We have killed wolves with cyanide, strychnine, explosive devices, traps, snares, pit-traps, poisoned bait and even biological weapons (wolves have been trapped, infected with mange and then released in a successful effort to infect other wolves with mange). In fact, the only animals that humans have treated worse than wolves are other humans!

We’ve killed hundreds and hundreds of thousands of an animal that was here before we were. We’ve decimated the species upon which they feed in many places (anyone ever seen wild bison outside of Yellowstone?) We give away BLM lands to ranchers for ridiculously little per head per month – so little in fact that they have almost no incentive to do more than minimal management of their animals. They are further incentivized to quite literally “cry wolf” because in many states the same ranchers that have done the least possible effort to avoid wolf predation on cattle are compensated for losses that may have been caused by wolves.

We have quite literally set the wolf up to fail. We encroach upon their habitat, replace their natural prey with a stupid, slow moving substitute, we give ranchers every reason NOT to take reasonable steps to protect their livestock and then we complain when a very few wolves take advantage of an opportunity we hand them on a silver platter. In fact what’s really surprising is not that wolves take cattle, but that so few wolves take cattle given the fact that we’ve made it almost absurdly easy for them to do so.

Beyond this the fact that the cast and crew consumed wolf-meat? Are you kidding me? This is beyond revolting. Wolves are a threatened species. I have spent over 30 years studying, researching and raising wolves. The very idea that they would be slaughtered for the purpose of being a prop in a film or a vulgar and totally bastardized attempt at method acting makes me physically ill.

To top it off, I’ve heard the imbecile director, Joe Carnahan refer to himself as “an animal person” this is almost as laughable as if Hannibal Lechter called himself a “people person”. The cast, crew and anyone that in any way supports their actions is clearly lacking in an appreciation for nature, life, and our planet. I only wish more people would react as viscerally as I have and take action to both blacklist everyone involved with this film and make an example of them and way their behavior is simply unacceptable in this time.