The largest of any of the wolf delisting hearings was held in Cody, Wyoming on Thursday. The Billings Gazette said 600 people were there.
Although anti-wolf folks were the majority, I’m proud of those who spoke for reasonable wolf management. It took guts to go to and speak in a meeting carefully crafted by Wyoming politicians to showcase anti-wolf sentiment, especially because those who spoke against the anti-wolf plan were harassed by the audience, and the local politicians did nothing to keep order or the democratic process. In fact they forced the hearing officer to continue the hearing, although she wanted to close it down due to the impossibility of the situation.
Story. Cody hearing on delisting draws passionate views. By Ruffin Prevost. Billings Gazette Wyoming Bureau
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Ralph Maughan
Dr. Ralph Maughan is professor emeritus of political science at Idaho State University with specialties in natural resource politics, public opinion, interest groups, political parties, voting and elections. Aside from academic publications, he is author or co-author of three hiking/backpacking guides, and he is past President of the Western Watersheds Project and the creator of The Wildlife News.
I get the feeling from reading the story that this meeting was like most others: the “pro-wolf” people gave testimony by in large, and the anti-wolf people gave rhetoric.
And yet; with no facts presented by the anti-wolf sides, the wolves will likely be delisted anyway.
To me, this is evidence of the failure of the Rocky Mountain Wolf Recovery Plan. The Plan called for education; but did not make specific goals or point out criteria for measuring the effects of education. The people in these “hearings” are evidence of this; the anti-wolf people who testify, as far as I have seen at any of the meetings I attend, give emotional testimony based on misinformation, myth, and a prejudice against wolves and other wildlife.
I think people who are killing wolves are dispicable. It’s in humane, there’s no record in North America of a wolf every killing a human being, shouldn’t that tell you guys something. It means wolves won’t harm you, and for the people to go and kill them just because otter , and gillet want them dead is reatarded. They should burn in hell for what there doing, don’t you want the future generations to see these beautiful creatures ? the wolves only eat the live stock when the humans chase them into there farm lands and if theres not an abundance of food. You people need to wake up and realize what your doing. – please reply back to me I would love to hear what you have to say