{"id":2456101,"date":"2020-03-21T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2020-03-21T06:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/?p=323061"},"modified":"2020-03-21T07:49:15","modified_gmt":"2020-03-21T13:49:15","slug":"fear-mongering-covid-19-and-gray-wolves","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/local-news\/fear-mongering-covid-19-and-gray-wolves\/","title":{"rendered":"Fear mongering, COVID-19 and gray wolves"},"content":{"rendered":"
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On March 5, Greg Walcher, former executive director of Colorado\u2019s Department of Natural Resources, wrote an editorial opinion in the Grand Junction Sentinel stating that \u201cWolves are among the Earth\u2019s primary carriers of coronavirus, the pandemic that is now sweeping the globe.\u201d<\/p>\n

Walcher\u2019s misinterpretation of research and use of the COVID-19 outbreak to create fear around wolves is morally unethical and scientifically unsound. According to infectious disease and wolf expert Ellen E. Brandell, the canine coronavirus (an alphacoronavirus) that has been found in dogs and wolves is entirely unrelated to the current human COVID-19 (a betacoronavirus) outbreak.<\/p>\n

Recently, I participated in a debate titled \u201cWhy are we voting on wolves in Colorado,\u201d which refers to Initiative 107, which asks voters if they want gray wolves restored to Colorado, requires management by best science and requires that ranchers be compensated for confirmed livestock losses. My three opponents all pointed to Colorado Parks and Wildlife\u2019s commissioners who have repeatedly opposed gray wolf reintroduction, saying that this issue should be decided by the \u201cexperts\u201d at CPW and not by Colorado\u2019s voters. Their comments echo Greg Walcher, who stated, \u201cIt\u2019s why wildlife is better suited to expert management than emotional ballot initiatives\u201d.<\/p>\n

My response: \u201cWe had to take the question of gray wolf reintroduction to the people with Initiative 107 because CPW\u2019s Commission \u2014 part of the Department of Natural Resources under the direction of the likes of Greg Walcher \u2014 have continually made the decision to oppose wolf reintroduction based on politics instead of science.\u201d The science is clear \u2014 wolf reintroduction can help restore a natural balance to Colorado and can be done in a manner that is respectful of the lives of all Coloradans. CPW\u2019s commission decisions, regarding gray wolves, have been based in myth and promulgated by fear mongering. We deserve better.<\/p>\n

Delia Malone<\/p>\n

Redstone<\/p>\n

via:: The Aspen Times<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

On March 5, Greg Walcher, former executive director of Colorado\u2019s Department of Natural Resources, wrote an editorial opinion in the Grand Junction Sentinel stating that \u201cWolves are among the Earth\u2019s primary carriers of coronavirus, the pandemic that is now sweeping the globe.\u201d Walcher\u2019s misinterpretation of research and use of the COVID-19 outbreak to create fear […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[49],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2456101","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-local-news"],"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-08-18 08:52:11","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KSPN The Valley's Quality Rock","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2456101","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2456101"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2456101\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2456110,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2456101\/revisions\/2456110"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2456101"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2456101"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2456101"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}