Jr. Advocate Alyssa Grayson: “It’s Up to Us To Use Our Voices”

This is a poem (see below) I wrote that was originally just for wolf 754M, but really it speaks for all wolves. Wolf 820F was killed on Saturday, Aug. 24, 2013. I saw these wolves in October, the whole Lamar Canyon pack, actually.   I watched ‘06’ (832F) as well as 754M and 755M travel through Lamar Valley for hours. They were the first wild wolves I had ever seen, and it’s sad that I won’t be able to see them the next time I go.
I also watched 712M and Daddy’s Girl (his daughter) chase and kill an elk at 5 in the morning. Daddy’s Girl is now dead as well. These beautiful wild animals are being killed out of sheer hate and fear for wandering outside of their own safety zone.  Wolves don’t know government boundaries, or where they are protected and where they aren’t.
Montana’s upcoming hunting season allows five wolf tags per person, which means a whole family can be killed with the pull of a trigger. Imagine that, from the wolf’s point of view. For you, it’s just another day. You’re probably laying in the snow, watching your yearling pups play around you. Something rustles in the bushes nearby, but it’s probably just a squirrel. Then, a sound as deafening as a thunderclap comes from that bush. Your yearling falls to the ground. Then, slowly, the same thing happens to the rest of your family around you. You watch them as they fall, knowing you can do nothing about the horror scene unfolding in front of you. Then, a splitting pain in your chest. You fall, and die with your family.

Photo: Kat Brekken, Yellowstone wolf 820FThe very same creature that has been destroying your home for years, slowly replacing it with paved roads, deadly vehicles, and tall buildings, just killed you and the rest of your family.
But for what? The ‘protection’ of their livestock, when all you eat is elk?  Or, just out of sheer hate, fueled by fear and misunderstanding? Your pack may have met its end in a worse way – lured in by the calls of injured pups, chased to exhaustion and shot from a plane, or trapped and forced to suffer for days, with no food or water. Just searing and excruciating pain.

Wolves are more afraid of us than we are of them, and only account for less than .01% of all livestock loss. They don’t know that the instant they set a paw out of Yellowstone, they and the rest of their pack can be slaughtered.  So it’s up to us to use our voices to help save these wolves and stop this madness.

Dark As Night

Pelt of rippling fur, dark as night    
Darts through the snow, filled with fright.
The wolf runs like the wind that howls through the trees,                                                           
Steam pours from his mouth as he flees.

Gun of man’s metal, dark as night
Shines like a diamond of darkness in the light.
Man fingers the trigger, but does not let go,
He waits for the wolf to stop running and slow.

Man’s glove made of leather, dark as night
Keeps hold of the trigger, then the wolf comes into sight.
There, sure enough, the wolf does slow,
Man’s finger squeezes the trigger, then lets go.

Wolf’s pelt of black bristles, dark as night
Stands on end as man’s bullet comes into sight
Orange eyes widen as they fill with fear,
Though nothing can help wolf as the bullet comes near.

Man’s heart of hatred, dark as night
Smiles as he watches the wolf losing its life.
Red drops like ruby stains the white snow,
Wolf draws in a ragged last breath, and lets it blow.

The black pelt of the wolf, dark as night
Moves no longer, as wolf goes into the light.
Man’s weapon of hatred had won the battle now,
But then, he realized as he wrinkled his brow…

The destruction of a life out of hate is not the way to win a battle.

~ Alyssa Grayson, Jr. Wolf Advocate,  Aug. 27, 2013