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"There are some who can live without wild things and some who
cannot. These essays are the delights and dilemmas of one who
cannot," Aldo Leopold, foreword to A Sand County Almanac.
Fifty-seven years after the founding father of wildlife conservation
compiled this groundbreaking collection, his words continue to
inspire. On the eve of the Defenders of Wildlife's 10th annual Wolf
Awareness Week, North America's original big dog is struggling to
make a comeback. Though I have never seen a wolf myself, I am truly
elated to know that packs of these wild predators are slowly but
surely returning.
Next to humans, wolves were once the most widely distributed mammal
on earth. They form tight emotional bonds with other members of
their family and have a social structure closer to humans' than
that of many primates. Wolves can be tough; packs have rigid
hierarchies and often kill strangers who trespass in their territory.
But they have also been known to adopt and nurture the young of
others. Efficient hunters, wolves can sprint up to 35 miles per
hour while chasing prey. Highly intelligent team players, a group
of wolves can take down a moose ten times their size.
Wolves prey primarily on large, hoofed mammals such as white-tailed
deer, moose, elk, and caribou. On average, they kill the equivalent
of 15 to 20 deer per wolf each year. They are generous with their
spoils. After "wolfing" their own share, they are often
too stuffed to bother with other scavengers including coyotes,
eagles and ravens that scrap for the leftovers.
But wait, you say, aren't wolves dangerous? Doesn't the "Big
Bad Wolf" come huffing, puffing, and blowing down the homes
of cute little pigs and chasing after innocent young girls in scarlet
bonnets?
It's true that wolves, like bears and mountain lions, are wild,
potentially dangerous animals that are best kept at a distance.
It's also true that you stand a better chance of getting hit by a
meteorite than killed by a wolf. Although wolves are large, powerful
animals, they don't seem to bother humans. Wolf attacks do occur,
however, they are usually by wolves that have become habituated to
humans. Moreover, in the last 100 years, not a single person in
North America has been killed by a wolf. By comparison, more than
20 people are killed and 3 million attacked each year by man's best
friend, the domestic dog.
Some speculate that wolves avoid humans because we walk on two feet
while their natural prey walk on all fours. Others believe that
thousands of years of intense persecution have taught the species to
fear us. Whatever the cause, wolves are shy animals that are rarely
seen, even if you are deliberately trying.
For those seeking wolves, and subsequently supporting a growing
multi-million dollar ecotourism industry, the odds may be improving.
In the 1960s, wolves had been shot, poisoned, and trapped to near
extinction across our country's lower 48 states. The use of bounties
for wolves, even in national parks and refuges, left less than 1000
individuals taking cover in the northernmost forests of Minnesota.
Reintroduction programs, which started ten years ago, and natural
dispersion across the Canadian border, have produced new territories
in recent years that have exceeded biologists expectations. There are
now nearly 5000 gray wolves spread across eight central and western
states. Beginning in 1998, biologists started to reintroduce another
species of wolf, the Mexican wolf, to Arizona and New Mexico. This
past year, wolf conservationists in Colorado began to push for their
own gray wolf reintroduction program. Though Colorado is a state with
a rich ranching tradition, 70 percent of those polled supported the
measure.
Such support in Colorado shouldn't come as a surprise. Wolves that
have repopulated other areas haven't been as big a problem for
ranchers as they once anticipated. A recent study in Minnesota found
that only about one out of every 400 sheep and one in 6000 cows in
wolf country are lost to wolves each year. When wolves do take
livestock, ranchers can be reimbursed either through state funds
or money set aside by conservation groups. Further, wolves that
become habituated to feeding on livestock are killed. Some farmers
even welcome the return of wolves as their presence reduces deer
herds that feed on corn and oats.
Still, many hunters are vehemently opposed to the predator's comeback.
Two years ago, Alaska reversed a 30-year ban on aerial wolf
"control", a move that could have devastating consequences
for the state's roughly 8,000 wolves. In nearly 20,000 square miles
of the state, it is now legal for private citizens to shoot wolves
from airplanes and helicopters. In one region the limit has recently
increased from 10 wolves a year to 10 wolves a day. The new
regulations call for an 80 percent reduction in wolf numbers to
artificially boost moose populations for sport hunting. A similar
belief that wolves and game animals cannot coexist is shared by a
hunters' advocacy organization called the Abundant Wildlife Society
of North America. The South Dakota based group sells bumper stickers
on its website that read, "Save Hunting Rights, Kill a
wolf".
Looking back on the last ten years of wolf reintroductions, I think
the greatest success hasn't been the return of Canis lupus. Instead,
it has been the complete transformation of the ecosystems in which
it now thrives. No place is this more visible than the Lamar Valley
of Yellowstone National Park, an ecosystem now known as North
America's Serengeti. Prior to the wolf's reintroduction in 1995,
vast herds of elk leisurely grazed their way through the range's
aspen forests, cottonwood stands, and shallow marshlands. When
wolves were reintroduced, the elk immediately had to be more
careful. They started grazing in more open areas to avoid surprise
attacks. The shift in feeding sites quickly began to change the
landscape. Willow shoots and cottonwood trees began to grow thicker
and taller wherever the wolves hunted. More astonishingly, aspen
trees, which essentially stopped regenerating in the region when
wolves were extirpated 70 years ago, immediately began to return.
As the trees came back, so did the beavers. In less than a decade,
their colonies in the valley increased from one to eight. Their
dams in turn are creating pools rich in aquatic life which will
support a host of larger animals including otters, mink and even
moose. While elk can no longer spend as much time in the valley's
lush floor, their numbers are only slightly down. Their fitness,
however, has increased as wolf packs trim sick and older individuals
from their ranks.
The reintroduction of wolves in Yellowstone has thus come full
circle in reinstating the balance of an ecosystem. The approach
is catching on. Across the Atlantic, Paul Lister, a Scottish
businessman, recently announced an ambitious ecological restoration
plan in his native Highlands. Specifically, he hopes to reintroduce
wolves to an enclosed 23,000-acre former hunting estate. If successful,
Lister's project will host the first semi-wild wolves on the British
Isles in more than 300 years.
Here in the United States, a federal court ruling recently paved
the way for a wolf reintroduction program in the north-eastern
United States, a region of the country I now call home. I may
never have the good fortune of seeing a pack run through the
woods. Yet, during the 10th Annual Wolf Awareness Week, just
knowing these "wild things" are returning will make me
howl with delight.
Phil McKenna - 2005
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