Coexisting with wolves in Washington state must incorporate nonlethal wolf management tools to satisfy the 74.5 percent of Washingtonians who want viable wolf populations on our landscape. A March 5 Columbian story reported, “Oregon’s no-kill wolf policy yields lower cow deaths.”
While gunshots, fladry fencing and additional miles on one’s ATV might not be a “sure cure” to scare off wolves, Wallowa County’s Karl Patton is a progressive cattle rancher who is commended for his nonlethal efforts to reduce wolf conflict.
Just as life in suburbs has evolved into more streetlights, houses stand on once-vacant lots, and strip malls are poised in areas where cows once grazed, the Old West option for shooting wolves on sight is no longer acceptable practice to the majority of citizens who live here. In a state that’s home to a mere 51 wolves, we should celebrate the presence of wolves both as a reintroduction accomplishment and as an achievement of the Endangered Species Act.
As proved by Patton, Oregon and Washington ranchers and wolves can coexist, and almost 75 percent of our state’s citizens want them here. Cheers to nonlethal ranching, wolves in our northern states, and the Endangered Species Act.
Angela Crane
Vancouver
Resistance slows nation’s recovery
Well, the sequester bomb has fallen and it is obvious all the Republicans of both the House and the Senate are at fault. They sat on their hands and let it fall, or as one newscaster said, they danced jigs in the street believing everyone will blame President Obama.
It is not Obama’s fault, it is all you Americans who voted for those Republicans, who now prove how much disdain they have for the American people and this country. It proves that all they care about is their over-inflated paychecks and all the payola they get from lobbyists.
Just ask one of those NRA lobbyists how much money has been doled out to stop an intelligent gun control bill from passing.
Carl S. Scheuffele
Vancouver
Obama doesn’t have a clue
The recent comments by President Obama that, “I am not a dictator. I’m the president,” were just so doctoral. OK, Obama has said he was the president so many times it has lost its meaning. If you walk like a dictator, speak like a dictator, then you probably are a dictator under the disguise of democracy.
I feel that Obama despises the military, the Constitution, law and order, free enterprise and does not have a clue about what makes this economy work.
So, Mr. “President,” why not sit back and enjoy your paycheck, which was not affected by the so-called sequestering. That includes his “serfs” in Congress. It’s disgusting.
Robert Kerr
Vancouver
