the wolves hold, that the Governments of the world, seek to crush and silence? I know some of them, as you stated; cohesiveness, unity, strength thru gentleness, family. I raised 2 full wolves until their deaths at ages 12 and 15. No technology could surpass their sense of smell, hearing and sight, they were super soldiers in my backyard!

Coyotes, Wolves and Cougars forever said...

Just Me: Thanks for joining the conversation............."Super Soldiers",,,,,what a spot-on description of the Wolf--We do in fact have much to learn from this fellow creature