3 ms·
Most people live in cities, which makes them think of wolves as a cute, awesome, protect-at-all-cost animal with no downsides. The farmers are in the minority,
by tgsovlerkhgsel 6y ago
Most people live in cities, which makes them think of wolves as a cute, awesome, protect-at-all-cost animal with no downsides. The farmers are in the minority, which means the problem has to become pretty bad to get the majority of the public on their side.
- User23 6y agoWolves will eat your children if they feel bold enough, it's not just about livestock. There's a reason they feature so prominently in folklore.
- hannob 6y agoI heard one number in the discussion in Germany (where in some areas the wolves discussion runs wild) which I found interesting: The number of people killed by wolves in Germany in recent years is zero, the number of people killed by dogs is around 3-4 per year.
- deleted 6y ago[deleted]
- bttrfl 6y agoSo will people. And they too have their place in folklore: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lamia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lamia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gretel_%26_Hansel https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gretel_%26_Hansel not to mention blood libel: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blood_libel https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blood_libel Here's a list, not sure if complete, of wolf attacks (worldwide): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_wolf_attacks https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_wolf_attacks Compare it with 1,494 child homicides in the United States alone just in 2008 and decide for yourself which species is a bigger threat to your children.
- dkarl 6y agoThe majority of the public might not be enough in a democracy, depending on the political structure. A passionate and engaged minority can stop something that a majority passively approves of, plus there are issues of regional control that might make it difficult for an urban majority to dictate policy in rural areas.
- tgsovlerkhgsel 6y agoExcept the passionate minority here are the environmentalists who will put up huge billboards with appeals to emotion to stop a heartless law from killing poor innocent wild animals.
- akiselev 6y agoMost people I know think of wolves as the bigger, meaner brothers of coyotes, which are definitely a concern for anyone with a pet in much of the west and east coast (the latter of which now have dog-wolf-coyote hybrids...).
- tgsovlerkhgsel 6y agoWildlife is generally not considered a concern in some parts of Europe. As in, I'm not sure you could get yourself killed by the local wild fauna in Germany if you actively tried. I found a listicle claiming to contain the 10 most toxic animals, and it's basically a "don't eat this one, that thing can kill you if you're both extremely allergic and unlucky, this snake is technically venomous but good luck getting it to actually bite you and if it does it's easily treated" etc. First, you'd have to find something dangerous (like the one single bear), then you'd have to convince it to attack you instead of just running away. Your best bet is probably actively looking for a group of boar at night and trying to piss them off.
- trhway 6y agoThe farmers can get shepherd dogs - a solution proven by millennia - and thus get the problem solved satisfactory to all the sides. Though these days i'd bet that the modern farmers (which are mostly corporations and thus arent able to handle real dogs) would be more probable to get cloud wired Boston Dynamics style platform based systems as-a-Service with wolf/cow discriminating AI and armed with something like "Area Denial".