In response to John Welsh’s July 26 ADN letter, who or what is really a threat to humans? It’s certainly not lions, tigers or bears … oh my! Mr. Welsh lives on an island, both geographically and in his own mind’s eye. Let me remind Mr. Welsh that the top predators like bears and wolves were roaming this planet long before Homo sapiens stopped dragging their knuckles on the ground.
So who’s really the threat to humans? Easy: humans. Bears ruled Sitka long before we humans invaded their habitat. We humans don’t like trespassers on “ground we took” from bears and wolves, so why should these environmentally essential apex predators feel any different about humans declaring eminent domain on their territory?
Take a moment and remember the history of the eradication of wolves and bears in the Lower 48, as happened in Montana and California. Not a wise decision that resulted in repopulation of the species because we humans, as usual, disrupted the natural order of the environment.
No, bears and wolves are not a threat to humans. These animals naturally avoid humans. Humans get hurt or killed because we were in their space. The only threats to humans are humans ourselves. After all, you don’t see bears and wolves destroying the world they live on. You don’t see these scary apex man-killers shooting, stabbing and knifing one another. Humans are the species of predators you should really be concerned about! I suggest watching a movie, “Never Cry Wolf.” Maybe you’ll see things differently, I hope.
— Patrick Ozment
Anchorage
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