Political Pressure Creates Clueless Politicians

When Farley Mowat is first engaged by the Dominion Wildlife Service, he is asked to report to Ottawa where he presents himself to the Chief Mammalogist. He is given an orientation to explain the task they expect him to accomplish, and is ‘educated’ regarding the wolf situation which he is expected to address. The issue of wolves, he is told, has become a problem of national importance, and in that single year alone almost forty separate memorandums had been received from members of the House of Commons. All of them were related to complaints from constituents who insist that something be done about the overblown wolf population and the impact it is having on the members of the fish and game clubs. Ammunition manufactures and hunters alike presented grievances regarding the inordinate number of deer and caribou that the wolves are killing...