Wolf watching generates winter tourism-
Ralph Maughan
Dr. Ralph Maughan is professor emeritus of political science at Idaho State University. He was a Western Watersheds Project Board Member off and on for many years, and was also its President for several years. For a long time he produced Ralph Maughan's Wolf Report. He was a founder of the Greater Yellowstone Coalition. He and Jackie Johnson Maughan wrote three editions of "Hiking Idaho." He also wrote "Beyond the Tetons" and "Backpacking Wyoming's Teton and Washakie Wilderness." He created and is the administrator of The Wildlife News.
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But on Billings Gazette such an article is to cast pearls before swine. The comments are simply a nuisance! German TV had an hour long feature about Yellowstone in winter last night, featuring Tom Murphy! Just great footage to enjoy and thankfully nothing of the anti-wolf, anti-bison, anti-whatever it is hassle!
I agree Peter; the Gazette should censor those stupid, non-informed comments. I think those people will whine about anything. They are not needed there and just give a negative stereotype to the region.
Hell, I’m just glad there’s some positive news about wolves in one of our region’s newspapers. That’s refreshing.
But Jon,
It helps to perpetuate the great romanticized myth of the west!! Without all that free advertising, where would the throngs of misinformed ranchers and other land/wildlife abusers be able to get their more-than-fair-share of sympathy from the outside?
I agree with Dave. I thought the article was a good description of the wolf watching activity in Yellowstone. More positive articles like this should be encouraged.
Calling everyone who reads the Billings Gazette “Swine” doesn’t promote wolves or wolf watching.
Censor comments? If you don’t like the comments the paper received, perhaps some of you should take the time to send your own “informed ” comments to the paper.
But Larry,
I’ve been doing that for quite some time and rarely, if ever, do my comments make it on the pages in print or elsewhere. The media is fixated on the views of the people on hot topics only when they produce heat under the collar of those who aren’t likely to actually threaten and stalk them…
Ahhh, life in the wild west in the 19th, oops, I mean the 21st century.
A reading of two short stories by Mark Twain, “Journalism in Tennessee” and “How I Edited an Agricultural Paper” are good to recall.
There’s a group of nasty folks that hang out on the comment page of the Billings Gazette.
I doubt they are representative of Montana. It’s just that they found a place they liked, and so hold onto it.
You get quite a different group if you look at the comments to the Salt Lake Tribune, and that is in Utah, by golly!
Thanks Ralph.
I am in Utah and I am with you!!!
BTW..a group of nasty folks ..you mean Marion….as the hater of all predators..weasel is considered a predator..
Oh yes have had a few run in’s with the lovely Marion
Ah Larry, Just to clarify: I did not call everybody reading Billings Gazette a swine! Please read carefully what I actually said. Here in Germany the phrase “Perlen vor die Säue werfen”, literally translated “to throw pearls in front of swines” is maybe a little softer than in the english speaking environment.
At least these “honourable commenters” (better?) serve for the non native speaker as a source for a vocabulary from the very bottom level of a society.