Educated by Wolves
Wolves seem to know more about us than we do about them
by GREG GORDON
Carter Niemeyer raises a shotgun to his shoulder and squeezes the trigger. An instant later, a rubber bullet bounces off a cardboard target. Niemeyer,
Idahoýs coordinator for wolf recovery, is demonstrating non-lethal means
of stopping wolves from preying on livestock. His audience is 200 Westerners
at a meeting of the North American Interagency Wolf Conference.
”
Does it work if you donýt hit the wolf?” asks a woman.
After a long pause, Niemeyer says, “Well, it works a lot better if you
do hit the wolf.”
Most people on the front lawn of Chico Hot Springs Resort in Montanaýs Paradise Valley laugh. In this gathering of wildlife biologists, wolf advocates,
government staffers and a few ranchers, humor that aims at the Westýs
most controversial wildlife subject — bringing back wolves– is well received.
The audience reserves its greatest laughter for Ed Bangsý tongue-in-cheek statement: “Politics donýt interfere with the Fish and Wildlife
Service; weýre strictly scientists.”
Although this is a scientific conference, there is widespread agreement about
the primacy of politics when it comes to wolves. Does any other animal generate
such visceral response in people?
Ranchers in attendance shake their heads and grumble at the data that show
only .6 percent of Idahoýs cattle losses are due to wolves. They also
dispute biologist Joe Fontaineýs statement that “ungulate herds
are not threatened by wolves in Montana.” Meanwhile, wolf advocates cringe
at the photos from Alberta, Canada, showing wolves hunted and trapped; biologists quibble over methodology.
”
Wolves and wolf management have nothing to do with reality,” says Bangs. “Itýs
not about the animal; it has to do with people and the strong symbolism that
wolves represent.”
Ethicist Bill Lynn points out that, “Wolves are the root and fruit of
our moral responsibilities. They are the root because if we can learn to live
with large carnivores, we will have gone a long ways to a sustainable existence.
And they are the fruit, or the beneficiary, of our taking a serious moral responsibility
toward wildlife.”
With 760 wolves in the Northern Rockies, Ed Bangs tells the group that wolf
recovery is a success: “Wolves are back and here to stay.” But he
adds, “Weýve had all the easy wolves weýre going to have.
The wolf population of Idaho, Wyoming and Montana is not going to exceed 1,000
wolves; the West just isnýt that wild anymore.”
Bangs says heýs ready to turn wolf management over to the states, which
means wolves will be hunted. “Thereýs no reason wolf harvest shouldnýt
be a part of a state management program,” he says.
Others disagree. Jim Pissot of Defenders of Wildlife Canada fears that state
management might look a lot like wolf conservationý in Alberta, where
there are no restrictions on trapping, no bag limit, no license required and
no limit on hunting from September through June. This has resulted in an 80
percent decline in wolves in southwest Alberta, he says, now, less than 30
animals remain.
At the dayýs end, Kent Weber, director of the captive-wolf facility,
Mission Wolf, invites some of us over to his bus. “When you go in, he
cautions, “kneel down and let the wolf come to you. Look them in the eyes.
Theyýll want to lick your teeth.
Suddenly a bolt a fear shoots through me. As we enter the bus and walk into
the cage, intense yellow eyes survey us. The wolves approach cautiously and
lick our faces. Satisfied with greeting us in the wolf manner, they crawl
back into their bunk and close their eyes.
With a large group, Weber tells us, the wolves are brought out of the bus
and trotted around the circle of people.
“They ignore everyone for the most
part, but will usually pick out one person and focus on them,” he says.
When I ask about the person they pick out, he says itýs usually someone whoýs fighting some illness or under emotional stress.
“Once (a
female wolf called) Rami went right to this guy,” Weber recalls. “I
asked him if heýd ever seen her before. He said five years ago she picked
him out, and it totally changed his life.” Weber says another time a wolf
went up to a woman who was undergoing treatment for breast cancer; the wolf
nudged the woman in the chest, gently.
Then thereýs an encounter of a different sort. Weber says,”We
brought Rami into a meeting, and she went right up to the most adamant wolf-hater
and
peed on his leg.”
This all makes me think that wolves know more about
us than we do about them.