RANGEfire! | Predator Newspeak: WLA issues guide on how to make dangerous predators seem not-so-dangerous

What, no “Shoot, Shovel and Shut Up?”

The deceptively-named Western Landowners Alliance (WLA) is composed not of ranchers and farmers but of politically-connected millionaire and billionaire environmental activists. As RANGE magazine’s intrepid reporter, Dave Skinner, explained in his Winter 2021 expose of WLA (West First! Part I), [it] “is a branch operation of the Wildlands Network which itself is the renamed Wildlands Project initially birthed in 1991 by biologist Michael Soule’ Espirit and North Face sportswear tycoon, Doug Tompkins and Earth First! founder, Dave Foreman as the Wild Earth Society.”

Early in August, WLA released a guidance document titled “Working Across the Rural-Urban Divide: Messaging for Large Carnivore Conflict Reduction.”

With Western states increasingly beset by the presence and expansion of populations of large, dangerous predators, WLA apparently wants to use politically-correct terminology to change the perception of bloody “conflicts” between grizzlies and wolves and their animal and human victims. In the press release announcing the release of its guidebook, WLA explains:

“Messaging is more than just marketing: it is how we start and keep conversations going. If we are trying to develop solutions to tough problems that really work and will be durable and just, we need to stay in conversation, even with groups we may not always see eye to eye with. And that means seeking to understand how words are perceived by others, “ says Western Landowners Alliance communications director Louis Wertz. “This messaging document is meant to help anyone who is trying to engage in those conversations be more effective at working towards solutions and avoid demonizing certain species or groups of people.”

The CRC spent more than nine months and spoke with more than 60 people from diverse backgrounds and organizations across the West to produce the document, including seeking input from groups including the Greater Yellowstone Coalition, the Center for Collaborative Conservation at Colorado State University, the Wood River Wolf Project and the Madison Valley Ranchlands Group.

With wolf reintroduction planning gearing up in Colorado and management policy questions surrounding wolves and grizzly bears making headlines across the Northern Rockies, the importance of clear and sensitive communication on these issues is particularly relevant.

With an emphasis on “sensitive communication,” WLA’s predator Newspeak guidebook is formulated to deceive the general public about the true impacts wolves and grizzlies have on moose, elk, deer, small mammals, livestock, ranchers, farmers, rural communities, government agencies and the taxpayers footing the bill in states where apex predators have been introduced and are protected by law. They provide for their politician, media, activist confederates “sensitive words” and “suggested terms” along with the different contexts in which they should be used.

Screenshot of WLA Newspeak guide (page 4)Screenshot WLA guidebook page 5

See the full document by clicking here

A perusal of the document makes it clear that WLA is not an ally of ranchers and farmers, but is attempting to use politically-correct language to soften opposition to its “rewilding” efforts in the West. Condescending and seemingly disdainful of the rural people bearing the heavy costs of predator introductions, WLA targets “rural audiences” who apparently require more brainwashing than urban folks.

The undeniable fact is that cattle and sheep ranchers and farmers in the West understand the problems posed by growing populations of apex predators better than anyone. Willing co-managers with state agencies, livestock producers have gone to great lengths to minimize conflicts and keep their operations from collapsing under the weight of predation loss. What WLA fails to mention is that wolves and grizzlies are expanding from the wilderness into settle landscapes, posing ever greater threats to humans and their pets. See the related articles below:

Report on fatal grizzly mauling of West Yellowstone man released, some questions unanswered

Woman is killed in Montana grizzly attack

Hiker mauled by grizzly in Yellowstone National Park

Hunter killed by grizzly in Alaska died during “surprise attack” 

Wilderness guide days after grizzly attack in Yellowstone

A family on a camping trip woke up to a wolf attacking them. They were saved by a nearby camper

Eastern Oregon wolf pack gets blame for nine attacks on sheep; 4 lambs found dead

Wolf attacks woman in Idaho

Read & React: Wolves Kill 176 Sheep; Largest Attack in Idaho History

Wolf attacks on humans in North America

We owe a special thanks to Dave Skinner for exposing the members of WLA, their globalist connections and their true intention, which is not food production but rewilding–which would effectively end ranching and farming as we know it. This Newspeak document is another piece of evidence showing WLA doesn’t want to strengthen the people who make America great, but are using propaganda to hasten the destruction of their way of life. In Dave Skinner’s expose of WLA Part II in the Spring 2021 issue (West First! Part II) he reveals that shortly after Biden was inaugurated, they published “an 8 page, ‘1,000 day roadmap’ calling on the Biden Administration for a ‘major rollout’ through executive orders, ‘especially major climate and biodiversity initiatives like 30 x 30.’”

WLA is just another predatory NGO with its eyes on our lands, but Western livestock producers have been dealing with predators for two centuries. WLA’s brainwashing efforts will not go far where both language and action are driven by daily life and death decisions.

~Editor

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