Crying Wolf

Not far from where I live, they are going to shoot a family of wolves. The wolves have been attacking domestic animals, but the thing is, most of the animals that are being attacked are only there for the government subsidies.

For example, we don’t do anything, really, with most sheep here. The sheep are subsidized in order to keep the pastures cleared in the mountains, but we don’t eat that much lamb here, and we certainly can’t produce lamb or sheep meat cheap enough to export it anywhere. We throw out the wool, or burn it. A few people make cheese, but those folks are down in the valleys, not up in the mountains where the wolves are.

I feel sad that people are losing their sheep but they don’t take care of them like they did fifty years ago. In the past, sheep were guarded by dogs, and most evenings they were rounded up and kept inside or in a protected pen. There were shepherds up with their flocks all summer long. Now we let the sheep roam around and then get mad if a wolf eats them. Half the time the owners don’t even know they’re missing sheep right away. The reason they don’t have dogs is because the dogs have to be fed every day, and folks don’t get up to their flocks that often.

If someone’s principle income comes from the sheep, the government will reimburse animals killed by wolves, so some people complain because they lose money….but it wasn’t their principle income in the first place?

It’s frustrating. I agree that if the wolves are losing their fear of men, then they could be shot. We’re only alpha predators as long as everything else is scared of us. The problem with taking out a whole family is that there’s food there for a family, which is why the wolves are there. If you eliminate an entire family, another will move in.

It’s a sensitive subject here, and a lot of misinformation on both sides. The media isn’t doing the best job of trying to present the arguments of both sides.

As for me, I’m just tired of humans killing everything all the time. Between weedkiller, insecticides, putting cement over everything so that there’s no place left for birds or rodents or anything else, I’m just a bit tired of humans, in general.

https://www.rts.ch/info/regions/vaud/2024/article/les-sept-loups-de-la-meute-du-mont-tendre-pourront-etre-tires-28624510.html