BEFORE THE BOARD OF STEVENS COUNTY COMMISSIONERS

[pianoman9701]

Aspen, I completely disagree with your comparison of these predators. Wolves are completely different. They hunt in packs. Bears and cougars are mainly solitary. Coyotes are not only a fraction of the wolves' size, they have a much less developed ability to organize their attack they way that wolves do. In addition, as we've seen, wolves seem to kill not only for food, but for the sport of it. When the wetside residents start seeing for themselves the way these eaters hunt and kill, their reaction to it will be far different than how they react to the other predators.

It's not a comparison, it's a statement of fact. People have been attacked and have had pets and livestock killed by all of those for years west of the mountains. The concept is not new and most sane people don't lose a lot of sleep over it. Remember when the Columbian ran an article a couple years ago about mountain lions wandering the green belts around Salmon Creek? People didn't exactly come out with pitchforks.

If a pack of wolves wanders into downtown Seattle what do you think is going to happen? I'll tell you what, people will pick up a phone and the state will remove them just like they do with all of the aforementioned predators.

The people west of the mountains who will have something to be concerned about and be most affected will be the same ones who do east of them. Livestock owners, hunters, and possibly hikers. The wolf hugger wandering downtown Seattle isn't going to be all that affected.

And dead is dead, the how doesn't really matter to a lot of people.

When and if wolves hit here, it will be the novelty of it that will cause it to make news. This is predator country regardless of which side of the mountains you live on. People who don't grasp that need to get their heads screwed on tight.

They've never lived with wolves and if packs get thick on this side due to the increased amount of slow and domestic food available, they'll take notice. This isn't anything like bear or cougar attacks. There's a reason that we hunted wolves to near extinction and not bears and cougars. For someone who seems to know so much about them, I'm surprised you see no differences between them. At any rate, if and when they start populating over here, I'll welcome it for no other reason than the reality check it'll bring to the voting masses.

[AspenBud]

Aspen, I completely disagree with your comparison of these predators. Wolves are completely different. They hunt in packs. Bears and cougars are mainly solitary. Coyotes are not only a fraction of the wolves' size, they have a much less developed ability to organize their attack they way that wolves do. In addition, as we've seen, wolves seem to kill not only for food, but for the sport of it. When the wetside residents start seeing for themselves the way these eaters hunt and kill, their reaction to it will be far different than how they react to the other predators.

It's not a comparison, it's a statement of fact. People have been attacked and have had pets and livestock killed by all of those for years west of the mountains. The concept is not new and most sane people don't lose a lot of sleep over it. Remember when the Columbian ran an article a couple years ago about mountain lions wandering the green belts around Salmon Creek? People didn't exactly come out with pitchforks.

If a pack of wolves wanders into downtown Seattle what do you think is going to happen? I'll tell you what, people will pick up a phone and the state will remove them just like they do with all of the aforementioned predators.

The people west of the mountains who will have something to be concerned about and be most affected will be the same ones who do east of them. Livestock owners, hunters, and possibly hikers. The wolf hugger wandering downtown Seattle isn't going to be all that affected.

And dead is dead, the how doesn't really matter to a lot of people.

When and if wolves hit here, it will be the novelty of it that will cause it to make news. This is predator country regardless of which side of the mountains you live on. People who don't grasp that need to get their heads screwed on tight.

They've never lived with wolves and if packs get thick on this side due to the increased amount of slow and domestic food available, they'll take notice. This isn't anything like bear or cougar attacks. There's a reason that we hunted wolves to near extinction and not bears and cougars. For someone who seems to know so much about them, I'm surprised you see no differences between them. At any rate, if and when they start populating over here, I'll welcome it for no other reason than the reality check it'll bring to the voting masses.

I see a difference, just not in peoples' reactions.

Once they start being documented as being here I doubt protections on them will last long. There's lot of room for wolves to hide on the eastside, but outside of timber land that won't be the case here. A lot of folks will shoot them legal or not, many will be hit by cars, parvo will take out its share thanks to all the dogs running around, and WDFW will remove many others.

People and wolves don't mix in Stevens and Okanogan counties, but there is nobody there. Here wolves walk into a hornet's nest full of hazards.

I might eat my words, but I think wolves will have a tougher go of it here. But again, no one knows. To date they have only occurred in lightly populated areas and the weather, cover, and terrain has all been similar. Things change here for them.