Thank you for publishing “Let’s not get romantic about wolves.”
I think the reason you don’t see many lame elk is because they get finished off by predators pretty quickly.
I am disappointed that the author damns wolves for the God-given tools they were given to survive. They have teeth and feet. Sometimes that means they catch from behind and start eating before the animal is dead. But the hallmark of a wolf kill is deep bruising. As a veterinarian, I can attest that it doesn’t take an animal very long to bleed out. There are also plenty of eyewitness accounts of wolf kills taking minutes. It’s not like wolves are choosing a crueler hunt, they are choosing a safer one.
Contrast this to the deliberate, intentional cruelty that humans direct towards wolves. Gut-shooting, running over with snowmobiles, even trapping with its slow torture of a cut off blood supply to the trapped limb.
Which is the more heinous creature?
Chris Albert, Lebanon Junction, Kentucky