Self Analysis Post

WOW!!! This has been a long journey as I have obtained huge volumes of information about the aerial hunting of wolves and the factors that affect the views towards the morality and humane aspects of aerial shooting as a method of control. Through this increased knowledge regarding the aerial hunting of wolves, I believe I have made an argument that is not only valid, but respectable as a biological view of how this hunting affects the ecosystems in which wolves live. Additionally, some of my arguments can be viewed as cultural studies of why humans feel it is necessary to control the wolf population.

I believe the strongest attributes of my blog include my relatively unbiased look at the situation and my use of logic when arguing my opinion and simply stating facts. By observing additional causes of death for moose and caribou, it added another dimension to the generalized belief that wolves are the main cause of death for the moose and caribou. Additionally, my take on the effect of global warming on wolves gives more validity to the argument that there are many contributing factors for the decline in the moose population. By understanding the effect global warming has on the wolf population, we can better comprehend the reasons for the shifts in populations and migration of the wolves to colder areas. Lastly, my look at the romanticism associated with wolves and the prey they must kill in order to sustain life serves to advance the argument that the feelings of humans towards wolves has a lot to do with why humans feel the need to control the wolf population. The ignorance of many humans concerning the predator-prey relationships wolves interact in is a major reason why they are often misunderstood as malicious and cruel.

My greatest hope and goal for this blog is to raise awareness of the urgent help wolves are in need of as they struggle to gain protection under law with the P.A.W. act that is currently being reviewed in Congress. If my blog has compelled you to take action in obtaining this protection for wolves, I believe I can justify a positive self critique as far as this project is concerned. However, if it has not, my argument could be improved with additional research in how the wolf population can stabilize itself if allowed time and also more research on the necessary predator-prey relationship wolves engage in with respect to moose and caribou.

Extra, Extra, Read All About It!!! - Links Post

In my efforts to gain valuable knowledge through the research of my topic, I have encountered many interesting and informational sites pertinent to the topic of aerial hunting. If you would like to learn more about this pressing issue, please take the time to visit a few of these sites.

If you would like to take action in helping to stop the aerial hunting of wolves, I encourage you to visit the following websites where you can sign a petition and post your views on the topic in a more public debate:

• Defenders of Wildlife
• Help Us Prevent Alaska Wolf Kill
• Wolf Song Alaska

If you would like more information on the habitat, breeding habits, and other specifics of the gray wolf, please visit on of the following sites:

• The Wild Ones
• Endangered Species Information
• U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
• Bear Tracker

Lastly, if you would like more information on the debate in Congress and the Senate, please take the time to view the following sites:

• CNN
• The Searching Wolf
• International Wolf Center

Class Links Post

Over the course of this project, not only have I become more aware of issues surrounding my topic, but also the topics of many of my classmates. Their blogs have raised extremely important questions vital to my generation and generations to come. I have compiled a short list of my favorites and why I enjoy visiting them. The topics include abortion, global warming, and second hand smoke.

Abortion
Freddie's blog, centered on the issue of abortion is especially interesting because she looks at the issue from multiple directions, not focusing solely on her personal opinion. This unbiased attitude allows her blog to be viewed as more intellectual and also as more valid. Her use of hair-raising statistics that often shock the reader allow a greater impact on the reader. This use of logic is especially useful because it often leads to the reader siding with her opinion as her opinion is well thought out and clever. Personally, it has allowed me to look at the topic of abortion with greater knowledge and a less biased opinion.

Global Warming
This blog is particularly attractive to me because it discusses issues in which I am heavily involved. As an environmentalist, this blog has allowed me to further my education on how global warming effects our world and how it continues to become a problem as not many are stepping up to do something about the issue. Kirstin's clever use of song lyrics and catching phrasing has kept me interested and made me want to come back for more every time a new post appears. Additionally, her emotional appeals cause the reader to become more engaged in the argument as she makes us realize that we are all a part of the problem and solution. This technique is particularly effective in making me, personally, want to work harder to get our earth back on a healthy track.

Second Hand Smoke
Again, this topic is especially interesting for me because it has an impact on our environment, and it also has an impact on my personal health. I was especially interested in this topic because I grew up with a grandmother who was a chain smoker and I now realize the detrimental effects her smoking could have caused for me if I had been around her more often, and also how this second hand smoke affected my mother and aunts. Additionally, this topic is especially interesting because of recent rules set in place for UNC. With a no smoking near university buildings rule going into effect in early January, it made the issue even more interesting. Lauren does a great job of being unbiased to both sides of the argument, while still adding her opinion to posts in a more subtle way. Lastly, her use biological evidence made this blog all the more appealing to me because I am a biology major and am very interested in biological research and studies.

Implications Post

If the issue of the aerial shooting of wolves is not resolved, there are many consequences that could occur. The most prominent being that wolves may become endangered or extinct. This fate, however, would occur far into the future, due to the fact that the wolf population is very large in Alaska because of the ideal climate. On the other hand, if this important predatory animal is reduced, or possibly eliminated, the populations of their prey will be sure to rise to unmanageable levels. This is a certainty, not a prediction, as studies from the seventies (the longest running predator-prey study) proved there was an unquestionable relationship between the populations of moose and wolves. Additionally, the prey of wolves, specifically moose, will become more likely to quickly spread disease among their population because weaker moose will have less of a chance of being eliminated by wolves. Disease carrying ticks may also become more of a problem if the trend of killing wolves continues. Lastly, if the wolf population is severely decrease, which will allow for a much larger moose population, the Alaskan land is likely to become overgrazed as a result of the moose looking for food to sustain life.

Wolves and Global Warming

As the world begins to change due to global warming, we can see the effects of these changes here in the United States, as Alaska is one of the most extreme examples of this in the world. As ice melts and temperatures rise, flooding and erosion threaten to take out entire Eskimo communities that live by the sea. Additionally, the coastal areas are experiencing stronger storms and intensified waves, which often led "several coastal villages ... actively trying to figure out where to move entire communities." Wolves have had to relocate farther into land as their habitats are being destroyed or flooded. Also affecting the environment is the increase in the amount of spruce bark beetles has resulted in the destruction of 4 million acres of spruce forest, home to innumerable wild animals, over the past twenty years. "More beetle larvae can survive, and higher summer temperatures allow the insects to mature faster and complete a two-year life cycle in one year." These beetles destroy trees vital to the habitat in which wolves live and also force them to relocate into different, often smaller locations that have a way of being closer to human populations.

Here are some pictures that illustrate the effects of the destructive spruce bark beetle:

As for moose populations, they are also experiencing the effects of global warming, but in a way that makes them more vulnerable to preying wolves. With warm temperatures, moose often become more susceptible to falling victim to a wolf because they are "stressed out" with the higher temperatures. Because moose cannot sweat, they often have to lie in the shade or water to cool themselves. A result of this is that moose often do not feed during this time and become weak, easy targets for wolves in the winter. In addition to the heat, moose are experiencing an outbreak of ticks with the higher temperatures. "A single moose can be host to tens of thousands at a time, several per square inch, and each tick can suck up about a cubic centimeter of blood." Such extreme blood loss, which most likely results in weight loss, proves detrimental to many moose each year.

When coming from an environmental standpoint, it seems as if the decrease in moose population is not so much due to wolves, but as a result of humans' destruction to the environment.

Theory Post

In order to create a theory on my topic of the aerial shooting of wolves, I had to dig down deep to the root of the cause of people's desire or feeling of need to shoot wolves. I want to expose my thinking of why humans believe animals that are predatory and feed on other animals to sustain life are disdainful and barbarous. This comes from idealistic thinking in society and the wish to make everything relate to romanticism. By definition, romanticism is the emphasis on the imagination or emotions. This idea causes humans to feel hatred towards wolves when they prey on such animals as deer and rabbits, and it is for this reason my theory is that the reason why humans have a desire to shoot wolves both because they feel somewhat threatened by their powerful presence and because most humans tend to be romantic in their thinking of how the world should be.

The human desire to be kind to animals is a very romantic quality that dates back to the 19th century. While it is understandable to want to be kind to animals, we as humans have to understand that the predator-prey relationship is a natural part of life and should be respected. Additionally, humans are often intimidated by the powerful presence of a wolf. With an average bite strength of about 1,500 pounds of pressure per square inch and coming in at speeds of up to thirty-five miles per hour, it is understandable why one might feel the need to stay far away from wolves out of pure fear. Even the earliest settlers of America showed signs of this fear and often slaughtered wolves to keep them from coming near their homes. However, wolves, unless rabid, do not pose hardly any threat to humans at all. A CNN news reporter writes, "while humans have killed an estimated two million wolves in this century, there is not a single documented case of a human being killed by a healthy wild wolf." That says a lot for wolves.

In order to eliminate this fear of wolves and the romantic ideals of average Americans, education about wolves and other predatory animals is needed. There is no doubt that with education comes understanding and understanding would lead to better relationships between humans and animals (specifically wolves). With the elimination of ignorance on the subject of predatory animals, I believe this would eliminate people's need to slaughter wild animals out of fear, unless populations are completely out of control.

Understanding the Habitat

In order to better understand why wolves have become such a nuisance to many Americans, I believe it would be beneficial to take a more intensive look at their habitat and living conditions. By doing so, we can find out how the wolf and human population overlaps in such a way one might consider exterminating some of the wolves. Because the most populous wolf in Alaska is the gray wolf, also known as the timber wolf, I will focus specifically on them.

The habitat of wolves includes most of the northern hemisphere and is becoming larger as they become more adapted to different climates. Generally, wolves are known to mainly inhabit forests, arctic tundra, and prairie. Known for being predatory animals, wolves are often feared and many seek to kill them off in areas where humans are especially predominant. Wolves are extremely well adapted and can quickly adapt to new environments whose temperatures can be as far varied as -70 to 120 degrees Fahrenheit. It is for this reason they have adapted to almost every environment except extremely cold environments and desert. Wolves have actually been intentionally killed out in a lot of areas where people have made wolves unwelcome, usually because they do not understand the the place of the wolf in the local ecosystems and food chains.

In the lower fourty eight states there are approximately 2,500 wolves and in Alaska there is estimated to be anywhere from 7,000 to 11,000 wolves. So, while they are not endangered in Alaska, due to years of preservation, they are having some trouble maintaing their ground in the rest of the United States. Also, with the recent extermination of wolves, the wolves are unable to control the populations of their prey by killing the weakest in each group, which strengthens the overall dynamics of the group. While this may not have an immediate effect, as the weaker prey are allowed to breed, who knows what this will do for the overall population.

A Debate in the House and Congress

Currently, a California lawmaker is battling Alaskan officials on the issue of the aeriel shooting of wolves. Rep. George Miller has introduced a bill to the House of Representatives that would stop aerial shooting in Alaska. This bill will close the loophole left in the 1972 bill, named The Airborne Hunting Act, that did not prohibit the aerial shooting of wildlife if you had a proper license to do so. A newspaper in Anchorage, Alaska writes that almost 700 wolves have been killed by aerial shooters over the past four years, and these are only the deaths that have been reported. In response to Healthy Lungs, I am not sure the exact figures of how many wolves are killed per day, however, there are many killings that are not reported, and are therefore not included in the 700 figure stated above. I did find one account that states the amount of unreported deaths due to aerial shooting my match or even exceed the 700 mark.

This new bill highly opposes the decision of Alaskan officials to allow the aerial shooting of wolves in late 2003 in order to allow the moose population to regenerate. Many argue that the Alaskan government's decision to allow the aerial shooting of wildlife was against regulation and extremely inhumane.

Lastly, in response to Joe Smith, as of April 2007, the Alaskan endangered species list does not include the moose or the caribou. This list, however, is only a proposed listing and could possibly expand to include moose and/or caribou at a later date.

Analysis Post - Causes of Death

After doing much research on the habitat and environmental adaptation of wolves in Alaska, I have decided it would be wise to do the same for the moose and caribou in Alaska. By exploring how moose adapt to their environment, I hope to shed light on how many moose and caribou are actually being killed by wolves, even though there is in no way a definite number. Ultimately, by exploring how many moose and caribou are being killed by factors other than predation by wolves, my goal is to determine how necessary the aerial shooting of wolves is in maintaining or regenerating the moose and caribou populations in Alaska.

Possible Reasons for the Decline in the Moose and Caribou Populations:

Since the recent concern with the moose and caribou populations in Alaska, much research has been done to predict the herd growth and how the wolves impact the herd. After observing a decline in the moose and caribou populations, wolf predation was the most obvious cause of most of this decrease and pilots were, in turn, paid to shoot wolves in and effort to slow the deaths. Under this plan, pilots are paid up to $150 per wolf that they kill. In 2006, nearly fifty percent of the decline in caribou population was blamed on wolf predation. Understandably, the grey wolf population in Alaska is the largest of any other area of the United States numbering anywhere from 7,000 to 11,000 wolves. The predation of moose and caribou by wolves, however, is by no means the only cause of death for the moose and caribou.

In addition to the predation of moose and caribou by wolves, many calves are unable to survive their first winter due to poor nutrition availability during the winter. Many biologists argue that the mortality rates of calves would remain the same despite the predation of wolves. With high densities of herbivores in Alaska, disease spreads more quickly and the population are more susceptible to starvation with limited resources. In an effort to find food, moose often wander onto train tracks, which are home to much vegetation as the tracks are cleared by trains and provide more favorable conditions for vegetation in contrast to the desolate snow. The Alaska Rail Road, which is the only railway in Alaska accounts for more than 360 moose deaths per year. Many studies are currently being done to find out exactly what causes triggers the moose to follow the train tracks, in addition to the search for vegetation. Also, the moose must compete with the deer when searching for food, as they have almost identical diets and the deer most certainly outnumber the moose.

Another cause of the recent steep decline in the moose population can be contributed to the unusually harsh winter experienced in 2007. The fall hunt for this coming hunting season has been cancelled due to the unusually large amount of moose found dead after the past winter. Record amounts of snowfall were reported in Anchorage. Nearly 29 inches of snow fell in only a 24 hour period. Contrastingly, only a few years ago, large amounts of antlerless moose were authorized to be killed in order to thin out an overcrowded population sure to crash in the event of a harsh winter. It seems as if this effort by humans to control the moose population has worked in reverse. Additionally, the unusually deep snow has also caused the moose to wander into streets or railways and be hit by cars or trains because the moose often try to avoid the snow by walking on the streets. In the wake of spring, it is not unusual to spot a moose calf that has died from hypothermia or one that has been mauled by a brown bear or even one that has simply died of starvation.

Lastly, an important cause of death for the moose and caribou in Alaska is predation by animals other than wolves. A study done in south central Alaska, in which calves were collared and monitored over one winter, suggests that up to seventy-nine percent of the natural moose deaths were due to predation by brown bears and not wolves. Additionally, black bears are another source of death for the moose in many areas.

Hardships for Wolves:

Similar to the moose population, the wolf population has also faced a troubling decline due to the harsh winter. They have worked hard to maintain their survival and have been known to show teamwork signs of teamwork when in such trying situations. Quite surprisingly, the leading cause of death for wolves has been trauma caused by vehicles. The second leading cause of death for the wolves was mange, most likely acquired from red foxes. Many deaths were unable to be determined from the information presented and this accounted for the third highest cause of death in free range wolves. Also, I found it quite shocking and ironic that a few of the wolf deaths studied were a result of trauma caused by moose.

Top of the Food Chain

Often described as "misunderstood", wolves often get a bad reputation because they are at the top of the food chain. However, these predators are extremely necessary in keeping the food chain in check. As the main predator, they are responsible for keeping the populations of their prey in proper boundaries and do so by obtaining nutrition from (or eating) animals such as deer, rabbits, and beavers. Additionally, the wolves create meals for scavengers as they leave much of the carcus behind after getting their fill. As cruel as it may seem, this killing is just a part of life and should not be over dramatized as an act of brutishness that is completely uncalled for.

I agree completely with Brooke as she comments, "We humans are only spectators of a natural process." This is a comment that needs to be considered when evaluating how humans have a sense of sympathising with the prey or the underdog. Additionally, I agree with Erin when she writes that "nature has a way of taking care of itself" and believe this decrease in the moose population is natural and cyclic and will correct itself. After all, humans have not always been around to mediate populations and nature has done just fine on its own.

The Specifics on the Shooting of Wolves From an Aerial View

When hunters shoot the wolves, the shooters are elevated from the ground by means of either a helicopter or airplane. They can usually come in pretty close range of the wolves because they target them in open fields where it is easiest to shoot them. In the open fields the wolves have nowhere to run and therefore aren't able to protect themselves, giving humans yet another advantage over them.

Also, it is entirely possible that the shooters could miss the wolves and hit other wildlife around that area, depending on how densely populated the area is. After all, they do cover an area of up to 20,000 square miles. However, it has not been reported that the shooters have hit humans. Typically the pilots are at least somewhat experienced, as they have to obtain a license to shoot the wolves aerially. Also, though it seems this is a new technique of animal control, it has been around since about 1957 and was once a widespread method of extermination.

Here is a short documentary video on how aerial hunting is executed:

Please Post Your Opinions and Comments!

Hello everyone! I am curious to hear the comments and opinions about this important environmental issue. I, personally, am in favor of the PAW Act, which will prohibit the aerial shooting of wolves, but am very open minded. Here are some questions to get the discussion started:
1. Do you believe the aerial shooting of wolves is humane?
2. Do you believe the aerial shooting of wolves gives humans an unfair advantage over wolves?
3. How do you think the aerial shooting of wolves will impact the environment of Alaska and the food chain where the wolves live?
4. Do you agree with the prohibition of aerial shooting through the PAW Act?
5. Is the predation of moose by wolves a necessary evil needed to control the population, or is there an imbalance in the proportion of the number of wolves to the number of moose?