My review gets reviewed at a coyote, wolf and cougar blog here. It includes the line, "With all due respect to Mr. Rombach...." thanks. Always like it when I'm given all due respect, except, heeeeey....they couple that with "...who states that he was completely without knowledge of Wolves prior to downloading the contents of Wolfer...."
Not completely without knowledge. I know you don't capitalize Wolves in the middle of a sentence like this person, so I got that going for me. Which is nice.
Also, with all due respect, if by 'downloading the content,' they mean I bought a copy of the book like I said, then OK.
Review is below.
And Furthermore
Jon Rombach
I’ve stayed out of the wolf debate up until now because I don’t really know anything about wolves. But it sure doesn’t seem like that’s a requirement for joining the discussion, so I might as well wade in here.
I ordered the book ‘Wolfer’ by Carter Niemeyer after reading a review that described Niemeyer’s career as a government trapper turned wolf specialist, in charge of both introducing and removing wolves, depending on the circumstances. He developed enemies on both sides. Gained allies that started out as foes and had other working relationships start friendly before going south.
Well, that’s the guy I want to hear from. And by page 2, he was already making sense with this line: “Wolves are not all the things people want them to be, good or bad….”
I say this book is worth reading, for this alone: Niemeyer spends a good deal of time walking you through the business of determining whether a cow is dead because of a wolf or not. It’s a crime scene, essentially. And an autopsy. Animals tend to stop living now and then for reasons other than either a wolf or a slaughterhouse bolt. There are telltale signs when a wolf kills another animal, just as somebody who knows what they’re looking at should be able to determine when a wolf was not the cause of death, or has been eating from a carcass that was already dead from disease, previous injury or whatever punched it’s ticket. He relates cases where wolves were in the vicinity and that’s all the evidence some folks needed—despite no wolf tracks among the other tracks at the scene.
Wolf haters and wolf lovers will both likely find passages they’ll despise and embrace in this book. Here’s some that stood out for me. Page 183: “Hearings are a sign that the government has already made a decision. Taking public testimony is just a way to ease folks into an idea and let them blow off steam about it.”
Page 203: “In the wolf business, there’s no changing people’s minds, so there’s no point in arguing with them or trying to stop them from doing something illegal or just plain stupid. I’ve never known a wolf hater to become a wolf-lover or vice versa. When questioned, few people have neutral feelings about the subject, and those who are tolerant of wolves are usually afraid to express themselves.”
Page 182: “…wolves weren’t guilty most of the time.”
Page 331: “It was another case of wolf advocates being the wolf’s worst enemy.”
208: “No matter what the decision was regarding wolves, no one was happy….”
352: “The wolf issue has brought out such hatefulness in people. I want them to see that it doesn’t have to be all one way. It can’t be.”
So there you go. That’s my contribution to the wolf uproar. Read this book if you want. It’s not great, but is worth reading if you think you may find yourself talking about wolves.
If I’d grown up in Iowa and was fascinated with fox hunting and taxidermy, I’d go ahead and say ‘Wolfer’ is great. But Carter set out to write a memoir and he did, complete with reminiscing on an Iowa childhood, pursuing foxes and mounting animals. I had to brush by these to get at his wolf experience, which is why I bought the book.
Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have to go tie flagging on the collar of my elderly, 14-year-old husky-mix dog so I can take her on a stroll and explain to startled passersby that, no, that is not a wolf. She might lick your hand if you hold it out, but she’s not going to hobble over on her bad hips and tear your throat out. You’d be surprised how many times I have this conversation. Unless you’re Carter Niemeyer.
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