Crying Wolf in Dog and Hunting Debates

Starting today, gray wolf hunting tags will be sold in the lower 48 for the first time in decades.

How did that happen?

Simple: Wolves are breeding very fast in some Rocky Mountain states, and the Obama administration's Fish and Wildlife Service removed wolves from the endangered species list back in March.

What?

The Obama Administration?

I thought they were owned and operated by PeTA and the Humane Society of the U.S.?

Right. And if you believed that, there is probably no helping you. You are what we refer to here in Washington as "gullible."

Of course, there's no shortage of folks who are gullible.

Just ask John Yates of the "American Sporting Dog Alliance."

Just before the November election, Yates sent out a barn burner of an email in which he wrote that any and every dog owner should vote for John McCain and Sarah Palin. He predicted nothing less than an apocalypse for dogs if we did not march to his drum beat.

"We are convinced that animal ownership is doomed if Obama becomes our next president."

We?

Who is "we?"

Hard to know. From what I can tell Mr. Yates, who runs a small commercial kennel in Pennsylvania, created this organization whole-cloth, and put himself in as its head.

No matter; it's still a free country, and people can refer to themselves in the first person plural if they want to.

That said, there is a certain lack of sophistication to Mr. Yates' political analysis. He writes:

The American Sporting Dog Alliance is opposed to Obama’s candidacy because of his close relationship with the Humane Society of the United States and his political alliances with several key animal rights movement supporters in Congress. We also think he has been dishonest about his views regarding hunting and firearms, and these are issues of major importance to many of our members.

Right. "Our members." Lots of them. Last I looked, Obama won in a landslide.

At the time this kind of stuff was being posted to canine list-servs across the country, I quietly pointed out why it was wrong. See here and here and here and here and here and here.

The good news, is that you no longer have to take my word for it. If President Obama is a dog-hating, anti-Second Amendment, PeTA water boy, he sure is a strange one:

• The Obama family got a dog -- an AKC dog, no less.
  
  
• Obama went fly-fishing out west.
  
  
• The Obama Administration has greenlighted the removal of Rocky Mountain wolves from the Endangered Species list.
  
  
• Obama put Ken Salazar in as head of the Dept. of Interior -- a western hunter who wears a cowboy hat and thinks Polar Bear hunting is OK.
  
  
• Obama put in Tom Vilsack, the former Governor of Iowa, as the head of the U.S. Dept. of Agriculture -- a man who has the confidence of people who raise hogs, chickens, cattle, turkeys, and lambs for a living.
  
  
• The Obama Administration has greenlighted the carrying of loaded guns in our National Parks.
  
  
• Obama supported the Supreme Court's Heller decision and his Administration continues to support it.
  
  
• The Obama Administration has backed the right to carry guns even outside health care events where Obama is speaking provided local and state law allows it.
  
  
• Obama has killed with his bare hands on national TV.
  
  
• We all still have dogs, and we all still hunt. No change at all there.

I could go on, but what's the point? The Black Helicopter crowd is not going to be swayed by actual facts.

And no, they are also not going to stop over-hyping every twist and turn in the world of dogs. Right now John Yates is telling us:

• California dogs face disaster ... with economic ‘Armageddon’ just around the corner.
  
  
• New York dogs face mass murder.
  
  
• All Ohio kennels in danger now

Right. All I can say is "don't believe the hype."

And here's the rub: I am not faulting Yates for his intent. I am faulting him for his tactics.

I have written pretty harshly about PETA (see here and here and here and here and here and here and here and here and here and here and here and here and here and here and here and here and here and here and here).

I am no friend of the Humane Society of the U.S. (see here and here and here and here and here and here and here).

I am opposed to mandatory spay neuter and to tail-docking restrictions and I think freedom should ring in both arenas.

I hunt with dogs all year long, and not for potted birds.

But I am not a hysteric.

Most people know if I give warning, it is for a reason, and that I have probably done by homework.

The American Sporting Dog Alliance? Not so much. Just look at their track record to know why.

And yet Yates seems clueless. He writes:

The American Sporting Dog Alliance has contacted the Obama Transition Team and offered our services to the incoming Administration. We have specifically requested to participate in the selection process for key officials in the U.S. Departments of Agriculture and the Interior, and also to serve on a proposed animal issues advisory board. We do not know if our request will be accepted or rejected, but we strongly believe that the President-elect needs to hear the concerns of dog ownership advocates.

Yates has "offered his services" to the Obama transition team? Sorry, but the Obama Administration actually knows people who hunt with dogs, can fact check, and who have the bests interests of dogs, dog owners, and the Obama Administration at heart.

John Yates and the "American Sporting Dog Alliance" do not quite fit that bill, do they?

But so what? Yates has the right to free speech. Surely he is doing no harm?

Yes, absolutely; he has the right to free speech.

But speech can harm.

That, in fact, is the lesson of the "Boy Who Cried Wolf."

You remember the story: The little shepherd boy who was having a jolly time screaming "Oh My God, there's a WOLF" at every turn. He got everyone panicked, and he got a lot of attention.

The first dozen times, everyone thanked him profusely for the warning. "My God," they said "suppose we had not known?"

Only one problem. Somewhere around the 200th chain-pull, folks began to realize there was no wolf.

The kid was a crackpot, an attention-whore, a child playing games.

And so, people stopped paying attention.

And what happened when a wolf did show up? The wolf ate all the sheep, and a few townspeople too.

And that's the problem with hype, hysteria, and unbridled fear mongering.

Once you have turned the volume up to "10" you have nowhere else to go.

And once you have said "animal ownership is doomed if Obama becomes our next president" and then Obama gets a dog, you really do become a laughing stock.



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