Hunting wolves in the French wilderness

[Still Waters]

French farmers take on wolf in a hunt through the snow of Provence, as a sharp rise in attacks on their sheep is "threatening their pastoral way of life"

http://www.telegraph...wilderness.html

[Sakari]

This is one I wish you had not posted....

The wolf is a protected species under the Berne convention and European law. It can no longer be hunted or poisoned.

They are getting a bad rap again....

If humans do not like it, are afraid of it, or it does not suit their needs, do only the one thing we know.......

Kill it....

We need a plague.

Edited March 23, 2014 by Sakari

[Skep B]

I'm getting that wolves are a bit of a sensitive subject for you, but it's just like any other animal.

It's easier to accept if you think of humanity as just another species protecting their resources.

[Sakari]

I'm getting that wolves are a bit of a sensitive subject for you, but it's just like any other animal.

It's easier to accept if you think of humanity as just another species protecting their resources.

No, humans....

Hunt wolves to near extinction. Realize it was wrong, and hurting the eco-system. Re-introduce them, then start hunting them again.

Who made us God? ( not that I believe in one )

It is not just Wolves, but yes, I have a close bond with them.

Look at my signature......Hint....And click on it.

Edited March 23, 2014 by Sakari

[Skep B]

I'm aware your link, I get that. I don't entirely empathise with it, but I understand

We are at the top of the eco system, evolution made us god. When we falter, something else will take our place. Plenty of other species have gone extinct, eventually I assume humans will too.

It is not just Wolves, but yes, I have a close bond with them.

Look at my signature......Hint....And click on it.

That's how I knew wolves were a sensitive subject for you.

[Sakari]

I'm aware your link, I get that. I don't entirely empathise with it, but I understand

We are at the top of the eco system, evolution made us god. When we falter, something else will take our place. Plenty of other species have gone extinct, eventually I assume humans will too.

That's how I knew wolves were a sensitive subject for you.

We are at the top. And we also know what we are doing to it, yet we do nothing to stop it.

You are right, if you look at us as just animals, it makes sense. But, I tend to hope we can control our animal instincts better. And, we have something they do not..Greed, and selfishness.

They have something we do not....un-conditional love.

They kill to survive, we do not need to kill to survive.

We put food right in front of them, and expect them to leave it alone. Yet, we waste the same food all around the world every day. They do not waste it.

Anyway, I could go on and on.....

[Skep B]

I guess ultimately we're not going to agree on this one. Which, you know, is fine.

I would argue that the idea of unconditional love among animals is more about seeing an easy way to allow their genetics to survive. I don't think they "love"

[Sakari]

I don't think they "love"

Try these :

The phenomenon of grieving dogs: The ultimate loyalty [updated]

Living up to the title of man's best friend, these dogs face danger and death to stay near the ones they love

I

n the face of disaster, danger, and death, some dogs live up to their reputations as man's best friend with heartwrenching acts of loyalty. Ciccio, a 12-year-old German shepherd, proves how faithful he is on a daily basis, heading to his nearby church in Italy when the bells begin to ring each afternoon, just as he did with his owner when she was alive. "Dogs go through grief, just as we do," said Sarah Wilson, an animal behavior expert, in People. "It's all a part of being attached and loved." Here, 12 dogs whose courageous and loyal actions say more than words:

1. Ciccio: Truly devoted

Ciccio and his owner lived in the village of San Donaci in the southern region of Puglia, Italy. When the bells tolled each afternoon, he would accompany the woman, who was known in the village as "Maria of the fields," to church. But when Maria died suddenly in November, Ciccio appeared devastated. He attended the funeral and followed his mistress' coffin as it was carried into the same local church. Thereafter, he just kept coming back, day after day. His devotion has so impressed the parishioners that they rallied together to care for him, giving him water and food and allowing him to sleep in a covered area outside the church. The priest, while hoping to find a new home for the faithful pup, even lets Ciccio sit in front of the altar during service.

2. Capitan: Faithful forever

Miguel Guzman bought Capitan for his son, Damian, in 2005. After Guzman died the next year, Capitan disappeared. A week after the funeral, the family returned to the cemetery in central Argentina and found Capitan there, howling. The heartbroken dog had found the cemetery and tomb on his own, and has lived there ever since, sleeping on Guzman's grave. "I've tried to bring Capitan home several times," Damian, 13, says, "but he always comes straight back... He's looking after my dad."

3. Hawkeye: Loyal to the end

Hawkeye the chocolate Lab's owner — 35-year-old Navy SEAL Jon Tumilson — died in the August 6, 2011, helicopter crash that killed 38 American servicemen. Roughly 1,500 mourners came out to a local high school gym in Iowa to pay their respects, and all eyes were on the heartbreaking display of devotion as Hawkeye, unwilling to leave the side of Tumilson's casket, seemed to grieve for his fallen friend. (Watch the video here.)

4. Kirby: Going the distance

In early August 2011, Kirby, a small black dog whose owner recently died, went missing from his new home. The little pup was found soon after, sitting by his owner's grave, having walked miles to find it.

5. Unknown: Standing guard

After Japan's devastating earthquake in March 2011, reporters videotaped a shaking, mud-splattered spaniel sitting next to another dog, which is lying, hardly moving, next to him. The healthier dog refuses to leave his friend and stands guard, sometimes pacing. The dogs were eventually rescued and taken to medics. The video received

on YouTube with comments from dog lovers pouring in: "That dog is a better person than most humans," wrote one. "Loyalty is the best word to use when you describe a dog. Truly, man's best friend is a well-deserved title," wrote another.

6. Leao: Keeping vigil

In January 2011, floods and landslides ravaged Brazil, outside Rio de Janeiro. One of the most "gut-wrenching" photos to emerge from the tragedy showed a mixed-breed dog, Leao, lying patiently by the fresh grave of his owner. While news of the fatal landslides spread, it was the image of this lonely, grief-stricken dog that really put a "face on just what a tragedy the country [was] facing," said Sasha Brown-Worsham at The Stir.

7. Spot: Faithfully waiting

While Wayne Giroux was working away at his lawnmower repair shop, his dog, Spot, waited faithfully for his return every day at the same street corner near their home in Lone Oak, Texas. After Giroux was killed by a drunk driver in June 2010, Spot continued to wait for him. Five months later, the dog still waited, and Giroux's son, Paul, said he didn't think the dog would ever give up.

8. Zelda: Looking for her boy

Joshua Reed rescued a sweet, rust-colored dog named Zelda from the road after she was hit by a car. From that moment on, the two were inseparable, said Marci Reed, Joshua's mother. In 2009, just three years after their chance meeting, 15-year-old Joshua was killed in an ATV accident. Months later, the dog could be seen roaming the Indiana farm roads near the family's home. "She's without her boy," said Marci Reed, "She just sniffs all over looking for her boy."

9. Clara: Struggling to comprehend

After actress Brittany Murphy died suddenly of an apparent heart attack in December 2009, her Maltese, Clara, was visibly devastated. "One of the saddest things is that Clara has looked everywhere for Brittany and can't find her," said Simon Monjack, Murphy's husband, in People.

10. Unknown: Dodging traffic

This "rather unbelievable" video that surfaced in December 2008 showed one dog's heroism in the face of danger — and oncoming traffic. After a dog is hit by a car on a freeway, another dog dodges cars and drags his severely injured friend off the highway to safety.

11. Cash: Starving to protect

Jake Baysinger, a 25-year-old Colorado man, had been missing for months in 2008 when, in August, his German Shepherd, Cash, was found roaming the Colorado plains. The dog led searchers to Baysinger's body. He had reportedly committed suicide, and Cash stayed by his side for six weeks. The dog was badly dehydrated and very thin, and authorities said it was a miracle the animal survived. But his presence prevented Baysinger's body from being attacked by coyotes.

12. Squeak: Refusing to leave

In March 2002, a 51-year-old farmer named Terry Ford was brutally killed in Zimbabwe. Sitting beside the mutilated corpse was the man's devoted dog, a 14-year-old Jack Russell Terrior named Squeak. It took family members an hour to coax the dog away: "He was crying when the body was found and he is still crying now," said one friend of the family.

[xYlvax]

I agree with Sakari here..

We can't just screw with them like this..There should be a better approach.

[Sakari]

I agree with Sakari here..

We can't just screw with them like this..There should be a better approach.

Thing is, there is. A rancher in Wyoming found a way. And there are numerous things to do. I will not get into all of the details though. I do enough of that in other forums that pertain to that.

Here is one link, if anyone is interested in non lethal measures.

http://www.defenders.org/sites/default/files/publications/livestock_and_wolves.pdf

[eaglesareskykittens]

People blame wolves for everything, they are symbol, a scape goat for people to pin all there believes or problems on, not an animal with rights of its own.

[Grandpa Greenman]

Wolf pack are really family groups. Sad to kill them. They should try putting some donkeys in among the with sheep. They have been shown run off predators.

[coldethyl]

Watching that video i was on edge the whole time that they were going to find a wolf. Glad they didn't.

[Skep B]

Try these :

They're pack animals, they see these actions as attempts to preserve their pacts.

[Sakari]

They're pack animals, they see these actions as attempts to preserve their pacts.

Maybe one day you will get to experience this. I hope you do, then you will understand.

As you said, we are not going to agree, no harm in that.

I can say you are wrong above though ( preserving packs ) This is not normal behavior, especially in pack animals. Packs will push out the weak. That is why animals ( dogs especially ) hide pain. It is a sign of weakness, and to them, can be a death sentence in a pack.

[Gatofeo]

Though Humans are often accused of being the only animal that kills for sport, there are others.

Dogs, cats, coyotes, wild cats, and probably wolves. I've seen wolves when I had a cabin in central British Columbia, near Tweedsmuir Provincial Park. I only saw them moving from one area to another, never hunting.

But I've had enough cats, well fed, that killed for sport. And seen plenty of domestic dogs come home with a bird or gopher, though they weren't hungry.

There is a well known video of a bobcat playing with a dead rodent, tossing it into the air and catching it numerous times. He eventually left it uneaten.

Wolves are predators. They are not pets, nor should they ever be.

You cannot negate millions of years of predatory programming with a hug, pat on the head and smile.

Every once in a while, some naive person gets his or her face shredded by a wild animal they believed they had domesticated.

Wolves are wild animals.

Dogs have thousands of years, thousands of generations, of domestication.

There is a significant difference.

[Sakari]

Wolves are predators. They are not pets, nor should they ever be.

Dogs have thousands of years, thousands of generations, of domestication.

There is a significant difference.

The snipped part I agree with. But, I would hope as humans, we have the ability to not hunt for fun.

We shared 7 years of our lives with a Wolf. Long story, it is in my signature link. I agree 100% also that they should not be pets, not because they are dangerous, but because people do not understand their needs, and they should be in the wild, not in a yard. I hate the fact that people still breed them, with dogs, and sell them. There are a lot of rescues out there because of this.