Thursday, April 05, 2007

Sadly Enough

I have posted before about Romeo, the solitary black wolf which hangs out around the Mendenhall Glacier, approaching people and dogs in a friendly manner. He plays with dogs. And, this is sweet and cute and all Walt Disney. But it isn't good. There are signs posted all around where he is seen, reminding people that he is a wild animal and to keep their dogs on a leash.

I guess the fact that he carried a small dog for a distance and then put him down unharmed made people think he was some sort of dog. This week, a small dog being walked without a leash out by the glacier was carried off by Romeo, not to return. I would guess that either Romeo was hungry this time or this dog acted like prey. The explanation could be something else, of course. Maybe this dog tried to harry him.

Whatever the cause, the dog is gone. And so now I am wondering how long it is going to be before people start demanding that we "do something about that wild animal" -- I hope that people have the good sense to realize that you can't trust that a wild animal will act like a dog forever and that maybe when signs are posted to leash your dog, that is what you are supposed to do.

How sad for the dog that his owner didn't have good sense.

1 comment:

Ms. Mamma said...

That's awful. We have a few fanatics who are anti-wolf and keep sending the local paper letters to the editor about how they're going to take off with everyone's dogs. Wolves were just recently taken off the endangered species list here.

I wish people cared more for their pets in wilder environments, even if it is the edge of a swamp here.