How can it be that people can see wildlife so differently?  By that I mean, one group can love the wildness, the spirit, and beauty of an animal, while others see it as a commodity.  Some view it as something devoid of spirit, something they have a right to abuse, torture and kill.  They seem unable or unwilling to except wildlife as creatures with families, emotion or true feelings; the idea of truly being able to feel pain is something they simply deny.

This is a world of what I refer to as people who are missing a critical gene.  This gene of love and compassion for animals is one that some seem to be lacking.  That was apparent this past week when we held our “Ending trapping in the Urban Interface” forum in Missoula.  After a week of trappers brutally threatening and ripping Imagination Brewery over their allowing us to present there, which included blasting them on Yelp and other social media sites, this group of missing genes appeared at our forum.  They listened while staring straight forward.  When they spoke they questioned, “if animals really felt pain when caught in a trap”; they talked about us taking “their lands.”

Their big message was that their payment of $28 dollars a year to trap, including the right to destroy five wolves each, gives them the right to control the fate of wildlife and the public lands we all use to recreate on because we pay nothing. How many non-target animals were killed in wolf traps?  We’ll never know.
Let’s think about that for a moment, for $28.00, they can kill at will wildlife in numbers that can be staggering if you include animals like coyotes that don’t even need a permit.  Coyotes--you can trap unlimited numbers for free.  Pain, suffering, destroyed packs, more spread of disease, increased numbers of coyotes.  Take out the alpha male or female and they all breed because the family structure is destroyed, and females can have up to 19 pups each to fill the vacuum.  It also comes at the loss for us, the general public that long to see beavers in the river, who want to hear the coyote songs and wish for wolves to restore our lands, to keep our wildlife populations healthy.  People do not want to see bald eagles caught in traps or grizzly bears.  The by-catch of this indiscriminate killing is species that are threatened, endangered or your dog.

As the forum progressed, it was clear that we were not speaking the same language and more importantly, the strong urge that many people have to protect wildlife, to treasure it, was seen by those who trap as somewhat sentimental, silly and was constantly brought back to their needs, their desire to kill and their self-righteous belief that what they did was acceptable in modern society.

So I go back to a missing gene, a missing something that allows people to club innocent animals to death, to make jokes about picking up baby chicks at a store and bringing them home for "dog treats”.

We stand here today to express our love to an animal; one we call-wolf. Wolves are not just magnificent; they are in life the symbol of beauty and grace. They are a family, a pack, a group that moves as one and makes the land their territory.

We also live in a time where ignorance, cultural hates and the loathing from rural communities is being aspired to an animal they see as a symbol of all that is wrong in our country. Wolves are the multicultural, Black lives Matters, Gay, transgender child or friend, in other words, they stretch the tolerance of those that want a life devoid of personal growth and understanding, but choose to live on the land, not co-exist. Wolves challenge their norms, but like much of American today; wolves in Montana are being met with hate, intolerance, and death at the hands of those who live to kill.

It is also a time when groups like the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation have gone from responsible wildlife supporters and approaches to one that has devolved into a group that demands the killing of wolves and other predators. Funding shadow groups that push state agencies to kill wolves and in the funding for paid bounties ($1000 each, Foundation for Wildlife Management) on wolves in Idaho.

So the reality we face is we have work to do and a strong need for vocal voices and boots on the ground for the critical battles ahead, which begin on February 13th in Helena. There the commission will begin the process of trying to follow the lead of the Idaho Game Commission in expanding the ability of trappers to double (triple in Idaho) their take of wolves and expand the wolf hunting season so more wolves can be slaughtered. If they get their way expect a push to remove wolves from parts of our state entirely as Idaho is pursuing.

This is not a time for silence; rather it is time to raise HOLY HELL with a Commission that seems determined to promote the destruction of wolves in Montana. This livestock industry, trapper inspired effort, needs to be crushed by the outpouring of support for wolves and a need for people to overwhelm this commission with calls, emails, and letters.

Once again we must remind ourselves of one basic question: who’s wildlife is this? Does it simply belong to trappers; is the endless control of wildlife acceptable? Is it warranted? The answer seems to be- the will of livestock interests, trumps sanity. Where is our will being represented? Where are our voices? Do we, as the clear majority, in this state not have the right to view living, breathing wildlife?

Why are trappers allowed to kill more than 200,000 animals every year? Since when is suffering part of our constitution? Why does the commission not have a single true conservationist on it?

Part of the answer is because many of us being well-meaning, believe that Fish, Wildlife and Parks is doing a good job. Many do not question that premise. The other part is simple raw political muscle being flexed by those that directly profit from the land, they are dictating policy. It’s time for sobriety.

Time and time again this agency yields to poor science, no science or political winds. They do the bidding of the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation and bend over backward for trapping and livestock interests. They do this because so few of us show up or demand more. February 13th is the day we can begin to right the carnage wrought by trappers, livestock interests and this agency. It is the day we can speak in one, very loud voice for wolves. They deserve our voice, our heart. They deserve our rage at a Commission that shows no courage.

Wolves are what keep the balance in nature. They are what stops chronic wasting disease, they are what keeps our elk and deer healthy and moving. They are the spirit of the land. They are what gets our heart pumping and allow us to witness true wildness. Their return was a turning point in our relationship to the wild nature and we cannot let that day, that victory, be in vain.

We must fight like never before, for those that want wolves to die are winning. We must be the blockade in the road, the voice that speaks for them and rallies our community, our state and our people to demand justice and the end of this killing spree.

We are not here to cry wolf, we are here to stand with wolves!
— Be a voice for change; join us on February 13th in Helena!
— Tell the Commission no to expanded killing, period.
—Justice begins on that day.

This article by Stephen Capra appeared as a Guest Column in the Sunday, October 6, 2019 Edition of the Missoulian.

In 1990, I walked the length of the Continental Divide from Mexico to Canada. Over 3,200 miles, I saw for myself that species like fisher, beaver and bobcat were nowhere to be found, until I entered national park lands. There, free of traps, I saw diversity in wildlife, a freedom in their being lacking on much of our trapped filled public lands.

We live in a land blessed with wildlife, a place of wild rivers and wilderness. We also live in a land that sanctions the torture of wildlife, the slaughter of wolves at the hands of those who call themselves trappers. This group, who use threats and intimidation to continue their macabre existence, are back in the field, setting their traps near trails or next to closed roads where unsuspecting families and pets beckon.

Their mission is to steal the life, without fair chase, of so many creatures great and small. Their theft comes in the suffering and torture of wolves and fishers, bobcats and cougars, and the endless assault on beavers. It comes from the endless bycatch of eagles, family dogs, deer, ravens and any poor creature unfortunate to find itself in a leghold trap, a snare or the crushing punishment of a conibear.

This disgraceful practice is condoned by our own Fish, Wildlife and Parks, which continues to give in to trappers' threats and demands. FWP shows its support by holding a class on trapping wolves that is held statewide. They sell this as “creating integrity in trapping,” a clear oxymoron. This is a class that recruits people to trap wolves, giving tips on how to torture wildlife — wolves in particular — without conscience.

Why are we allowing more than 50,000 animals each year to be left to suffer in traps for days, only to have a trapper club or shoot them? What does it say about us as humans in 2019? What does it say about the majority of the FWP Commission that refuses to even make common-sense protections for families, a priority over that of the 0.5% of people that demand control over our public lands?

Recreational trapping is not a tradition that deserves to be part of our modern world. It must be ended forever. We cannot allow the very spirit of all that is wild, wolves, to be tortured and their packs decimated when science clearly shows them to be self-regulating, and their pack destruction clearly what leads to depredation.

Last year more than  300 wolves’ lives were lost in this state, many at the hands of trappers. Many continue to believe, without science, that wolves are harming elk populations. In this scenario fires, forest growth, disease, changing habitat due to climate change and other predators are ignored so that wolves can be the scapegoat.

Science and plain observation proves that animals feel pain, that they have emotional connections. How can we allow such incredible arrogance and so-called “tradition” to continue to be maintained when it is clear the importance that wolves and other animals bring to a healthy environment?

Wildlife deserves far better. They deserve the right to live their lives free of traps.

Winter is in the air these days. The fresh snow will show you footprints that leave the trail; they lead to traps and snares, they tell a story of a people devoid of compassion and the resulting misery for animals so deserving of our respect.

This is our winter of shame. It is our time as owners of our public lands to evict those who trap our beautiful and vital wildlife. It is time for change.