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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
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
All the better to eat you with! And with that he jumped out of bed, jumped on
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
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).
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
Grip 4
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
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
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
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,
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
Works Cited
"Defenders Hails Introduction of Bill to End Aerial Hunting of Wolves and Bears in Alaska." PR
"Grey Wolf: Canis Lupus." South Dakota Field Office. U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service, 9 Sept.
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):
"Man Versus Wild." Current Events 110.4 (2010): 7. MAS Ultra - School Edition. 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.
Santarsiere, Andrea. "Idaho to Renew Aerial Wolf Slaughter." Idaho to Renew Aerial Wolf