Dear Editor:

When my son was serving his second tour of duty in Iraq, he sent me a picture of a woman herding her flock of sheep, she carried a rifle to protect them.

I have raised sheep for the past 30 years and it is with some measure of irony that the woman in Iraq can protect her livestock, but I cant.

My son leaves the end of this month for Afghanistan. He wonders what freedom he is fighting for when his own family cannot protect their animals on their own property. What is more disturbing to me is the lack of integrity and compassion involved in this attack on ranchers and the staggering lack of common sense and humility.

The buzzword of those intent on putting ranchers out of business is adjustments will have to be made, however I just havent figured out what adjustments they are having to make.

I imagine if my husband and I did not care for our cows and sheep we would hear from the humane society, but letting wolves drag live calves from their mothers still struggling body is perfectly acceptable. No hypocrisy there.

Ranchers have been the pawns in a game where the rules change daily. After years of playing by the rules in Montana and Idaho, one judge reinstated the Endangered Species Act, consequently the governors in those states have said enough!

When I and fellow citizens of Wallowa County made comments on the wolf plan years ago, we were told none of our fears would be realized, after all, we were not experts.

Last year my 7-year-old granddaughter was wandering with our dogs a distance from me, two days later I was told the wolves crossed our property there daily. 

This year, I was notified by Russ Morgans assistant of ODF&W that she was on our property last year and gave us her phone number if we had any problems. Traps were placed on our property last year and we were issued a kill permit if wolves were caught attacking our cows. 

We werent able to turn our cows out until a month and a half later than we usually do which meant feeding hay longer. This year the wolves were back on our place in early January.

Wallowa County has always been a place where neighbors help neighbors, that is what is not only so frustrating about what is happening here, but what is also so sad. To dismiss people because they are supposedly only one percent of Oregons population is discrimination in its ugliest form. The wolf in sheeps clothing!

This is no longer just about cows, or just about wolves, its about our basic freedoms!

Ramona Phillips

Joseph