Grip 1

Wolf Woes

Over Spring Break, I howled with the wolves. Buried in the Rockies about forty-five

minutes away from Colorado Springs in a small town called Divide, the Colorado Wolf and

Wildlife Center offers educational tours to the public. To get there, one must navigate the

hairpin turns of the mountain pass, and even late into March, contend with snowy roads. For

fifteen dollars a person, anyone can see majestic wolves in person and learn about the horrifying

treatment the Canis lupus species receives in America. Inside the main building, I browsed a gift

shop, bursting with stuffed animals, calendars, and wolf-themed jewelry. A couple of dogs

milled about, sniffing peoples feet, nudging their legs, and amusing the children.

After a couple minutes of exploring the shop, Casey, our tour guide, called us to come

over, like a wolf mom gathering her pups. She warned us that although most of the tour would

focus on the great qualities of wolves, they served the public as an educational facility, and

education includes learning of the harsh reality of the existence of wolves in America.

Casey gestured to a map on the wall that depicted the current range of wolves on the

North American continent. A few patches of color sparsely dotted the map. She flipped over the

map, and on the other side, areas of blue, green, and red covered the entire continent. Casey

explained that this second map depicted the range of the three original species of wolves, before

European settlers inundated the space. According to the U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service,

Historically[i]n North America, gray wolves once ranged from coast to coast, and from

Canada to Mexico. Another of the three original species, the Mexican Grey Wolf, has only fifty

individuals left living, according to Casey.

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Wolf hunting has caused the tragic decline of the Canis lupus species. Below the surface

of these practices, cultural expectations and beliefs about wolves encourage fear and hatred of

the animals. In English, many colloquial expressions breed these negative feelings surrounding

wolves. These sayings include, Wolf in sheeps clothing, Ravenously hungry, wolf ones

food, Big bad wolf, Cry wolf, and Throw somebody to the wolves (Hunt 2). In addition

to these expressions, American children hear the stories of Little Red Riding Hood and the Three

Little Pigs. Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm write,

Oh, grandmother, what big hands you have.

All the better to grab you with!

Oh, grandmother, what a horribly big mouth you have.

All the better to eat you with! And with that he jumped out of bed, jumped on

top of poor Little Red Cap, and ate her up.

In this tale, the wolf deceives an innocent little girl and proceeds to eat her all up the ultimate

act of aggression. No wonder a large portion of the American public fears and reviles wolves.

Casey also explained that part of the population decrease is caused by farmers and their

influence on public policy. Farmers rely on the trope of the big bad wolf in their cases against

wolves: Ranchers bemoan wolf predation on their livestock and hunters complain about reduced

elk and deer herds where wolves roam the landscape. These constituencies often conjure stories

about wolves' savagery and propagate mythic tales of their unlimited appetites (Keefover and

Salvo). According to an article called Man Versus Wild,

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Montana rancher Jerry Dickinson lost at least three calves, valued at $2,400, to

the Horse Creek wolf pack before wildlife officials took action. Dickinson doesn't

expect that will be the end of it, though. Eventually another bunch of wolves will

move in there, and we'll get the same problem all over, he says. (7)

Later in the same article, the author asserts that wildlife officials remain always ready to pull

the trigger when packs pose problems. Representatives from Michigan and Wisconsin asked

for permission in 2010 to cut the wolf population by 10 percent annually after pressure from

farmers (Man vs. Wild). Data collected by the National Agricultural Statistics Service, a

branch of the USDA, indicates that officials overstate the number of cattle deaths caused by

wolves. Of 94 million head of cattle lost to unintended deaths in the agricultural business, wolf

kills only accounted for .2%, the second smallest percentage. Weather, poisoning, and domestic

dogs all rank above wolves as causes of cattle death (Livestock Losses).

Throughout American history, methods of killing wolves have bordered on barbaric.

Below the maps Casey showed us, graphic pictures of dead wolves covered a board. She

described for us the chilling practice of aerial hunting accounts for many wolf kills. In Alaska

the issue split the public in the late 2000s. Although most hunters value the concept of the fair

chase, Alaskan officials asserted that their current aerial hunting program is not hunting at all

but constitutes legitimate wildlife management, a statement that drew criticism from the

scientific community (Defenders). Between 2003 and 2008, aerial hunters killed over 1,000

wolves in Alaska (Purohit). Many states, including Wyoming and Idaho, announced plans to

follow in Alaskas footsteps. A February 2016 press release from the Center for Biological

Diversity argues that Idaho officials have been overestimating wolf populations in an attempt to

justify continued aerial hunting practices. The legislature requests another $400,000 to kill
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wolves for the 2016-2017 fiscal year. The Idaho Wolf Depredation Control Board seeks to

reduce the number of wolves in the state to 150 individuals by 2019. In 2015, the group killed

72 wolves, at a cost of $7,000 per wolf (Santarsiere).

Wolves provide humans and nature with many benefits benefits we do not often

acknowledge. Wolf Wars exposes the damage wolf hunting does to research efforts and

makes the case for the wolves important ecological role. Wendy Keefover and Mark Salvo

write, The presence of wolves affects entire ecosystems, from beetles to bears. Because

wolves often target weak individuals with sicknesses or injuries, they increase the overall health

of species. Wolves prey on animals such as elk and coyotes, which in turn benefits a whole host

of other species, including beavers, birds, and moose. Especially in the face of climate change, it

is difficult to overstate the importance of wolves in our ecosystems. Wolves presence buffers

the effects of global warming by making carrion available year-round for scavengers such as

grizzly bears and golden and bald eagles (Keefover and Salvo). Climate change has wreaked

havoc on white pine bark, a critical food source for grizzly bears. With food disappearing

from the proverbial plate, grizzly bears rely more and more on wolves (Keefover and Salvo).

Considering the hunting history in the United States and the important role wolves have

in the ongoing ecological drama, wolf lovers everywhere are doing what they can to save the

natural beauties. In 1995, officials restored wolves to the Northern Rockies. There they

transplanted a group of Canadian wolves, which became a pack known as the Druids. At the

peak of the Druids, 37 individual wolves lived together in the pack (Keefover and Salvo). Two

other packs grew from the Druids, including the Cottonwood and Slough Creek packs. These

wolves and others maintain complex social networks across their landscape, and work as a unit

to survive (Keefover and Salvo).

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Casey explained to us that the lighter wolf is older than and acts like a parent to the darker and younger one, and that

the younger one often eats after the lighter one for this reason. This behavior is part of the social network that

wolves create.

In states that do not support the reintroduction of wolves into nature, many wolf

sanctuaries and educational facilities have sprung up. The Colorado Wolf and Wildlife Center is

one of these. They provide wolves and wolf dogs with large expanses of wooded terrain to play

and socialize like their wild counterparts. The center also takes care to craft wolf families that

have safe and healthy social dynamics. In order to create a lifestyle that closely replicates that of

wolves in the wild, the owner of the facility has created a feeding schedule that provides fresh

meat to the animals five days of the week, keeping two days for fasting. Casey explained that

wolves living in nature would likely not eat every day, so the wolves at their facility do not eat

on Thursdays and Sundays. Throughout the tour, Casey told us the personal histories of each of

the wolves. The owner of the center purchased one of the wolves from a photo farm that had

planned to put the wolf down because of an eye condition that made her less than ideal for

photographs. Photo farms starve their wolves and keep them in cramped areas. Casey warned us

that most of the calendars we see for sale with pictures of wolves on them buy the photographs
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from these farms. She advised us to buy only calendars or mugs with the National Geographic

stamp on them or the stamp of educational centers like their own.

The last wolf we met on the tour, a beautiful off-white creature with eyes that seemed to

squint in a smile, approached the fence cautiously. Shunka, Casey told us, used to be married to

another wolf who passed away recently. When he arrived at the shelter, no one could pet him

except for the owner of the facility. Since that time and maybe because he has been widowed,

Shunka appreciates the human touch and even participates in their Walk on the Wild Side

tours during which visitors can take the wolves on leash walks. So few people inhabit Divide,

Colorado, home of the Colorado Wolf and Wildlife Center, that they do not elect a human

mayor. Instead the animal and wildlife centers in the town each nominate one of their nonhuman

friends for mayor. Visitors can vote for their favorite by making monetary donations that

support the organizations. Shunka represents the Colorado Wolf and Wildlife Center this year,

and I had the pleasure of casting my vote for him.

My trip to the Colorado Wolf and Wildlife Center opened my eyes to the harsh realities

that wolves in America have to deal with. After hearing such shocking statistics and learning

about tragic wolf hunting practices that remain legal in the United States, I felt compelled to

continue my research and share it with an audience. Even that proved to be a challenge, since

there is a surprising lack of scholarship dealing with wolves. Although I scoured the database

for hours, I could not find any articles that exposed the abuses that wolves suffer at photo farms.

Wolves have an unfortunate and unwarranted reputation as vicious beasts, but after spending an

snowy afternoon watching them play like families and munch on fresh meat, I know that they are

majestic creatures that deserve love and protection.

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Shunka: Divide, Colorado mayoral hopeful.

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Works Cited

"Defenders Hails Introduction of Bill to End Aerial Hunting of Wolves and Bears in Alaska." PR

NewswireSep 25 2007. ProQuest. Web. 10 Apr. 2016 .

"Grey Wolf: Canis Lupus." South Dakota Field Office. U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service, 9 Sept.

2013. Web. 7 Apr. 2016.

Grimm, Wilhelm. "Little Red Riding Hood." Little Red Cap. By Jacob Grimm. N.p.: n.p., n.d. N.

pag. Little Red Riding Hood. University of Pittsburgh, 2015. Web. 10 Apr. 2016.

Hunt, David. "The Face Of The Wolf Is Blessed, Or Is It? Diverging Perceptions Of The

Wolf." Folklore 119.3 (2008): 319-334.Academic Search Elite. Web. 10 Apr. 2016.

Keefover, Wendy, and Mark Salvo. "Wolf Wars." Earth First! Journal 32.1 (2012):

11. ELibrary Academic/Public Library [ProQuest]. Web. 10 Apr. 2016.

"Man Versus Wild." Current Events 110.4 (2010): 7. MAS Ultra - School Edition. Web. 10 Apr.

2016.

"Livestock Losses." WildEarth Guardians. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 Apr. 2016.

Purohit, Sandra. "Protecting Fish and Wildlife Habitats." Social Marketing to Protect the

Environment: What Works (2009): 109-32. Protect America's Wildlife (PAW) Act.

Defenders of Wildlife, Apr. 2009. Web. 10 Apr. 2016.

Santarsiere, Andrea. "Idaho to Renew Aerial Wolf Slaughter." Idaho to Renew Aerial Wolf

Slaughter. N.p., 8 Feb. 2016. Web. 10 Apr. 2016.