I’ve been subscribing to the Capital Press for several years now and the number of weeks that there hasn’t been an article on wolves killing livestock is few to none.

If carnivorous wildlife are going to survive they are going to eat and since carnivores are not vegetarians they are going to eat meat.

In the wild, they would only have other wildlife to eat so they would catch the old, the slow and the sick animals, which would keep the deer and elk herds healthy and strong. Deer and elk have been given a will to live and tools like speed to get away and sharp hooves and antlers to fight off predators, which make deer and elk dangerous and hard to kill and eat.

Domestic animals, on the other hand, are raised to be slow and docile so they would spend their life eating to grow and get fat so they would be easy to handle and very good to eat. It is the perfect dinner for the carnivore wildlife, too, so when the wildlife carnivores learn about domestic animals it is easy for them to become Democrats and live free off the system (Sorry, I just couldn’t resist).

If I were a rancher with hundreds of animals and thousands of acres I would consider feeding the meat eaters. By feeding them I would be controlling what they eat and where they congregate. A wolf with a full belly is not going to chase down and kill its dinner, and an eagle would rather eat on a carcass that is already dead.

I advertise and remove large animal carcasses and am limited in my disposal options, so most just go to be buried in a sanitary landfill, and I think, “What a waste.”

Offering a carcass to wildlife away from domestic herds would not only protect the herd but would also allow the predators in the area to be monitored.

Arlyn Boatsman

Kennewick, Wash.