People move to Montana because there is still an element of 'the wild'

“Where the Wild Things... Aren’t!”

Each time I hear another story on the news or in the paper about wildlife being “dispatched,” my heart breaks a little more. People move to Montana because there is still an element of the “wild” here, and then immediately set about trying to domesticate the land. They love the notion of living “in the wild” but as soon as a wild animal gets too close, they cry “Foul!”

If you don’t want wild animals on your property, move elsewhere. Don’t come here and domesticate Montana. You destroy everything that makes it what it is — “The Last Best Place.”

And don’t expect wild animals to think like you do or to be able to distinguish between your pets or livestock and their opportunity for survival. Our domestic animals have their food handed to them. Mountain lions, bears, deer and all the rest have to hunt for theirs. We just need to be smarter.

Our wildlife is going to cease to exist in its entirety between the passive and aggressive actions of (generic) man. Their habitat is being systematically destroyed by the ever-expanding appetites of humans, as well as our “curiosity” toward wildlife, which usually means harassing them. In the end, they are the ones who end up paying for it with their very lives. I believe their lives are just as valuable to them as ours are to us. Let’s treat them with the respect and consideration they deserve.

And what about our Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks? Isn’t your job, by definition, to protect our wildlife? Instead, I feel like you have taken on the mantle of “hero,” — “saving” the residents of the area from the “inconvenience” of these majestic, beautiful and endangered creatures. Is it always necessary to put them down, i.e. “dispatch” them, or just more convenient than moving them or putting them back in the wild?

We need to learn to live with our wildlife, because believe me, we’re going to miss them when they’re gone.

Kathryn Berg,

Bigfork