To the editor:
In response to the Nov. 30 letter by Nic Miramontes. I am equally amazed by the ignorance of people living in Two Rivers who hold a version of the Miramonte view.
As a former resident of Two Rivers from 12 Mile to 16.5 Mile, with friends all the way up to Pleasant Valley Road and beyond: I can say from my experience there as well as from advice from all my dog mushing friends, that wolves have been taking dogs there for a very long time and it certainly has never led to attacks on children before.
This seems always to lead to the witch hunt mentality that causes a lot of wolf fatalities with every Tom, Dick and Harry that think they shot the three or four causing the concern. And it's a bit suspicious that it always happens or is inflamed by someone when there is wolf legislation pending as is now the case.
One hardly needs to keep a dog team inside. As a dog musher I certainly would not - and I have a very beloved team - but I do what every dog musher in Two Rivers advised me to do when I first moved there, put your dog yard inside a fence. Wolves, bears, other people's loose dogs, and whatever else you have up here will be less likely to take a dog.
If you really want the lowdown about the facts and figures of wolf-human encounters, go to an article online titled: The McNay Report. And then let's really look at all the important contributing factors here. Loose dogs, loose dogs, loose dogs. They get hit by cars, cause traffic accidents, are killed by other loose dogs, killed by moose, step in traps, and freeze and starve when they become lost. And in many of these situations wolves scavenge on them.
Honestly, in a low snow year, these most habituated wolves will take dogs off a chain.
Stephanie Little Wolf
Fairbanks | 
