A Blood Thirsty Past and Hopes for a Wolf Friendly Future

Wolves are shrouded in mystery and we humans tend to fear the unknown. We stereotype things that are different from us before we get the chance to try to really understand what we don't know. I am not the only one with this different opinion on wolves. In Farley Mowat's essay "Never Cry Wolf," Mowat talks about how he studied wolves and was surprised that everything that he had been convinced to believe his whole life was nothing but lies. He realized that all the stereotypes of the "big bad wolf" were inaccurate. Mowat wants to tell the reader the truth about wolves. Similarly, Rick Bass discusses the stereotypes of wolves and how it has affected their population and our humanity in the essay "The Nine Mile Wolves". Bass believes that humans can and need to change these stereotypes so that wolves can live in peace among humans. Are past with wolves was bloody and cruel, and Bass believes and hopes that we can change. I also believe that wolves are inaccurately stereotyped and that these stereotypes have very negative effects on both human society and wolf society. I also would like to believe that we can change from being violent wolf killers to living in harmony with the wolves.

We've all heard the tale of "Little Red Riding Hood" and how the big bad wolf ate her and her poor, old grandma. Although society has become convinced that wolves are evil, this story just isn't true. It's no more realistic than a fairy god mother turning mice into horses and a pumpkin into a carriage. It is just another fairy tale that obviously doesn't apply to real life. Wolves don't really eat children and their grandmas for fun. They are calm and docile creatures, as Mowat discovered during his research with wolves. He encountered them on several different occasions, and even appeared as a threat to their pups, and they still did attack him. Mowat says: "Inescapably, the realization was being bourne in upon my preconditioned mind that the centuries-old and universally accepted human concept of wolf character was a palpable lie." He comes to this conclusion after having several close encounters with the wolves. These encounters left him confused and slightly disappointed. Knowledge that the wolves weren't really dangerous creatures took the excitement out of his experiment.

The realization that the wolves were not what he had been told upset Mowat at first. He didn't want to believe it for several reasons. He believed that going against this belief was scientific treason, and it took away the dangerous aspect of his research. Although he was reluctant, Mowat got rid of his preconceived ideas of wolves and returned to them with an open mind. This is something that I believe all humans should do.

Wolves are very similar to humans. They are curious creatures and they like to travel and explore new lands, very much like the early pilgrims of our kind. In a way they have their own government, jus tlike we do. They are wise and strong, and brave yet careful. We have been convinced that wolves are evil because of man's own selfish needs. If a wolf slips and eats a cow because we destroyed the habitat of the animals that they usually eat, it is somehow the wolves fault. We pin the blame on them rather than where the blame really lies: on mankind. Sometimes I think that we forget that humans are animals too. We seem to be very into the idea that we are superior and can take whatever we want. If we don't need something or it inconveniences us in any way, we do away with it. For some reason we are convinced that we are supreme and have more rights than all of the other animals. This is a very narrow minded line of thought. We think wolves are barbaric, but they are no different than us. When they kill an animal for food it is no different than when we kill animals for food, except we actually have a choice on the matter.

Everything comes with a price and killing wolves is no different. For one thing, it took a lot out of us to chase all the wolves out of the country, even though we did it in totally barbaric ways like feeding them glass. We have even made it a sport to shoot wolves from a helicopter, even though wolves pose no real threat to us. Why is it so barbaric to drown and kill kittens and puppies, yet it's perfectly okay to kill innocent wolves? Killing wolves disrupted the food change, causing certain animals to become overpopulated. Overpopulation leads to starvation for the animals. Major disruptions in the food chain can cause drastic effects for our ecosystem. That is why we have protection for endangered species. Wolves are no different.

In his essay, bass says that wolves are slowly and carefully returning, almost as if they want to see if we humans can change from our old self centered ways. Scientists believe that the only reason wolves are returning is because of the abundance of food for him, but perhaps there are other reasons. Things like their strong curiosity, will to travel, and territorial mindsets could also be a part of their return. They are slowly and gradually trickling back into America. Their instincts say that this is a very dangerous place, due to our past treatment of wolves. Our past was bloody and violent. The wolves have every reason to fear returning. The question is have we Americans changed or are we still the cruel humans that we were when we chased the wolves out of our country? Is it still the American way to eliminate that which we do not understand or have we changed?

essays mentioned:
"The Ninemile Wolves" by Rick Bass
"Never Cry Wolf" by Farley Mowat