Gray wolf, OR93, dead in California
November 24, 2021 6:24 PM Subscribe
A gray wolf whose “epic” travels captured headlines and imaginations earlier this year was killed in California after being struck by a vehicle this month Rest in peace, brother. Let's hope you're not the last to make the journey.
🐺
posted by clavdivs at 6:29 PM on November 24, 2021 [2 favorites]
posted by clavdivs at 6:29 PM on November 24, 2021 [2 favorites]
Gaspode shivered. He paddled into the water, and nudged Gavin’s sodden fur with his nose.
“Shouldn’t be like this,” he whined. “If you was a human, they’d put you in a big boat on the tide and set fire to it, an’ everyone’d see. Shouldn’t just be you an’ me down here in the cold.”
There was something that had to be done, too. He knew it in his bones. He crawled back to the bank and pulled himself up onto the trunk of a fallen willow.
He cleared his throat.
Then he howled.
It started badly, hesitantly, but it picked up and got stronger, richer… and when he paused for breath the howl went on and on, passing from throat to throat across the forest.
The sound wrapped him as he slid off the log and struggle don toward higher ground. It lifted him over the deeper snow. It wound around the trees, a plaiting of many voices becoming something with a life of its own. He remembered thinking: Maybe it’ll even get as far as Ankh-Morpork.
Maybe it’ll get much farther than that.
Gaspode mourns a hero, The Fifth Elephant
posted by notoriety public at 6:31 PM on November 24, 2021 [19 favorites]
“Shouldn’t be like this,” he whined. “If you was a human, they’d put you in a big boat on the tide and set fire to it, an’ everyone’d see. Shouldn’t just be you an’ me down here in the cold.”
There was something that had to be done, too. He knew it in his bones. He crawled back to the bank and pulled himself up onto the trunk of a fallen willow.
He cleared his throat.
Then he howled.
It started badly, hesitantly, but it picked up and got stronger, richer… and when he paused for breath the howl went on and on, passing from throat to throat across the forest.
The sound wrapped him as he slid off the log and struggle don toward higher ground. It lifted him over the deeper snow. It wound around the trees, a plaiting of many voices becoming something with a life of its own. He remembered thinking: Maybe it’ll even get as far as Ankh-Morpork.
Maybe it’ll get much farther than that.
Gaspode mourns a hero, The Fifth Elephant
posted by notoriety public at 6:31 PM on November 24, 2021 [19 favorites]
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posted by supermedusa at 6:35 PM on November 24, 2021
posted by supermedusa at 6:35 PM on November 24, 2021
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posted by firstdaffodils at 6:47 PM on November 24, 2021
posted by firstdaffodils at 6:47 PM on November 24, 2021
OR93 isn't the first to die while looking for love in San Bernardino.
posted by betweenthebars at 7:08 PM on November 24, 2021 [1 favorite]
posted by betweenthebars at 7:08 PM on November 24, 2021 [1 favorite]
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posted by freelanceastro at 7:10 PM on November 24, 2021
posted by freelanceastro at 7:10 PM on November 24, 2021
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(people here may also enjoy this beautiful short documentary on some wolves on the west coast of canada)
posted by wesleyac at 8:35 PM on November 24, 2021 [4 favorites]
(people here may also enjoy this beautiful short documentary on some wolves on the west coast of canada)
posted by wesleyac at 8:35 PM on November 24, 2021 [4 favorites]
An ignominious yet piercingly emblematic 21st-century end to a poignant tale.
posted by Greg_Ace at 8:41 PM on November 24, 2021 [4 favorites]
posted by Greg_Ace at 8:41 PM on November 24, 2021 [4 favorites]
Meanwhile in Wisconsin, they’re bringing wolves back and noting their positive effects on car collisions with deer:
Recent studies uncover cascading ecological effects resulting from removing and reintroducing predators into a landscape, but little is known about effects on human lives and property. We quantify the effects of restoring wolf populations by evaluating their influence on deer–vehicle collisions (DVCs) in Wisconsin. We show that, for the average county, wolf entry reduced DVCs by 24%, yielding an economic benefit that is 63 times greater than the costs of verified wolf predation on livestock. Most of the reduction is due to a behavioral response of deer to wolves rather than through a deer population decline from wolf predation. This finding supports ecological research emphasizing the role of predators in creating a “landscape of fear.” It suggests wolves control economic damages from overabundant deer in ways that human deer hunters cannot.posted by migurski at 9:50 PM on November 24, 2021 [18 favorites]
An ignominious yet piercingly emblematic 21st-century end to a poignant tale.
I'm suddenly remembering a fellow high-school student who was well-known for abruptly ending all of his stories with, "And they were all run over by a truck." Truly a young visionary.
posted by Greg_Ace at 9:57 PM on November 24, 2021 [5 favorites]
I'm suddenly remembering a fellow high-school student who was well-known for abruptly ending all of his stories with, "And they were all run over by a truck." Truly a young visionary.
posted by Greg_Ace at 9:57 PM on November 24, 2021 [5 favorites]
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posted by hydropsyche at 4:21 AM on November 25, 2021
posted by hydropsyche at 4:21 AM on November 25, 2021
Sometimes I really hate the unnecessary ubiquity of cars. Maybe not hate, more like it just makes me sad. I like cars as objects just fine, I just don't like the way they've taken over everything to the point that this is a completely expected outcome.
posted by wierdo at 4:37 AM on November 25, 2021 [15 favorites]
posted by wierdo at 4:37 AM on November 25, 2021 [15 favorites]
Anyone else's mind go to Cormac McCarthy's The Crossing?
Here's an excerpt
posted by elkevelvet at 10:45 AM on November 25, 2021
Here's an excerpt
posted by elkevelvet at 10:45 AM on November 25, 2021
as all of us are, murdered by automobile.
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posted by eustatic at 10:55 AM on November 25, 2021 [2 favorites]
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posted by eustatic at 10:55 AM on November 25, 2021 [2 favorites]
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posted by WalkerWestridge at 12:41 PM on November 25, 2021
posted by WalkerWestridge at 12:41 PM on November 25, 2021
. Putting readable collars on wolves makes them targets.
posted by Oyéah at 9:43 PM on November 25, 2021
posted by Oyéah at 9:43 PM on November 25, 2021
I agree, weirdo, but the problem with cars and genocide is that a little goes a long way
posted by DeepSeaHaggis at 5:35 AM on November 26, 2021
posted by DeepSeaHaggis at 5:35 AM on November 26, 2021
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posted by jquinby at 6:27 PM on November 24, 2021 [1 favorite]