WOLVES: Parasites came with them

The Canadian grey wolf was foisted on the citizens of Idaho by the then director of Idaho Fish & Game. Jerry Conley wrote to Ed Bangs, the lead person from U. S. Fish & Wildlife “Idaho wants to be a part of the wolf introduction program in Yellowstone and Idaho”. On the same day, a permit was issued, stamped “special permit,” allowing USFWS to bring wolves into Idaho with the option to bring 15 more if they had not produced a certain number of pups within a certain period of time.

These wolves are the nucleus for the debacle which followed. It wasn’t enough the wolves decimated our deer, elk and moose populations, they also brought parasitic diseases. These diseases will, if not contained, leave our forests with these diseases for an untold number of years.

Had the Idaho Attorney General filed a criminal charge and prosecuted Conley, this would have brought this situation to the attention of the general public and possibly blunted or stopped this problem at the start. Had the Governor, as the chief executive of the state, canceled the permit (which he had legal authority to do) this would have brought this problem to a screeching halt. However, neither of our elected officials or any of them since that time, did anything and the debacle plowed forward endangering each and every one of us. We became the unknown and unwitting owners of these extremely aggressive predators.

Thank you Jerry Conley, Attorney General and the Governor for your lack of concern for the citizens of Idaho. There is only one way to alleviate this problem, the complete and total removal of the alien Canadian grey wolf from Idaho and the entire Northwest. This will not solve the problem of the diseases but will prevent those diseases from repopulating themselves through the wolves.

It will only be a matter of time before someone contracts one of these diseases and dies. Maybe then the general public will become proactive and demand the necessary steps be taken to put a stop to this insanity. If we wait until someone dies, will it be your child or grandchild? Will you wait until that happens then cry foul? Do something now, and prevent that child from having to ask you why you didn’t do something about this problem.

ROBERT L. BALSER

Hayden