Sleepy dog, Wolves, and Week Two on the Design Team

I love it when the dogs or cats get so relaxed, they forget that a teensy bit of their tongue is sticking out. It's awfully cute for a body part that looks so much like a slice of processed ham. I made a set of wolf cards for my design team assignment this week. It was only supposed to be one card, but I'm big on overkill. I like the cute little wolf pups in this realistic digital stamp image by the Digi Doodle Shop. Since we didn't have any color limitations so I went with one of my favorites--red and ice blue--using some SEI papers I had been saving for something I couldn't remember. That makes it fair game.

I was inspired to make this card by a humane issue that's been on my mind a lot lately: the arial gunning of wolves. In the state of Alaska, it is currently legal to harass wolves with small aircraft, flying low to the ground, terrifying and tiring the animal to the point of exhaustion before shooting the wolf from the plane while still in the air (often resulting in wounded animals escaping to sustain a long, painful death) or landing and shooting him or her at point blank range. Nationally, this inhumane pasttime was outlawed by the federal government in 1972, but the Alaskan government continues to sidestep the law to keep killing canines in this fashion. They call it "wildlife management" despite studies showing numbers that are quite contrary to their assertation that this is necessary. Predator species are vital to the environmental balance and deserve humane treatment like any other animal. Excuses are made to hunt them to low levels, then the overpopulation and clustered killing of prey species causes a sudden increase in births, resulting in an endless imbalance. We need to let nature balance itself. Our interference only makes the situation worse.

If you are as uncomfortable with this practice as I am, please visit the Defenders of Wildlife website and send a quick letter to the governer of Alaska, asking him to adjust state law to coincide with the current Federal law and end this brutality against animals. Thanks for checking this out. It's been weighing heavily on my mind lately.