As the animals at the top of the food chain, it is only natural for us to "intrude" on "their" land. Where, pray tell, would you have people live?

As animals at the top of the food chain, we would be wise to understand that we should make sure to keep our foundations intact.

I would have us live in SANITY.

We are really blowing our stewardship of this planet. Why is it that we suck so bad at living with the environment. We seem to be doing everything in our power to destroy it in the name of unregulated corporate greed.

Wolves will be wolves. Will Sarah be doing this personally?

Ack, the big problem is, there is little remaining on the Earth that is truly natural. This is a toughie, both species are biological diversity. The deciding factor should be, which specie is most threatened with disappearing from the Earth forever. All biological diversity has a job to perform for his ecosystem and the Earth.

If the caribou is the most threatened specie, then wolves should be killed. Little remains natural these days. The goal of science is to save and protect against extinction of all biological diversity. With the extinction of every animal, Earth moves closer to extinction.

While man is busy mopping up oil spills and entombing the Earth with concrete, much of the natural checks, balances and regulations of ecosystems have jumbled, are crashing or dying. Therefore, mankind must make intelligent decisions. Evidently, the caribou do not need any more pressures, natural or naught. The wolf's job is to trim the herd to fit the range, but evidently, the herd has been trimmed to the point of concern and action. Naturally, in nature, predator populations are rare, not abundant.

Obviously, the range/ecosystem's natural systems are not taking care of this unnatural travesty.

skor154,

In your post you're woefully short on species. You say that "both species are biological diversity. The deciding factor should be, which specie is most threatened with disappearing from the Earth forever." Actually, the Unimak caribou herd is subject to "subsistence" hunting. Since humans are one of the predators here, I suggest that your analysis be applied to all three predators and prey. Clearly the caribou are the most threatened in terms of survival, the wolves are the next-most threatened, and the humans aren't threatened at all.

Let's hunt them from the air.

Lune

If mankind is going to continue to hunt big game, It only seems fair to do it without 1,000 yard scope mounted rifles. Spears, throwing knives and home made bows should be the order of the day. It's not a "sport" any other way. Even if done purely for sustenance.

PW; "Never Cry Wolf" was a good book at one point in time....but that was years ago. The book has been debunked by modern research and science. So even though Farley ate mice to see how long he could last on the mouse diet does not make him the expert that everybody thought he was years ago. But the book is a nice read, especially for Sierra Club folks who eat it up. :-)

Lao Tzu,

Which I doubt seriously. Humans (under so-called subsistence laws) kill a great many more of the caribou than the wolves could even imagine in their wildest dreams. Moreover, when the wolves make a caribou kill, they're culling the herd, because wolves just can't manage to take down the best and brightest. Human hunters, on the other hand, always go for the B & B.

Fool.

Lune

Let them eat "MICE"...I like that! And leave the wolves "ALONE"....I like that one better!!!

Hey "Alaska"...how bout "chill baby chill"!!!!?

wolves gotta eat too!!!!

Lao Tzu,

I'm not a member of the Sierra Club; I first read Mowat's book for a biology class in college.

"In it's time...."?? Get real. Human's are the world's most invasive and pervasive parasites; the wolves and caribou were here long before humans started putting in roads and oil pipelines. Every time humans mess with the natural order of things, the domino effect is horrific. Humans do NOT have dominion over the animals of the world, that's a load of crap. We are part of it, not here to dominate it and try to control it.

We already had one planet to ourselves.

The irony of that fact is too much.

We already had one planet to ourselves.

The irony of that fact is too much.

Well I think humans are overstaying their welcome. If they can't take care of this planet, then they should depart to another planet.

Best to keep the destruction local.

Quarantine has been effective before.

If they went to a planet like mars, then they can't destroy sterile land. I say humans are free to terraform a planet to their liking and then stay there. Earth is not their planet.

The problem, Polka is, Mars does not boast of wolves or caribou -- or of life. Man's fate is inextricably tied to the fate of wolves and caribou. The caribou do need to be reintroduced to the area in which they have been extirpated, regardless.

Polka,

Just as an outside view, you and clarke ong appear to be pretty much in agreement, not opposed. clarke ong is also wickedly funny in an ironic way. "Best to keep the destruction local. Quarantine has been effective before."

Hahahahahahahhahahahahahahahahahahahhahahahahahahahahahahahahah!

Wish I'd said that.

Lune

I agree marputt. Something doesn't smell right.

marputt, Art-981203,

The Unimak caribou herd is a "subsistence" herd, which means that Alaskan Natives can hunt the caribou for "subsistence." It's a simple scandal, though, that "subsistence" hunting is regularly contracted out (on the QT, of course) to the Great White Hunters who come to kill for sport. It's all about money, in other words.

Lune

skor154,

The caribou and the wolves were on Unimak long before humans came there to call it Unimak, and they (the caribou and the wolves) achieved an ecological balance. Humans are the disrupting influence. In a general sense, if we truly thought in terms of what is healthy and stable for the ecosystem, we'd all kill ourselves. Humans are likely the worst ecologically destabilizing force to hit the earth since the Cretaceous asteroid slammed the earth about sixty-five million years ago.

Lune

Humans are likely the worst ecologically destabilizing force to hit the earth since the Cretaceous asteroid slammed the earth about sixty-five million years ago.

Yes, the human imperialism has greatly effected the environments of earth. When they go inevitably go extinct as a result of their arrogance toward the earth, then the world will return to the way it used to be; the way it should be.

Polka14,

I've no idea why you chose your nick, but I truly love the dance. Used to do it all the time at the Double Header in Seattle. Been a while, but I'm still hopping.

All dancing beside the point, you're entirely wrong when you say that "the world will return to the way it used to be; the way it should be." Let's deal with the easy claim that the world will become the "way it should be." That's teleology, buddy, and I don't buy into it. The world will just be, worlds without end, and nothing has determined the way that it should be. I think that I'm fond of you, but I simply don't agree that Some One has set an imprimatur on the way the world should be. It will just be, based on the various forces that impinge on it.

You are also entirely wrong when you say that the earth "will return to the way it used to be." Exactly who will you find to invent this time machine, and exactly how will this inventor manage to transport an entire planet back in time? It's not going to happen. I can understand your longing for such an inventor and such an event, but it's just not going to happen.

Here's the partial but most important answer why your grand dream will remain just that: a dream. Darwin started it all. The truly dangerous, insupportable, and outrageous but nonetheless inescapable implications of Darwin's theory is that we are all part of natural selection. Our music, our mathematics, our Cuisinarts, our philosophies, our Troy-Bilt tillers are all just manifestations of evolution.

And we won't stop.

That's the definition of arrogance.

Lune

you're entirely wrong when you say that "the world will return to the way it used to be; the way it should be."

I was simply stating an opinion that the earth will continue to exist as it has always existed before humans existed. It would be for the better as the animals would exist in their own natural world free from the destruction of humans.

Earth may never return to the way it was before humans arrived but without them, earth may recover as much as possible in order to survive into the future.

The truly dangerous, insupportable, and outrageous but nonetheless inescapable implications of Darwin's theory is that we are all part of natural selection.

Yes. Natural selection. I think that humans will go extinct due to this because of their terrible treatment to the environment. I say good riddance.

Lune, I absolutely agree with your assessment of the situation; however, evidently, the caribou were also extant in this island ecosystem traditionally; therefore, they assumed they would need to reintroduce this valuable specie back into its natural ecosystem. Ecosystems are only as stable as their biological diversity.

Polka, based upon the science of ecology, your assessment of the situtation, that humans will fall extinct, is correct, because mankind is as dependent upon the Earth's ecosystems for all life-giving and supporting as are the Earth's biological diversity, like the wolf and the caribou.

Scientifically, we are all in this together. And, yes, modern man and so-called "civilization" are only an Earth-killing machine, attacking at every spot on the Earth. From oil spills, to slathering up the planet with concrete and wiping out biological diversity, like wolves and caribous, all spell the same extirpation, a planet as life-sustaining and giving as Mars.

No caribou, no wolves and no humans can live on Mars.

They'd just trade it for booze.

Wolves are notorious drunks. I see them walking down the road all the time after the bars close.

So, caribou have no spirits, no right to life? If you aren't a carnivore and enjoying the flesh of other beings, you are unworthy of existence and spirit?

This is a decision that should be left in the hands of those versed in the science of ecology. The caribou are as vital to that island ecosystem as is all life, from the soil to the native vegetation, to all of the island's biological diversity.

Slinger, you put the cart before the horse. There isn't enough mother nature left to take care of itself. Evidently, the caribou were extirpated from this island ecosystem, and they are attempting to reintroduce them, which is natural, the way it was naturally in nature.

Something extirpated the caribou from their natural habitat. Man must intercede when appropriate because man has scrambled and left his footprints all over the Earth. If it was nature that put the caribou in this ecosystem, then this is behaving scientifically.

Jerry-352313,

Your little stick may be somewhat effective against tree-huggers, but nature has sticks larger than anything that you can imagine. The rest of you go ahead, live like you do.

Lune