Thursday 5 March 2009

Loony lupus lovers

Are we all fed up to the back teeth of the man on the TV telling us that wolves are “harmless” and we should be just tickled pink that they are now returning to live in the wild in the woods of Europe? We are told that the “mythical” wolf should be forgotten. We should now welcome the noble new age wolf based on “scientific knowledge” and “rational understanding”. Wolves are good to have around because “they are part of our natural heritage”.

Is this the same “natural heritage” that includes the 3,069 people devoured by wolves in France between 1580-1830? Does it include the 266 adults and 111 children devoured in the European sector of the Russian Empire between 1849 and 1851? The 721 devoured in Bihar State, India, in 1875? The 60 children in Bihar between 1993 and 1995? The 74 people, mostly pubescent children, in Uttar Pradesh in 1996-1997? Does it include the woman devoured near Tbilisi, Georgia, last month? Frit reads that some specialised man-eaters have been known to kill children by knocking them over from behind and biting the back of their heads and necks.

Message to the man on the TV: please go to Uttar Pradesh and play in the woods. Why do you think early Europeans built huts on stilts in lakes? Were they fond of damp? Wolves have been a torment to the human race since time began. They eat us and they eat the things we eat. This made them a major selection pressure on humans throughout evolution. They have played a big role in making us what we are. For thousands of years they had the upper hand but then we developed weapons and systematically exterminated them in Europe. It was not done for fun, or by mistake. Good riddance! And all this goes twice for their friends the bears.