Letter: Be careful what you wish for

I decided that I needed to finally send a letter to the editor after reading the Writers on the Range column written by Wendy Keefover and hearing about the killing of four more cattle by the wolves this week. I do agree with Wendy that it was very cruel of the man in Wyoming who tortured the wolf that he caught. But I want to ask her: Do you think it’s cruel for the wolf to rip the hindquarters off an animal and then just leave it there to die?

I also don’t really understand how people are so compassionate for the predator and not the prey. Wolf killings are pretty horrific. None of the cattle killed in the last few weeks were sick or weak, which is one common misconception. I have repeatedly heard, well the rancher will be compensated for their losses.  Don Gittleson in Walden has had the most cattle killed by wolves so far and he has said that he had a calf that was chased by the wolves until it just died. Since it was not directly killed by the wolves, he was not compensated for that loss. 

The Wolf Depredation Compensation Fund is supposedly paying fair market value for cattle killed. The price of a calf today is nowhere near what the price of a calf will be in the fall.  The rancher will be losing around $1,000 for a calf that is killed now. Also, young adult cattle have at least 10 years to produce a calf. Think of all the money lost by the rancher if a cow dies at the hands of a wolf. 

The next item on the agenda for the voters of Colorado is to ban the hunting of the mountain lion. All I can say is be careful what you wish for.

Jackie Schlegel
Burns