Several months back, I wrote about the reintroduction of extinct or almost extinct animals back into the wild in various states and countries. As you might remember several European countries are moving ahead, and of all things they are recreating the ancient cow. Yes, it’s the extinct cow you see on cave drawings in western France. They are doing this by cross breeding cows that are carrying the genetics from those ancient forerunners of today’s cows, and as they continue to crossbreed the cows the genetic traits increase until they essentially have a prehistoric cow. As they continued, the herd they developed became so close to the original cows that they reintroduced them back into a part of Europe that still had wolf packs, and they were concerned that the wolves would make short work of those cows. However, those cows didn’t only look like prehistoric cows, they had traits that enabled them to hold their own against the wolf packs and the cows actually increased.
That is just an example of how rewilding is taking off, but not only in Europe. There are a number of areas in the United States where rewilding is actively being attempted. Even here in Arkansas I have seen a lot of interest in trying to rewild the State, and that is focused on restoring top predators to where they are a significant presence in our ecosystem. The ‘Bring Back the Wolf!’ bumper sticker is on over 200 Arkansas cars now—-email me if you want one. There are numerous other groups around the country that are working to restore an ecosystem that disappeared almost completely by the early 1940, and the Yellowstone wolves are a good example of success.
In the 1920s the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission put bounties on wolves, cougars, and bobcats. Of course, with a bounty and open season on essentially every apex predator, the last wolves were killed in 1942, and the last cougar within a few years after that. A few bears managed to survive in several refuges, but without any protection virtually all our large predators were killed.
The slaughter of apex predators was brought about because they were considered dangerous to humans. I know you might think hundreds of settlers or even later Arkansawyers were killed by cougars, bears, wolves, but according to the resource reading I have done, I can’t find any accounts of these animals killing anyone in the state. More people have been killed by cows or dogs than all the apex predators put together.
However, the unsupported fear of these animals is still with us, and last week in El Dorado several people reported a black bear near the football stadium, and a number of police cars responded to check out the bear. The bear ambled off into the woods near the stadium and the police commented, “We didn’t want to report it because it might panic people.” Panic people? There are no reported incidents where an Arkansas bear ever killed anyone. At one time there were an estimated 50,000 bears in the state found in every county, and no one was ever fatally mauled. That essentially proves the reasons for the wholesale slaughter of the apex predators was horribly flawed. In other words these species were singled out for exterminations because of unsupported fear of attack on humans and livestock. With today’s technology farmers and ranchers can easily use electric fencing, sound speakers, and other items to minimize any predator attacks on livestock.
The unfounded threats to humans culminated in the bounties and pack hunting that essentially eliminated the wolves, cougars, and bears, which horribly damaged our ecosystem. It’s hard to admit we screwed up, and it is going to be even harder to override the sentiment that eliminated hundreds of thousands of essential animals because of a false premises. If we admit the error of bad wildlife management, it cries for reversal. That’s right. We should have never removed those apex predators from our ecosystem, and we are now paying the price for our errors.
We have a huge deer herd, no quail, and millions of feral hogs and of course, that is the predicted result from the absence of predators, and the introduction of strict deer hunting regulations. With no predators and a regulated hunting season the deer multiplied like rabbits on Viagra, and the quail eggs ended up as hog food, and anyone who thinks differently just doesn’t understand wildlife management.
However, we can’t live in the past and moan about wildlife loss such as the millions of slaughtered buffalo (Every wonder how the “Buffalo” River got its name) and passenger pigeons that were exterminated (Pigeon Hill near Moro Bay was a Passenger Pigeon roost) and what is even more terrible are the documented accounts that millions of these birds and animals were just killed and left to rot in the fields.
The question is, can we in good conscious not attempt to rectify the sins of our ancestors? And this isn’t ancient history. The last wolves in Arkansas were killed in the 1940s along with the cougars, and they were killed because the fledgling Game and Fish Commission put a bounty on them. It was wrong then, and it is wrong now not to try and reestablish these apex predators back into our ecosystem.
Of course, the recent survey, based on confirmed sighting, says 100 to 125 cougars have moved back into the state and more are coming down the Arkansas River from the Rockies, and based on a number of sighting in and around the Mulberry and Buffalo Rivers, we may have a few gray wolves that have come down the Arkansas River, and/or from Minnesota. It seems Mother Nature is trying to correct our mistakes.
But let’s be rational about where we are today, and consider what our ecosystem would be if it had been managed properly a 100 years ago. Yes, we would have wolf packs, cougars, and a lot more bears. We would still have our quail, we would never have had the feral hog problem, and we have a slightly smaller deer herd, but one without chronic wasting disease.
I think Game and Fish is finally getting the message that the quail problem is not habitat, but scavenger animals who are eating the quail eggs. Opening up the season for possums, coons, and coyotes, is going to help, but they need to go a step farther, and bring back the apex predators to really solve the problem, or, for God’s sake, at least put a moratorium on wolves, cougars, and eliminate the bear season.
When you take an ecosystem out of balance, certain animals and other parts of the system become out-of-control to the point where they foul the whole system. That is exactly what has happened because all things in a viable ecosystem are connected.
Chief Seattle said it a lot better than I can.
“If all the beasts were gone, men would die from a great loneliness of spirit, for whatever happens to the beasts also happens to the man. All things are connected. Whatever befalls the Earth befalls the sons of the Earth.”
— Chief Seattle
Richard Mason is a registered professional geologist, downtown developer, former chairman of the Department of Environmental Quality Board of Commissioners, past president of the Arkansas Wildlife Federation, and syndicated columnist. Email [email protected].