I Want to Buy a Wolf

No, I don't necessarily want a pet wolf at this moment. There are still places where these can be obtained in Alaska--but the dominance wrestling and mind games one needs to play with this "pet" would just take too much time.
What I want instead is to ensure that an adopted wolf of mine could live in the wild, free from aerial hunting, trapping or other human barbarianism. I would feel blessed simply to watch this wild wolf that only needed to worry about natural disasters or disease, not people.
But I can't. There is no amount a money I can earn that would pay for such a privilege. The most I could do is but a nature preserve for my wolf, but even this would be like a zoo--because without a fence, he/she would still be in danger. And a fenced in wolf can't roam or mate. There is nothing great about that.
This is my peeve--why do sport hunters feel they "earn the right" with their money to shoot a prized grizzly or wolf. But I can never "earn" the right to protect it? These are not species that anyone eats, it is purely a trophy.
Why does money buy you anything, but it can't buy an animal it's right to live in the wild and die of natural causes. They say our natural resources belong to the public, but the killers right trumps the viewers rights.

When the Omega Wolf Bites

I am quite fascinated by wolf behavior. One of the more well-known characteristics of a wolf pack is that they fight for status. The top of the pack are the "Alpha" male & female, and at the bottom is the "Omega".
It's actually very sad that the other wolves pick on and ostracize the omega wolf--often for no particular reason, except to prove "at least I'm not him". By keeping one at the bottom, it establishes that the others are still on top.
I actually find it quite maddening that human beings don't recognize this wild characteristic amongst their own kind. It's as if humans feel they have "evolved" beyond a need for such cruel pack behavior. Yeah right, ever been to high school??
Schools today have all these "anti-bullying" curriculums and so forth. But I honestly don't know if it can keep kids from truly being cruel to one another.
Now in the wild, the Omega wolf really has no way besides snarling and snapping to fight back the rest of the pack. Often they just give up. But what if the Omega wolf got really angry? What if he had access to mind-numbing violent video games & TV? And then what if he decided to walk into his local, lenient gun shop and buy a gun?? What if is plan was to hunt down the pack? Is there some way to check that the friendly wolf is not really a pissed off Omega?? (the proverbial wolf in sheeps clothing)
Just a thought--if we can't keep people from acting like wolves, can we at least keep the guns away from them???

The Worst Thing About Alaska

I love living in Alaska, but my biggest issue of contention is the so called "Department of Fish and Game". They do many good things for our fish and monitor hunting, however they continue to pursue a policy of wildlife management through death.

The current lunacy is the so called "predator control" program also known as "wolf kill". In order to ensure that Joe six-pack has a moose to kill, they spend state money to chase and kill wolves from airplanes. The logic being that wolves eat moose, thus they are our competitors for meat. I mean what is this - the 1800's?? Even crazier--they now want to do it by offering a bounty and may perhaps use helicopters.

There are only 7,000-11,000 wolves in Alaska, and considering this state is gigantic, that's really not that many. Most wildlife viewers have never seen a wolf in Alaska!!! That's what makes me angry, that my right to have ample opportunity to see a live wolf is destroyed. (Not to mention that wolves are against being killed as well.)

It's hard to imagine that Alaskans have actually voted (twice!) to end this craziness. But the Alaska governor & Game board supersede the democratic consesus of the people. What a shame!