Letter: To the Oregonian Newspaper in regards to 97 lb “animal” found dead
(A Letter to The Oregonian Newspaper)
march 18, 2012 – It was with wry amusement that I (a retired federal wildlife biologist living in Minnesota) read in your paper about that 97 lb. “animal” found dead in the Grande Ronde Valley. To think that after decades of hoopla about how “important” wolves are; this “animal” in the custody of the august “professionals” of both the Oregon State Police and the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife must be examined for DNA “analysis” (questionable at best) to determine if it is A. a dog, or B. a coyote, or C. a wolf, or D. a dog/coyote cross, or E. a dog/wolf cross, or F. a wolf/coyote cross, or G. a (this gets too confusing).
But wait, if all those Eastern and Midwestern cougar sightings of the past 30 years are any indication perhaps the “experts” in government will explain that dingoes or jackals (each of which enjoy “fertile unions” with dogs, coyotes, wolves and any of the infinite crosses therefrom) either A. escaped from a zoo, or B. were “pets” released by un-(federally)regulated pet owners to consummate an affair with some poor “Native” wolf or coyote or even some unsuspecting “Invasive” dog one evening. I wait with baited breath for their “findings”!
Truth be known, the classic understanding of animal “Species” is a group of animals that successfully interbreed and produce fertile offspring with characteristics of each parent. The difference between wolves, coyotes, jackals, dingoes, and (all) dogs is therefore the same as the difference between Chows, Chihuahuas, Dobermans, and Wolfhounds. That one (the wolf) is so “important” that killing one carries government sanction and that its destruction (humans, cattle, dogs, big game, etc.) must be endured by powerless rural folk is bad enough (actually monumentally bad): that this sacred wild and destructive animal can “only” be identified by “DNA analysis” completes the fairy-tale nature of the entire wolf “science” treated like some “Law of Physics”.
Wolf “biologists”, government bureaucrats, University professors (bought and paid for by government grants), and the “DNA Analysts” can set those chromosome definitions and limits ANYWHERE convenient. Want 5 “species”? No problem. Want 50 “species”? Just a minute, we can do that. It is “science” truly worthy of the “noble animal” tripe and hidden agendas of the entire wolf debacle.
I am reminded of the Queen of Hearts in Alice in Wonderland. If the “experts” find that some poor bumpkin is responsible for the demise of the “97 lb. animal” that only some secret laboratory can declare what it is; he will wind up like Alice in “Wonderland”. When the Queen cries “off with her head” and poor Alice mentions that she hasn’t been found guilty, the Queen (i.e. government) simply says, “first the sentence and then the verdict.”
Did Lewis Carroll write The Endangered Species Act?
Jim Beers
Jim Beers is a retired US Fish & Wildlife Service Wildlife Biologist,
Special Agent, Refuge Manager, Wetlands Biologist, and Congressional Fellow. He was stationed in North Dakota, Minnesota, Nebraska, New York City, and Washington DC. He also served as a US Navy Line Officer in the western Pacific and on Adak, Alaska in the Aleutian Islands. He has worked for the Utah Fish & Game, Minneapolis Police Department, and as a Security Supervisor in Washington, DC. He testified three times before Congress; twice regarding the theft by the US Fish & Wildlife Service of $45 to 60 Million from State fish and wildlife funds and once in opposition to expanding Federal Invasive Species authority. He resides in Eagan, Minnesota with his wife of many decades.
Jim Beers is available to speak or for consulting. You can receive future articles by sending a request with your e-mail address to: jimbeers7@comcast.net
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