Center for Biological Diversity‘s plea to help save the lives of wolves captured my attention and held it. For one thing, there’s the headline: 12 Bucks to Kill a Wolf — How Much to Save One? I wanted to know the answer to the question posited in the email’s title and was compelled to read on to learn more.
And then there’s the specificity of the plea, from start to finish, which prevented me from feeling overwhelmed by the problem. The piece zooms in on the issue and focuses in on it. Rather than feel overwhelmed, I experienced a sense of hope that solving the problem was possible and would happen in time, with help from people like me. This isn’t just all about wolf hunting happening everywhere where it’s still legal, but wolf hunting happening in Idaho that occurs casually when people decide to pay a paltry $12 to take a wolf’s life. The consequences are explained in a brief yet emotionally compelling manner, from the extinction of a population, to the separation of breeding wolf couples, to the breakdown of wolf families and orphaning of pups. It’s heartbreaking to hear.
As I mentioned, I felt like I could really help be the change here, and I think that it’s because of the specific request for $12 to save a wolf life. It’s hard for me to believe that $12 is all it takes to hunt down a precious creature. It’s almost harder for me to believe that $12 is all it takes to save one. But I’m all in. They asked, and they gave me a specific number. A small number that makes it almost too easy to step up and donate.
The photo of the wolf and her pups certainly didn’t hurt, either. If anything, it gave a face to the cause and provoked a soft “Awwwww…” from me.
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I can’t wait to meet with you personally.
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