Make no mistake, I love wolves as much as just about anyone; yet some people practically worship them, putting them above any other species except perhaps whales and dolphins. To be sure, wolves are sacred, but there are folks who think of them as hyper-sentient—the great Northern furred land-dolphin, if you will.
I’m not for a minute denying wolves’ intelligence or adherence to an almost human-like social caste system, but I can’t get behind campaign slogans such as “Real hunters don’t hunt wolves.” I call bullshit on that. Real hunters hunt wolves, coyotes, elk, deer, prairie dogs, pigeons, pronghorn, bears, cougars, raccoons— anything and everything that moves or has ever moved. Hell, they’d probably hunt whales and dolphins if it weren’t for the Federal Marine Mammal Protection Act. Most hunters just want a target and a trophy, they don’t really care what species it is.
Granted, some hunters are more sadistic than others, just as some serial killers revel in their victims’ suffering, while others dispatch their prey as quickly as possible—they’re only interest: harvesting a trophy corpse to have around, for whatever morbid reason. The most sadistic hunters are probably fueled by the fact that there are people out there who adore wolves while state laws still consider delisted wolves “property” like every other non-human animal.
Serial killers have been known to derive sick pleasure from taunting the families of their victims, calling them from prison to recount their murders. The same kind of thing likely goes on in the minds of sadistic wolf hunters who boast and post photos of their kills, knowing that some sentimental environmentalist or animal rightsists might come across one and be hurt or outraged by it. They’d love to know that one of us broke down, burned out or resorted to lethal action because of their post (as long as they weren’t on the receiving end of the action).
The wolf situation is unique among modern-day animal atrocities, in that it’s as yet perfectly “legal” for hunters and trappers to film themselves in action. In sharing them online, they’re banking on the fact that the general public is unmoved and apathetic. But I’d like to think that if factory farmers readily shared footage of their routine acts of animal abuse online, there would be a lot more vegans in this world.
For now, the only way anti-wolf sadists can be stopped is by eliminating them from the world of the living. But if you happen to reside in one of those backward states that have yet to implement a death penalty for wolf hunting, the best advice is to just ignore them like you would the taunts of any other bully. Meanwhile, keep petitioning Facebook and other social media outlets where their death porn appears. As long as animals, including wolves, are seen only as “property” by the powers that be, the people who run Facebook will feel entitled to allow anti-wolf evil to be spread throughout their pages and posts.
Eventually common decency will prevail and violent anti-wolf/anti-animal sites will come under serious scrutiny, just as misogynistic sites recently have. We need to step up the pressure on Facebook and let them know that freedom of speech does not give one the right to victimize. Be sure to sign this petition and pass it on: http://www.change.org/petitions/facebook-executives-ban-sadistic-pages-of-wildlife-torture
Meanwhile, let’s fight for the rights and personhood of all animals, not just a chosen few.
Text and Wildlife Photography ©Jim Robertson, 2013. All Rights Reserved
Exposing the Big Game 
To aid such a cause is the same as helping to advance criminal sadistic behavior and should never be tolerated but punished to the fullest extent of the law! Signed and shared
Thanks for signing, Kate.
S&S.
Thanks Maureen.
Thank you for a most perceptive post. Wolves, dolphins and whales may all be iconic examples of our diminishing wild fauna that capture the imagination of even the least committed environmental advocates but they don’t hold their own lives any dearer than does the humblest factory farm hen or laboratory mouse.
Thanks Geoff, that’s just the point I was hoping to make
Reblogged this on Animal Connection.
Thank you JIm
You’re welcome Louise, thank you for sending me the link
Reblogged this on Carinas space.
Jim ,this is exactly why I’m not on Facebook but what annoys me, I sign hundreds of petitions and so many times even this petition want you to share it on Facebook even though its a petition not to use Facebook ! Maybe they want everybody to know the petition is about them ,I’m not sure I just know I don’t have any desire to be on any of them I don’t feel the need to share every little thought in my head. I do enjoy your post because I’m learning something and you do think a lot like me maybe because we’re all so close in “old age” haha ! I don’t need to have a thousand friends I’m very choosy and I’m an animal lover across the board even though I do know that the wolf haters are the most disgusting . I just read that’s some big shot millionaire summer hobby is to get on his boat with his friends and kill hundred and eighty Wales and then cut them up and ship to China for them to use as dog food I guess it’s to use for the dogs they’re going to kill. Some of the sites I have no interest in they stick with one subject and they won’t let go. I can tell there young and they chatter on and argue with the people that they share the same interests. I wish they would just stop talking so much and start reading and educating themselves then there might be a possibility we could all get our heads together and figure out something that I actually would work!
Sign and send petition , Nancy
Well said, Jim, meegwetch!
What makes us so frustrated is that wolves can’t catch a break, even by the agencies entrusted with their well being and safety. They must be wondering why humans with guns, snares, traps and hounds are trying to kill them and their babies? I know they are able to think at that level.
We all know bad things can happen deep in the woods. I understand the psychological behavior of wolves and humans, as you know. I’ve sadly, seen too much. That came in the form of a trophy hunter/sexual sadist who shot and raped a dying wolf. As far as I know, there are no other animals that suffer both fates? I see it as a hate crime by a psychopath who is rapidly on his way to women victims. I came to the conclusion that wolves have come to be ‘stand-ins,’ for the human woods psycho’s need to dominate all creatures. I think when they post snuff porn with a wolf, they need to be put in prison. Any animal, not only wolves being abused like that!
I don’t know what to do with these freaks. The word ‘ super-max’ comes to mind. …if only…
I love wolves but for the years I’ve been doing anti-hunting I learned many wolf lovers are
1. Non Vegan, now don’t get mad I am sure there are just as many vegan wolf lovers but I speak in majority terms
2. They believe wolf hunting is bad but it’s “ok” to hunt deer, As they say
“most hunters eat the meat” I don’t think so. Some may eat prions filled venison jerky or prions filled back ribs but trophy hunters kills the older male deer where the meat is tough so do not sit here and tell me these trophy killers going to eat that tough meat instead they “give’ to the pantries.. Easy to “give” what you don’t want and if not for the pantries the sale of deer, bear tags will go down
3. It’s because of Deer hunting the wolves are being killed. They don’t want competitions. Boy do they hate Wolves because they may kill the trophy buck deer they been after for couple of years so if you LOVE WOLVES be sure to be against all wildlife killing that means the Elk,Moose and the Whitetails. These are the animals hunters wants the populations to go up so they kill coyotes and Wolves.in the hundreds by trapping and shooting;
4. Isn’t it easier to win argument against cruelty of hunting if you are a vegan??
Yes, it sure is.
Reblogged this on Exposing the Big Game and commented:
Here’s another timely post worth reblogging…
I think if it appears that people ‘worship’ wolves, and spend more time and attention on them, it is because they have been so relentlessly and diabolically persecuted by man. No other animal except maybe the coyote has beet treated so badly. I don’t know what is the reason for it. But I and I believe most people do support the rights of all animals, not just the wolf.
I wish that were true, but then why do most people eat bacon?
Well those those who are concerned about animal welfare. There is no cult of the wolf. For others, I think it is because they are kept in the dark about where their food really comes from. Most people are unaware of and don’t expect the kind of cruelty that is an affront to the senses that goes on in a factory farm in order to feed them and a population as large as ours.
If there were a cult for wolves, I would be a charter member, since I’ve been an advocate for wolves far longer than for any other animal. I used to eat certain animals while advocating for the rights of others, like many people still do, but I finally saw it as an offshoot of speciesism.
Signed! Tweeted and shared on facebook. I’m reading your book right now, too. I’ve racked my brain trying to figure out how these people got this level of sadism.
Thanks for sharing and for ordering the book–enjoy it!