Roger J. Wendell
Defending 3.8 Billion Years of Organic EvolutionSM
 Ducks and tortoise in 1968 |
Animals and Wildlife
"I think I could turn and live with animals, they are
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"It is totally unconscionable to subject defenseless animals to mutilation and death, just so a company can be the first to market a new shade of nail polish or a new, improved laundry detergent. It's cruel, it's brutal, it's inhumane, and most people don't want it."
- Abigail Van Buren
"We need another and a wiser and perhaps a more mystical concept of animals. Remote from universal nature and living by complicated artifice, man in civilization surveys the creature through the glass of his knowledge and sees thereby a feather magnified and the whole image in distortion. We patronize them for their incompleteness, for their tragic fate for having taken form so far below ourselves. And therein do we err. For the animal shall not be measured by man. In a world older and more complete than ours, they move finished and complete, gifted with the extension of the senses we have lost or never attained, living by voices we shall never hear. They are not brethren, they are not underlings: they are other nations, caught with ourselves in the net of life and time, fellow prisoners of the splendour and travail of the Earth."
- Henry Beston, The Outermost House
- Professor Peter Singer
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I rescued this small lizard from a golf course
near Bandera, Texas. It was trapped inside a large,
outdoor ashtray and had probably received ten
lifetime exposures to nicotine and hot ashes...
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"The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated...I hold that, the more helpless a creature, the more entitled it is to protection by man from the cruelty of man."
- Mahatma Gandhi
"Animal cruelty abounds. It is sickening. It is infuriating. Barbaric treatment of helpless, defenseless creatures must not be tolerated even if these animals are being raised for food - and even more so, more so. Such insensitivity is insidious and can spread and is dangerous. Life must be respected and dealt with humanely in a civilized society."
- Senator Robert Byrd
in a speech delivered to the U.S. Senate
on July 9, 2001
"Elk bath" fire Sula, Montana - August 2000 |
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An Ecological Mystery in Yellowstone National Park
by Richard J. Schneider - Denver, Colorado (with permission)
Well, here's an interesting story about our environment and ecosystems. A number of years ago, researchers were perplexed over what was happening to trees and shrubs, like willows, in Yellowstone National Park. Aspen trees, for example, were virtually disappearing from the park. After some study, scientists realized that all that remained of aspen trees in parts of Yellowstone were old and dying trees. Aspens comprise a complex organism of underground shoots and trees that emerge from the ground. Essentially, the aspens had stopped replacing themselves. They stopped sending out shoots to create new, young trees. Another researcher, who specialized in river systems, noticed that the Lamar River in Yellowstone had changed radically since the park was first set aside in the late 19th century. An old aerial photograph of a bend in the river showed extensive vegetation on both sides of the river. The same shot from today showed both banks as bare. These were protected lands. Humans did not go in and harvest the bank side vegetation, mostly willows, or the aspens. And without the aspens and the willows, beavers, once plentiful in the region, disappeared.So what exactly was happening in Yellowstone? It seemed to be a mystery, until scientists put their heads together. They asked a simple question: what changed in the region between the time the park was created and today? Of course, more people visit the area. More cars in the summer. More snowmobiles in the winter. But increased human activity, even to the enormous extent it happens in Yellowstone, could not account for the lost aspens, the missing willows and the invisible beavers. Yet it was human activity that led to the discovery of just might be happening in America's flagship national park.
The region around the park was settled at about the same time the park was created. The number one four-legged enemy in the sights of the ranchers who settled the area was the wolf, which liked to feast on cattle and sheep. Spurred on by government bounties, the wolf was wiped out during the last century and a half. Ultimately the wolf was declared an endangered species and became protected by federal law. By 1970, no wolves at all could be found in the park.
One of the things that wolves do is apply pressure to herds of large animals like elk and deer. Wolves do more than just kill and eat the animals, although that act alone serves a key role in the local ecosystem. For example, an elk carcass first feeds the wolf pack that took the animal down. Next it feeds other animals, such as ravens, vultures, eagles, magpies, coyotes, fox and even bears who descend upon the kill for leftovers. And then there are the bugs, millions of them, which use the carcass for food and rearing their young.
But what about the aspens, the willows and the decidedly vegetarian beavers? Let's go back to the late 1980's when United States wildlife scientists proposed re-locating an experimental group of Canadian wolves into Yellowstone. Wolves, by the way, either remained established or managed to re-establish themselves in several areas of North America. Scientists estimated that the re-introduction of wolves into Yellowstone would reduce elk, deer, moose and buffalo herds by 5 to 30 per cent. The recommendation was controversial, with resistance coming largely from ranching interests. But with support from Congress, 31 wolves were captured in Canada and released in the park during the mid-90s. Since then, willows are growing again. And the beaver returned. They need the willows to build their dams and lodges. And aspens are once again sending shoots underground in search of water where they will send new, young trees skyward.
But why? Well, researchers can walk through the park and find an old elk kill, for example, resting in the center of fresh, vibrant willow growth. This was the kind of willow growth that was disappearing before the eyes of puzzled scientists. The elk were avoiding this particular area. Think about it. Without any wolves around, deer and elk, for example, can roam freely, reproduce with impunity and eat as many willow plants and aspen trees as they can get their sharp teeth on. But the wolves keep the herds moving, all the time, and the big animals no longer get to remain in one area until they decimate the vegetation. That gives the critical vegetation time to thrive, making the entire ecosystem healthy and balanced.
The wolves have done so well on their own that the re-introduction program has been suspended. Of course, wolves, like any other predator – except humans – don't know a park border from a golf club. So they have expanded beyond the park borders, which makes their management more challenging since wolves like sheep and cattle just as much as elk, deer and moose. But even the ranchers have become more understanding over the years. They too recognize the importance of healthy ecosystems, in parks and on ranchlands. Oh, the relationships among wolves, scientists and ranchers aren't perfect, but they're much better today than they were back when wolves were slaughtered for bounties.
Denver writer Richard J. Schneider runs a communications firm and studies political science at the University of Colorado-Denver graduate school.
©2005 Richard J. Schneider
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