Let Us Now Praise Famous Legislators?

"Congress: the accumulated wisdom of the American people."

"Suppose you are a Congressman. And suppose you are an idiot. But, I repeat myself."

The House of Representatives, "the peoples' house," the part of our national government that must be best because it is closest to the people, is contemplating removing wolves from the list of endangered species in Montana and Idaho. There does not seem to be any scientific basis for thinking wolves are so plentiful there that they need no further protection. Instead, the House is paying attention to the complaints of ranchers and the desire of hunters to knock off a wolf so they can say they've done it.

I don't make any claims to be an expert on wolves. I'm like every Congressman in that regard. I'm so proud. That's the point, however - Congress should be consulting biologists about the wolves to ascertain the sustainability of their populations.

Ranchers are already compensated by the government for any of their animals killed by wolves. They're not suffering any monetary losses from wolves. Among the numerous ironies of the situation is the fact that wolves reduce the population of coyotes as soon as they move into a territory. The government does not pay ranchers for any lambs or calves killed by coyotes. So it seems the ranchers are acting against their own best interests by trying to reduce the number of wolves.

Years ago when I was still a park ranger, I attended a training course on management of wild animals that included a visit to Wind Cave National Park, South Dakota. I was there on the summer weekend when the local rangers rounded up all the bison in the park and herded them into corrals so they could be inoculated against brucellosis, a disease fatal to both bison and cattle. South Dakota ranchers had influenced the state's Congressional representatives to insist on the roundup to protect the domestic animals.

There is no documented case on record of a bison ever spreading brucellosis to cattle. The roundup and inoculations are completely unnecessary. It also violates Park Service policy concerning management of native species of wildlife. On the other hand, elk also get brucellosis and they do spread the illness to cattle. There is no requirement for elk to be rounded up and inoculated.

It might be good for us to reflect on the wisdom of our representatives as demonstrated in this little narrative.