Running With The Pack

If anybody ever had any skepticism as to environmental claims about how tenuos is the balance of nature, and how easily disrupted it can be, a story from ou oft Isle Royole National Park in Michigan should serve as an example of just how serious it can be. It concerns a story as old as life itself-the struggle for survival, and it’s a story of life on earth, told in miniature. The native wolf population in the park numbers 30, in a total of three packs, which are now at war, in a life and death struggle for territory. The prize over which they fight for their lives, agaisnt each other, to the death?

450 head of moose, down significantl from the 540 head from just last winter. So, why such a drastic decline? To answer that question, you need to trace back to the early 1990’s. Then, the wolf packs all fell prey to a common enemy-a paravirus outbreak, which decimated them, to the seeming benefit of the moose, who suddenly engaged in a moose mini baby boom, which resulted in a population explosion. You would think this would be the best of both worlds. Very few wolves for the moose to worry about, yet those very few wolves were presented with a banquet of mostly the elderly moose, and the younger strays. Plenty of food for the wolves, and yet a relatively peaceful existence for the moose, most of whom were young and strong and could protect themselves from the packs, especially as long as they didn’t stray off too far from the herd individually, on their own.

Unfortunately, the baby boomers suddenly themselves started to become old and decrepit and, being the majority, suddenly found themselves easier and easier prey. Worse, during the period of time when their numbers were so prolific, they ravaged the natural food of their native habitat. There were too many of them, and not enough of the primary birch and aspen, which they ravaged through quickly, leaving mostly the much less nutritous, for them, spruce and balsam fir, which soon grew disproportionately. As a result, the National Park has now evolved into mainly this type of vegetation, which has taken over, as not enough of the mooses primary food supply was left to hold the less desirable growth in check.

Then, as though to seal their fate, the moose fell prey to a tick infestation, which weakened them, thus making them even easier prey. But alas, their numbers have now dwindled to such the wolves are now left with slim pickings, so they have to hunt for their secondary food source-the beaver. Unfortunately, as you might have guessed, the beaver population has likewise declined.

Now,there are several points to this story, besides my opening assertion as to the evidence herein of the precariousness of the balance of nature, and therefore of life on earth. One point is that, in this case, mankind seems not, for once, to have been the culprit. Not directly, at any rate. Ah, but there is a caveat. Remember where this all took place? Need I remind you?

The Isle Royole NATIONAL PARK

So, during the entirety of two terms of a Democratic Administration, and going into the sixth year of a Republican one, a total of fourteen years have elapsed during which something could have been done to head off this ecological disaster, which should have been noticed from the start. It should have been easily discerned, what the potential problem was or would be heading towards, and it would probably have taken nothing more compicated than ensuring the continued growth and thriving of the birch and aspen.

This should have been done during theClinton Administration, but was allowed to go on, as during most of this span of time the problem was probably not that bad. But by the time of the Bush Administration, certainly by the second or third year, drastic measures may have been called for, that might have reversed the trend, late though they may have been. But the problem continued to be ignored.

“Oh, so what?”, some will say. “These are only moose and wolves, and a few beave, you’re talking about here. What’s the big deal, it’s not like we’re talking about human beings.” Some would even assert that this is natures way of killing off the weak species to make way for the strong. And in a sense, they might be right, but they forget. Ah ha, mankind is the culprit after all. How? Bcuase mankind has limited the environment of these animals. Neither wolves nor their prey have the range of travel as they did, and their range shrinks less with each passing year. As a result of limiting that range, we actually owe it to them, in my opinion, to ensure that we redress the balance of natue which mankind, much like a virus, has decimated.

We owe it to ourselves, as well. After all, as mankind continues to grow and expand, they too will need more and more natural resources in order to survive. Otherwise, we too will continue on the path we never really ever left-engaging in warfare and destruction, in a battle for survival-much like packs of wolves.