“All My Relatives,” and What Is Relative, About Wolves
Guess what! Here is yet another blog post about Wolves. Imagine that!
The reasons that I write about Wolves are many. But today, in particular, I'm motivated by the fact that there have recently been several bills introduced in the State Legislature of Montana (where I live) and other Western states that speak of each state's ongoing desire to basically wipe out entire Wolf populations in the Rocky Mountain West.
Some of the reasoning behind these bills is inspired by a legitimate desire by farmers and ranchers to protect their livestock and livelihoods (even though livestock losses to Wolves is minimal, and compensation is available, and provided). And some of the "reasoning" is based in absolutely ludicrous and unfounded opinions and, well, outright fears (claiming that the Wolves here now, which are descended from the original individuals brought from Canada during reintroduction 30 years ago, have "bigger teeth and mouths" than the Wolves which lived here historically).
Oh yeah — and the belief that Wolves will routinely kill and eat people (categorically false).
Why the Hate?
Other reasons behind some of these bills is that their sponsors (and by extension, their constituents) just plain hate Wolves.
This is a behavior characteristic that I've never understood. Where does this hatred come from?
When I ask the haters this question, the answers range from:
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"Wolves eat children,"
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"Wolves kill for sport,"
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"Wolves are killing all my Elk,"
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"Wolves start eating their prey before it's dead,"
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"I don't know, I just hate 'em."
Okay.
For the record:
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Wolves do not eat children. Show me the data to support your assertion that they do. (The Wolf MAY have eaten Gramma, but if I remember right, Little Red Riding Hood survived.)
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Wolves do not kill for sport. They do not have or understand the concept of "sport" in their intellectual/psychological/spiritual makeup. "Sport" is a human thing — and by the way, humans kill for less.
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Wolves are not killing all your Elk. First of all, sorry, but the Elk don't belong to you. They belong to Creator. And again, show me the data (every Wildlife biologist I've spoken with says this is not true). I've hunted Elk myself — never had a problem finding one to harvest. And if you like Elk — the way they are, the way they look, the way they can elude you and disappear in the blink of an eye (especially in thick timber), the way they taste? — thank Wolves. Over countless millennia of the prey/predator relationship between Elk and Wolves, Wolves have helped them evolve into the animal we know and love today.
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Wolves DO sometimes start eating their prey before it's dead. I don't see this as a reason to hate them, though. People kill things without even eating them at all — things like Wolves.
Look, Wolves have to eat. The only "tools" that they have for procuring their food is their teeth, and those of their fellow pack members. African lions will start eating their prey before it's dead, too — do we hate THEM for that? Bears are known for this behavior as well. Venus flytraps, Pitcher plants, and other carnivorous plants do the same.
"I don't know, I just hate them."
I don't even know how to reply to this "reason" for hating Wolves, except to suggest that you seek professional help.
Through the Lens – Not Through a Glass, Darkly
None of us see the world as it truly is (as Creator sees it, that is).
People are complex. We all filter what we see through the lenses of our frame of reference, our experiences, our opinions, our attitudes, our religious beliefs — even through the news that we watch (unfortunately).
Not that you asked for it, but I'd like to share with you how I personally and culturally "see" Wolves. For those that hate, dislike, or otherwise carry a hefty amount of disdain for Wolves, I'm not trying to change your opinions or attitudes. You are completely entitled to your feelings and beliefs about Wolves — dark and twisted as they may be.
Last Summer I offered presentations in Yellowstone Park about Wolves to tour groups that included people from all over the country, and the world (I mentioned this in the blog that I wrote back in January). The following is an abbreviated version of what I offered in my presentations, to share some of my own personal/cultural beliefs and understandings of Wolves.
Present, in the Presence
I'm guessing that many of you out there grew up hearing the same fairy tales (i.e., "horror stories") that I did.
Little Red Riding Hood. The Three Little Pigs.
The "Big Bad Wolf," and "my what big teeth you have, Gramma!" and all that "huffing and puffing." As far as I'm concerned, those three little pigs deserved to have their houses blown down. They had no right building their trophy homes in Wolf's native homeland in the first place!
I probably should've had nightmares about Wolves after hearing all these stories, but I didn't.
In MY dreams I was walking with them, talking with them, running and playing and hunting with them. Howling with them.
In my dreams, their tracks were like prayers left in the snow for me to follow — not trample.
Because of my obsession with them, my Mom wondered if HER child had been switched at birth, and SHE got the kid whose real parents were Wolves.
I loved to draw as a kid, and I often drew the Wolves in my dreams.
I took my sketchbooks out into the hills and forests and along the lakes where I lived, hoping that I'd find Wolves. While I waited for them to show up and pose for me, I drew everything and anything that would sit still long enough for me to draw it. Drawing helped me make sense of the world — drawing in NATURE made me fall in love with the world.
As I grew older, my passion for knowing and understanding the Natural World — and of Wolves in particular — took hold of my heart and soul.
And the more I learned about our Indigenous relationship with the Wild and with Wildlife, the more I knew I would be a Wolf when I grew up.
The Wolf in Us All
I've been told that "primitive" hunters would "shadow" Wolf packs as they hunted. I can see Wolves shadowing human hunters too, as humans developed better weapons and became more successful hunters. I believe that, as our ancient relationship matured, we and Wolves hunted cooperatively (and those Wolves eventually became our dogs).
In my imagination, I see Wolves and early humans even feeding at the same kills — howling our success, feeding our growing families, sharing stories, wisdom, ceremony — moving with a common understanding of, and reverence for, what it means to walk in balance on this good Earth.
In one way or another, Wolves "fed" us humans. The fact that us humans are here today is due in no small part to our earliest observations of Wolves — what we learned FROM Wolves, not just ABOUT Wolves:
- cooperative hunting strategies learned by watching Wolves hunt
- establishing clan and family relationships based upon watching Wolf packs
- how members related to each other, strengthening family bonds
- securing and defending territories for gathering sustenance
And have you ever watched how pack members play with each other?
The joy that they exhibit in doing so?
The way that the aunties and uncles babysit and mentor the young ones?
The way they express love for each other?
The way they grieve the loss of pack members?
I have.
It’s been said that Wolves are the animals most like humans.
I believe that humans are the animals most like Wolves.
All Our Relatives (Again!)
Over time, more and more people are beginning to "catch on" to this ancient Indigenous concept:
"We are all related."
This is an understanding, a knowing, that all life on this planet, in the universe, is interconnected — and interdependent.
What happens to one species has an effect on ALL.
And if we want our grandchildren and great grandchildren to be able to wander in, and to hunt in, and to pray in, and to experience whole, healthy, viable, thriving, WILD lands, we must protect Wolves and ensure that they have a future. Here in the West, especially.
They keep the balance.
And they need our help.
When you think about it, we owe it to them.
Like it or not, whether you love them or hate them, we are related to them.
Because like Wolves, you are a child of the Universe, no less than the trees and the...
(oh sorry, I was starting to get all Desiderata on you...)
It is my hope that we can quit huffing and puffing and trying to blow everything down in our headlong rush to subdue and conquer and dominate and deplete the Earth.
We need to remember and call upon our ancient voices.
Remember our first songs, taught to us by Wolves, for those songs hold the notes of our survival, and the guidance to help us preserve the Wild for the seventh generation to come.
Those songs speak of leaving tracks in the snow — prayers — for our descendants to follow.
