"yay!" is what only those people in Germany say, that don't have to live with the consequences that pack of wolves are their new neighbours.
seriously, what are these terrible consequences?
It's plain stupid to forget that wolves are predators.
- cars
and if you worry about animals
- dogs (which are wolves, bread for insanity and not fearing humans, and sometimes trained to attack people) - chicken (salmonella probably kills a few kids a year)
If you happen to walk into a wolf, it's probably gonna bite you and then leave you alone when you run away.
Stray dogs are a bigger threat. Rabid bats or foxes are a bigger threat. Ticks are a MUCH bigger threat. And if you drive a car - you're much more likely to kill a human being than all the wolves in the world combined.
50 years, whole world - over 211 deaths. ~5 per year.
> In the half-century up to 2002, there were eight fatal attacks in Europe and Russia, three in North America, and more than 200 in south Asia. [1]
For comparison, just in one year, just in USA - around 20-30.
> At least 4.5–4.7 million Americans are bitten by dogs every year and, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), 20 to 30 of these result in death [2]
Wolves avoid people.
There's something irrational in people's reaction to wolves.
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wolf_attacks_on_humans
[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fatal_dog_attacks_in_the_Unite...
I guess you can always argue that the ecosystem used to have wolves (and elks) in Germany. So the restauration is I think a good thing. The only issue I found with this wish is that consequently, probably lions should be brought back to southern europe, etc.
When wolves return, we're not going to get some romantic version of fairy tale wild nature back - Germany doesn't have large enough preservation areas for that to happen[1]. Anyone who claims to be able to predict the future of wolf in Germany is just full of it - both sides of the debate.
[1]The Dutch Oostvaardersplassen is one example of what can happen when you naively try to turn tiny areas into a "natural wilderness habitat".
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oostvaardersplassen#Natural_pr...
In the absence of natural predators the rangers shoot animals that are unlikely to survive. It is quite common for 30 to 60 per cent of the population to be killed in this way. After a cull, the vegetation has a chance to recover and this will get the first natural afforestation of the area under way.
http://www.politifact.com/oregon/statements/2011/dec/16/oreg...
Wolves are vilified because of their threat to livestock. Farmers kill wolves to protect their animals.
The return of wolves is good news for people living in forested areas overpopulated by deer. Without wolves, the deer population grows unchecked. The deer overgraze which hurts plant growth.
But, because you know that my statement is correct, that the majority of people in rural areas don't like having wolfpack-neighbors, you've seem to feel obliged to make ridicule of their fears.
Its clearly an overreaction. An impulse I just can guess what triggered it.
Is it maybe that I pointed out, that the romanticization of things ('yay!') is usually done by people who don't have to live with the outcomes of it? And precisely because they don't have to live with that are usually much more powerful and likely to get their romanticized ideals poured into legislation (e.g. wealth redistribution vs. not being dependent on entry level jobs, social housing projects vs. not living in them, promoting preditors vs. living in gentrified urban areas etc.)?
Is it maybe that at the core of the romaticizer's actions is the aim for Deutungshoheit (narrative control) via claiming "pureness", which is most hurt by showing its very basic inconsistencies?
Is it because applying a 80s-moustache statement glass wearing Hipster face to "Yay! Wolfes are back" lays bare the author's arrogance?