COWBOY LOGIC vs SIERRA CLUB LOGIC:

There is no arguing with this cowboy logic. A few years ago, the Sierra Club and the U.S. Forest Service were presenting an alternative to Wyoming ranchers for controlling the coyote population. It seems that after years of the ranchers using the tried and true methods of shooting and/or trapping the predator, the tree-huggers had a "more humane" solution. What they proposed was for the animals to be captured alive, the males castrated and let loose again and the population would be controlled.

This was ACTUALLY proposed to the Wyoming Wool and Sheep Grower's Association by the Sierra Club and the USFS All of the ranchers thought about this amazing idea for a couple of minutes. Finally, an old boy in the back stood up, tipped his hat back and said, "Son, I don't think you understand the problem. Those coyotes ain't fuckin' our sheep - they're eatin' 'em".

As a New Yorker who was raised in the country ("back East") I howled reading that story. We have our own idiots here who want to " sterilize" deer to solve a little problem we have. Thanks to very restrictive hunting laws we now have deer roaming in suburban comunities (you being a Westerner may not understand what "suburban" means back here. It's a citified community with paved streets and street lights) The deer routinely raid the foundation plantings. Oh, yeah, we also have deer as a positive hazard in driving at night) Lord! What a well placed bullet can do without having the "problem' complicated! I wish you folks luck. Back here we are assured that restoring wolves is good for everybody.(Coyotes? We know Wiley Coyote in the cartoons. He kills sheep, you say? The sheep probably were sick or very old because we know that animals don't kill one another just to eat! (We have all kinds of "feel good" movies about watching wolves. It happens that I like wolves. I refused to shoot a wolf when I had the opportunity. That wolf was in Northern Canada and living in deep woods. He and I were not in competition. Didn't wolves get wiped out because they didn't fit in with raising cattle? if the country doesn't want to eat lamb or beef anymore, that's fine. That's a choice. Meanwhile maybe we should ask the Sierra Club to stop showing up for protests wearing shoes with leather soles.