The Wolf - A Creature of Myth, Magic and Persecution

This much-maligned creature is probably more intelligent than a human is, they keep themselves to themselves, and live in regions that mankind does not normally frequent. They do not wage war on their own kind. They are NOT maneaters. They bring up their children in a strict but loving environment, caring for each other when sick, they have a clearly defined hierarchy and they normally shun human beings, running rather than encountering. But man is determined to get rid of them. I say "man" because I have not heard of women going on the stupid superstitious rampage against this noble creature. Ancient superstitions still rule some people's heads today - amazingly stupid!

The wolf even hunts together, providing for their pack as for their children. The older wolf generally remains behind to guard the children whilst the pack hunts. This wolf is also fed by the pack. Is this the life style of a rabid killer or a caring intelligent communal creature? Leave the wolf alone - he does not care for our ways nor does he wish to share his planet with us - but he will not exterminate us to get his way.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced on July 11th 2000 that the gray wolf will now be listed as threatened in the Rockies and the Midwest, but continue to receive protection as endangered in the Southwest. In places where the wolf was long ago shot and trapped out of existence, the agency's decision was mixed. The wolf will be protected in New England, where there are reintroduction plans. But in California and Nevada, where it was also extirpated, the wolf will receive no federal protection at all. Why is the wolf being protected in some parts of its historic range, but not others? Why downgrade protection for an animal most biologists believe isn't really established? The short answer is election-year politics. Though the Clinton administration hasn't made enough progress with the wolf to ensure the continuation of the species, it is still eager to declare victory and move on. Reintroduction has never been simply about wolves. It is about male ego and the soul of the West. The wolf is cannon fodder, serving on the front lines in the war between the New West and the Old West. Wolves were sent to Yellowstone after Interior Secretary Babbitt lost two crucial battles on grazing and mining reform. Both industries are regulated -- if you can call it that -- in an antiquated fashion that allows widespread environmental destruction at taxpayers' expense. They should have been easy prey. They weren't. After Western congressional yahoos trounced him, Babbitt turned his attention outside the Beltway, using wolves as canine surrogates. The message was a good one: It's time to turn back the frontier, restore some of the majestic landscape that made the myth. But the Western livestock industry wasn't ready to cede the territory. Ranchers and Old Westerners did to wolves what their congressional lackeys had done to Babbitt. They shot 'em down. The death toll among the reintroduced wolves has left many of us wondering if there has been too much playing God, not just in Yellowstone, but anywhere there are wolves. By the time the TV cameras showed up to record the release of reintroduced wolves to Yellowstone National Park, about 80 wild wolves had migrated naturally from Canada to Montana. To appease ranchers, the Yellowstone wolves were called an "experimental" population. That means they didn't have the legal or, even more important, the habitat protections afforded other animals under the Endangered Species Act. Normally, Montana's wild wolves would have been protected under the Endangered Species Act. But they, too, became "experimental." Under today's decision, all Western wolves are now classified this way. The government, through the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, has pandered to ranchers by giving up legal protections for wolves, removing them, and even killing wolves suspected of preying on livestock. So far, the agency has killed 40 wolves in the northern Rockies, mostly by aerial gunning. Critics say the agency has been indiscriminate, killing wolves that aren't preying on livestock. Two packs were recently removed from Idaho because of livestock predation. Sixteen wolves have died in the Southwest. Only 22 are free today.

The ranchers are right about one thing: wolves kill cattle and sheep. The answer is simple. Cows should go and wolves should stay. Do we really want to continue sacrificing endangered species to livestock grazing in the arid West? Biologists tell us this outdated, heavily subsidized practice will result in irreparable ecological harm if it isn't stopped within the next two or three decades. After its initial defeat, the administration has dodged the question. So have most of the nation's conservation groups. Wolves have paid the price. Bright and well-intentioned as they may be, neither the Clinton administration nor the majority of conservationists are committed to principle. This crop of well-intentioned pragmatists don't understand the difference between compromising on details and selling out your beliefs. The ugliest part of the story is how wolves with a taste for livestock are being "trained" with aversive electric shocks. The wolves aren't being injured physically. They are being shocked out of wildness, turned into domesticated animals like the cow or the herd dog. By "training" wolves and confining them to places like Yellowstone, critics say, we're creating little more than an outdoor zoo. The wolf has always been our very own beast in the shadows, the dark side of the myth. It may be that we've given up killing the wolf only to break its spirit. Either way, we should be ashamed of our cowardice. Susan Zakin is a contributor to Writers on the Range, a service of High Country News www.hcn.org - She lives in Tucson, Arizona.

There are plans afoot to reintroduce the Wolf to Scotland. I do sincerely hope this comes about as they mean us no harm and would be most welcome - by most. The danger here is that there need only be one idiot to cause mayhem - human idiot I mean - not wolf! Thanks to Macsen (Kenn in Michigan) for sending me the American Grey Wolf item above.

	The Wolf once had one of the largest global distributions of any land living mammal, occupying much of the northern hemisphere. During the 19th Century, wolves were exterminated from all central and northern countries. Today the species is starting to recover naturally in several parts of Europe, with the largest populations found in eastern countries, particularly Romania, the Balkan area, Poland and bordering countries.
There are between 15500 and 18,000 wolves in Europe today. The wolf is the second largest predator in Europe after the Brown Bear. The adult male weighs an average 40kg and measures up to 150cm in length. Wolves feed opportunistically, but main prey species are moose and deer. Wolves can live in very diverse habitats, adapting to the most extreme conditions, from the plains of central Spain to the tundra of Finland. They are social animals, living within a marked territory in packs with strong bonds. The Alpha female and male are dominant and are usually the only two animals in a pack to breed.

The wolf has for centuries suffered from a negative image, based largely on fear, misunderstanding and the fact that it kills livestock. This image poses difficulties with human/wolf interaction and often leads to conflict. In some countries there is unrestricted hunting of wolves. In others, licences are issued without and biological understanding. Poaching is widespread and probably the single most important mortality factor for the wolf in Europe. Wolves preying on domestic animals have been a problem since man progressed from hunter/gatherer to farmer, and although the number of sheep or cattle taken are, as a percentage, very low, livestock predation remains the primary reason for exterminating wolves. Human encroachment is the most significant threat to wolf habitat. Wolves can live close to humans but they need safe retreat areas. This is not considered in land planning in wolf areas and the small fragmented populations in western Europe can result in animals moving into unsuitable habitat.

"The current trends are generally positive throughout Europe, but too many small populations are still vulnerable or threatened by irrational management or poaching. The wolf is a very adaptable species wherever there is something to eat and where humans do not kill them. They know how to live amongst humans. It is up to us to show the same kind of adaptability and tolerance" Luigi Boitani, Professor of Vertebrate Zoology, University of Rome.

From WWF - Reply to my pressure mail

Thank you for your e-mail concerning the Norwegian wolf hunt, and for advising us that you had written to the Norwegian embassy. Please accept my sincere apologies for the inexcusable delay in my response.

I appreciate your concern regarding these animals, and would like to explain the following. WWF have urged the Norwegian government to drop it's plan to cull between 25 and 40% of the total wolf population in South Scandinavia, where the population numbers between 51 and 80 animals.

The Norwegian government were planning to kill approximately 20 animals originally, as a response to complaints from sheep farmers, who claim they are loosing livestock to carnivores, although wolves tend to prey on moose rather than sheep, and do not attack humans as a rule. However, the Norwegian government then announced that due to international pressure (a large proportion of which was generated by WWF's efforts) from the public and the media, it would drop the number of animals it was planning to kill from 20 to 9. Although this was initially encouraging, an advisory panel of Swedish and Norwegian scientists have concluded that a critical minimum of 500 wolves is needed for the short-term conservation of the Scandinavian wolf population.

As you may now be aware, WWF Norway applied for a court order to delay the wolf hunt in Southern Scandinavia. On Friday 16th February, it was announced that this bid was unsuccessful. The first wolf to be killed under this programme was a one year old female from the Atndal pack, a pack that was reported to have only 8 members. The female was killed on Saturday 19th February.

Having ventured down every possible legal avenue to prevent the hunt, WWF is deeply disappointed at the Norwegian court's decision to allow the hunt to go ahead. WWF feel that the Norwegian government pressed ahead with the hunt in the face of international protest, and in spite of their agreement on wolf management with Sweden. However WWF are pleased with the strong public reaction in response to the Norwegian governments plan and feel that this may be crucial in deterring the Norwegian government from repeating such a proposal in the future.

WWF has been promoting the anti-cull message for many months now, and were the first organisation to send a team to Norway to film the wolves there. I appreciate that you may wish to register your protest against this action, and there are a number of sites on the internet where you can do this. However WWF feels that the most effective way of helping to prevent the cull, is to support our general conservation work, which includes the work we are doing in Norway, concerning the government's plans.

I hope you find the above information helpful. I have sent some information by post about WWF's work to protect wolves in Romania, and other European carnivores, which I hope you find interesting. If you have any queries, would like to make a donation, or if I can be of any further assistance, please do contact me. My direct line is (+44) 01483 412343.