Doug Pazienza

Regretably, interconnectedness escapes most people in our culture, I believe.... Prior to my activism in wolf conservation in BC over the past year, I would never have imagined the extent of environmental degradation there. And the paradox is that it is one of the most beautiful places on earth. Do you think the abundance of and proximity to nature somehow diminishes the need to conserve and preserve it? And do you think the natural resource economy there engenders and reinforces a plundering mindset? NB I know there are many on these pages and others like the folks at Raincoast doing great work to remediate, preserve and conserve.

Thank you, Leslie. A great template for a letter to BC politicians. Theberges are the voices of reason and wisdom. We need as much as we can get in this mixed-up world.

Barb - thank you very much for introducing me to Val Asher. And I have a newfound respect for Ted Turner. I am very grateful to you, Val and Ted for the good things you are doing. I am not Canadian but I will write to the politicians you listed. May the force be with you!

Are ecology and the environment low priorities for Canadian politicians? Are provincial governments responsive and accountable to their constituents, do you think? They have the appearance of being very bureaucratic and removed. It is reassuring that you have a watchful eye. Social media is a vast underground that is invisible to those of us who don't really use it so much.

Thank you for posting this.

Absolutely. Toronto-based Polymet Mining Corp owned by Swiss mining giant Glencore and Twin Metals owned by Antofagasta, a major mining company based in Chile both seek to open copper mines on the Minnesota Iron Range. They are both in sensitive watersheds in close proximity to the near pristine Boundary Waters Canoe Area, a designated Federal wilderness adjacent to Quetico Provincial Park in northwest Ontario.

Nothing so blind as those who won't see.

And the mistrust is certainly warranted. The Industrial Growth Society is very shortsighted and disposable. Mining depends on two things and look at the language: human resources and natural resources. When one is depleted the other is discarded. Typically the exhaustion of the natural resources comes first. Then the human resources are just unemployed statistics and investors in their own pension funds that are gambled on Wall Street. They can't even fall back on the natural environment because the mining company ravaged it.

Decades ago I read that the most ecologically destructive creature is the feral cat. Maybe it needs updating. The feral human!

This whole right brain/left brain, rational/emotional, science/emotion thing is ridiculous. Humans are the sum total of the biochemical, physiological, perceptual, emotional, behavioural and relational "whole person" that comprises the human organism. You are kidding yourself if you think we can parse out the bits that don't conform to your perception of science. What science? I hope we can become stewards rather than managers of wildlife and something tells me that you might agree with that. Let go of the binary thinking and begin to accept that the best way forward is a synthesis of knowledge from diverse sources of our knowing that take into account tens of thousands of years of wisdom. Science is not strictly number crunching. The interconnected web of life, to which humans belong, requires a systemic and holistic approach that takes into account more than statistical data. And that data is important. The natural world is dynamic and why wouldn't wolves mirror that. Wolf density varies greatly according to prey, human activities, habitat and other variables. Many wolf hunters are seeing wolf tracks and drawing conclusions that wolf numbers are out of control. They are seeing a localized snapshot and drawing inferences. This is not a scientific conclusion whatsoever.

This whole right brain/left brain, rational/emotional, science/emotion thing is ridiculous. Humans are the sum total of the biochemical, physiological, perceptual, emotional, behavioural and relational "whole person" that comprises the human organism. You are kidding yourself if you think we can parse out the bits that don't conform to your perception of science. What science? I hope we can become stewards rather than managers of wildlife and something tells me that you might agree with that. Let go of the binary thinking and begin to accept that the best way forward is a synthesis of knowledge from diverse sources of our knowing that take into account tens of thousands of years of wisdom. Science is not strictly number crunching. The interconnected web of life, to which humans belong, requires a systemic and holistic approach that takes into account more than statistical data. And that data is important. The natural world is dynamic and why wouldn't wolves mirror that. Wolf density varies greatly according to prey, human activities, habitat and other variables. Many wolf hunters are seeing wolf tracks and drawing conclusions that wolf numbers are out of control. They are seeing a localized snapshot and drawing inferences. This is not a scientific conclusion whatsoever.

My generation used to refer to a hunting target as having a "sporting chance". Nah, not even with all the tech today. And the very language of referring to it as sport is, to be frank, repugnant. There is nothing sporting about it.

My generation used to refer to a hunting target as having a "sporting chance". Nah, not even with all the tech today. And the very language of referring to it as sport is, to be frank, repugnant. There is nothing sporting about it.

Really? I didn't say that! Timber is a renewable resource. Preferable to plastic. But clear-cutting. No good. Logging ancient rainforest. No good. The timber and mining industries have shot themselves in the foot. They have killed the goose that laid the golden eggs. They have systematically exploited the land and killed everything in their way. British Columbians work in these industries! It's not like some phantom devastated the environment. If the people are complicit in these activities, don't wait for others to put a stop to it. Stand up and be counted.

Wolves are resilient. I wouldn't describe them as prolific breeders. And if they were, according to your remarks, you fail to take account of pup mortality which is high. I don't know who annointed you to post your "facts" that are less than factual. The only facts you espouse are hyperbolic. And by the way, when did you have your vasectomy?

Jim - thank you. I learned so much from your comment. Glyphosate? How awful! Prevention of the regrowth of the indigenous trees. Insane! "Don't it always seem to go that you don't know what you've got till it's gone" (Joni Mitchell) I would like good people who care about our planet to join together but instead we bicker. It keeps the focus off the ecological destruction caused by the mining and timber industries - and it takes the heat off the provincial government and Ottawa.

Shamus, I don't think I was condescending but evidently something I said struck a nerve. Are you going to tell the University of Minnesota that social science is an oxymoron? Please yourself. Murdered. Yes, murdered. In cold blood. I'm not anthropomorphising it. Her actions are indefensible, immoral, unethical and inhumane. No argument there. No, wolves are not maniacs or bloodthirsty killers so your analogy is a stretch too far to be given any airtime by me. Carrying capacities, I understand those and I could cite the research by Dr L David Mech if you wish. I did not restrict my comments to Takaya but I also didn't ignore the subjective importance of an individual wolf with whom we formed a relationship, virtual or otherwise. I have just as vociferously defended wolves in the comments to the other Focus article "Local wolf pack killed by hunter". I do not venerate nor do I villify the wolf. I defend wolves because of what people are doing to them. And I am committed to changing policy. I don't know what quote you are referring to. When it comes to wildlife "management", I am advocating for a new paradigm. I am looking at the subject in the round and that includes all the science. It involves policy, public attitudes and the triad of planetary crises that are existential. But until we deal with our anthropocentrism, we will keep making the same mistakes. Therefore if there is any "management" to be done, it begins with human "management".

Shamus - Thanks for your thoughtful reply. My tail is between my legs right now as I humbly concede that you are absolutely 100% correct that we are part of nature. I teach ecotherapy and that is ecotherapy 101. I fell into the trap of speaking about nature as something extrinsic or apart for the ease of posting a comment on here to the unenlightened or just to make my point less copious than it already was. I was wrong to do that. So thank you. We students/scholars of ecopsychology and its clinical application, ecotherapy speak of the "more than human" or the "other than human" when speaking of the biotic and abiotic world. It can get a little clumsy in this forum. Likewise, I used "humancentricity" because I thought "anthropocentric" sounded too high-minded or intellectual and I am trying to communicate to a broad audience - not an echo chamber. Understand please that it is not always easy to post an effective and meaningful comment. You recognize that human interference upset ecosystems and argue that human intervention is needed to rebalance them in some way. But in whose favour? The North American approach to wildlife management is fundamentally wrong. It might have been okay in Teddy Roosevelt's day but it isn't in the Sixth Mass Extinction which is occuring now. Some of us have evolved and are enlightened. The Canadian government and BC's provincial govt in particular has not. Hunter licenses funding conservation is not a license to massacre whether protected by law or otherwise. That is what's happening. Jacine & co are egregious and flagrant examples. I am outraged by them but my position on BC wolf "mgmt" is not informed by their exploits. They have only steeled my determination to see the laws changed. And they will. The whole thing has moved on toward a stakeholder model and an even more progressive model developed in BC for the social license to hunt model. And it's coming. So you say that emotions don't belong in this. Codswallop! Emotional and cognitive intelligence constitute our human nature. If you are not acknowledging or denying others the grief they so need to express for Takaya's murder or the wanton killing of wolves then you are robbing yourself/them of their humanity. And the flip side of grief for the murder of Takaya is the love of wolves and the animal kingdom. What is science to you? I have a BSc (Hons) which is a bachelor of science degree and much of the data that I work with is qualitative data. Even my BA aka bachelor of arts in two fields substantiates the validity of qualitative analysis in social science research methods. Conventional science is dominated by Darwin's, Newton's and Descartes' theories. They have given us incredible technological breakthroughs but they are not flawless nor are they comprehensively correct. And they have got us into trouble. They are deterministic, mechanistic and materialistic and can't explain the incalculable and unpredictable qualities of the vitalistic processes of nature. Conventional medicine is only now coming to grips with the fact that Descartes' cartesian dualism (body-mind split) is nonsense. The counselling and psychotherapy I practice is holistic and relational. Modern systems theory will tell you quite elementarily that change in one part of a system can be manifested in an entirely different part of the system in unexpected ways. The Western approach to epistemology is a mindset that seeks to isolate, rank and classify data in order to make it reductive information that we can use. That is a big problem. And as Gregory Bateson said, "The major problems of the world are the result of how nature works and the way people think".

Shamus - hunters come in all shapes and sizes. Your sweeping remark about hunters is misleading. Strange as it may seem, some hunters do see the wolf as competition. They will argue that wolf predation on ungulates is making it harder for hunters to bag an ungulate. In fact, weather and habitat are the leading determinants of ungulate population; not wolf predation. You make some good points about habitat loss and resource mismanagement at a provincial level. Canada's and BC's records are ecocidal. Mining and timber interests are devastating BC and I am appalled by the laissez-faire "regulation" of these industries. The ministry that overseas fish and wildlife in BC is utterly derelict. The extractive industries which dominate BC's economy and employ many thousands have perpetuated an exploitative mindset among the people and the government. It needs a serious update as it's still stuck in the early 20th century. Yes, it appears that nature is out of balance but most of the time, if we would stop meddling with it, the self-organizing principle of ecosystems will find stasis. You can't advocate for wolf hunting in the name of balanced ecosystems by continuing the current arrangement. And by perpetuating almost unregulated wolf slaughter, you are feeding the compulsive, psychotic behaviours of people like the said trophy hunters. Your thinking needs to evolve past humancentricity. You're almost there!

I agree, it is horrible because it is necessary to bring into focus the darker side of the human condition. There are damaged people whose deranged behaviour is destroying the animal kingdom. They need guns, firearms, assault weapons to kill off the predators (wolves) on whom they project their deep-seated resentments. But they can kill, kill and kill, even annihilate the pack of wolves on Sooke but they cannot kill the one thing that drives them to do it.... Why? Because it lives within them and the more they kill the more they feed the pain in themselves. In this case, the killer murdered a wolf that was loved by many, many people across the world. Their heart must have already bled dry a long time ago. Why else would they inflict this on a defenseless animal and 1000s of people who adored and loved Takaya? That killer wanted to maim - even kill those of us who loved Takaya. The world is a horrible, beautiful place. Humans brought the horrible. The rest is nature. If you understand nature, you'll know that there are predators and prey. If that upsets you, then perhaps you need to step out of the picture, get some help, read the teachings of Sigurd Olson, Aldo Leopold or countless other naturalists. You will find beauty. It isn't science what you do, Sean. You have a heart for starving kids. Were you left to go hungry when you were a child? That's horrible. But a wolf did not steal your dinner and a wolf was not looking to make a meal of you either. It is not scientific to project your problems onto the natural world. The natural world, the whole thing, is there to give you life - and that includes the wolves. Do you know the story of Romulus and Remus? Do you know about Ergenekon? Google them. Do something good for yourself, Sean. Put some time into ecology. Do some charity work for children. You'll feel much better about yourself and wolves. They kill to eat because they are predators. That's nature's way. Don't you understand that you are condemning wolves as predators but you are predating on wolves which makes you a predator?

Hold it together. You have support on here. Take care!

Hold it together. You have support on here. Take care!

The sagacious words of a wise human being. I know you didn't do it for me but may I thank you for speaking out? We live in troubling times. Hyperindividualism, fed by consumerism has fueled widespread narcissism, amplified by social media. Many hunters, trophy and otherwise, think because they spend time in the forest that they have a connection with the natural world. But their human nature runs counter to connection. They repeatedly sever their connection everytime they kill for recreation. If they truly need to hunt to feed themselves and their families - that's one thing. Many do not. I am convinced that trophy hunters are psychologically disturbed and are a risk to others - human and non-human. Yes, there is so much to love in the natural world. Open your hearts and help to heal our very wounded Gaia.

The sagacious words of a wise human being. I know you didn't do it for me but may I thank you for speaking out? We live in troubling times. Hyperindividualism, fed by consumerism has fueled widespread narcissism, amplified by social media. Many hunters, trophy and otherwise, think because they spend time in the forest that they have a connection with the natural world. But their human nature runs counter to connection. They repeatedly sever their connection everytime they kill for recreation. If they truly need to hunt to feed themselves and their families - that's one thing. Many do not. I am convinced that trophy hunters are psychologically disturbed and are a risk to others - human and non-human. Yes, there is so much to love in the natural world. Open your hearts and help to heal our very wounded Gaia.

Hear, hear!! Thank you for succinctly stating the obvious. I have been looking for an analogy that goes to the heart of the matter and it was staring me right in the face. Thank you! May I borrow your comments in future? You said it so simply and directly.