WOLVES

The Myths, The Reality

By Hugh Jones

Why this fascination with an animal most of us have never seen, and never will, in the wild? Is it because the wolf inhabits such a large part of our imaginations?

We know the Big Bad Wolf of fairy tales--a bloodthirsty beast lurking in the dark, cunning, evil, and worse, a man-eater. Maybe that’s part of it, stories fed to us when we were impressionable children. You can be a wolf in sheep’s clothing or the amorous type with women, not complimentary terms. Then there’s the werewolf. Who wouldn’t shrink from that specter? In early Europe, wolves symbolized the devil. Even the dictionary’s definition includes: predatory, rapacious (taking by force, plundering, greedy, ravenous) and fierce. Feared and/or hated by many, the wolf was relentlessly hunted through the ages and brought to the brink of extinction.

The truth: these distant relatives of that adoring pet curled at your feet want nothing to do with us. They’re shy and afraid of humans. Who can blame them? And we’re not on their menu. Regardless, you don’t have to worry about hearing that haunting howl. Wolves once ranged across North America. The lower 48 is not and never again will be a haven. Now, they’re in northern Minnesota, Wisconsin, Montana, on into Canada and Alaska; though efforts are underway to reintroduce them in places like Yellowstone National Park.

The typical stereotype: I had the TV going while working on this article, and I saw a car commercial. It showed a lone, frightened hiker in the woods, surrounded by a pack of snarling, menacing wolves. The car drives by, and a kid tosses the hiker a bag of dog bones. Big misconceptions here: one, if the hiker is there, not likely the wolves will be. Two, the bag of bones won’t help. Wolves don’t do dog food.

The facts: they all belong to the same family, your adoring pet, wolves, coyotes, foxes and jackals--the canids. Let’s look at the largest and best known member, canis lupus, the gray wolf.

There’s actually a lot to admire in an animal so well designed for its purpose. Native Americans, unaffected by the European dread, have long been admirers. Wolves live and hunt in family groups called packs, consisting of up to 12 members. At the head of the group, an alpha pair keeps order and usually does the breeding. But all the adults help in caring for the young. They’re intelligent and very social: loyal, playful and affectionate with each other.

A pack’s range can extend 100 miles. But covering it is no problem for the wolf, with its lean muscular build, long legs and exceptional endurance. It can keep up a pursuit for hours, through water, snow, all manner of terrain. It can trot at 10 m.p.h. forever and top out at about 45 m.p.h. Speed, stamina and strategy combine with keen senses of smell, sight and hearing to make a highly skilled hunter.

The primary target: large game from the deer family, though wolves also eat smaller animals. With the prey in sight, the wolves spread out, flanking it. While some approach from the rear, the attack will come from the front. And when those long, sharp canines lock on, powerful jaws exert 1500 pounds of pressure per square inch--twice that of a German Shepherd.

For perspective on the wolf, the PetGazette returned to Bob Jenni’s Nature Center in Edmond. Jenni, the subject of a feature last year, is a naturalist and wildlife rehabilitator. He has worked in zoos and been a television personality, teaching--as he still does--about wildlife. In our first visit, several things were apparent: he knows something about most every kind of animal; he has some interesting views on conservation; and he has wolves--a Mackensee Mountain wolf and an Alaskan Mountain wolf. He also made a remark that applies to this article: “When we fear something, we try to destroy it.”

With wolves, there’s more to it--economic and practical considerations. “They want what we want,” says Jenni, “and that leads to conflict.”

What they often want is our livestock. Ranchers have legitimate concerns about wolves raiding their herds. Still, don’t wolves have a place in nature? Yes, but where? We, the ultimate predators, have chewed up so much of their habitat. Humans, sigh, being humans, we step back from the brink and say, wait, maybe we were wrong. We don’t have to wreck this to save that. Thus, the wolf recovery efforts, but only in select locations. And the wolf population is stable up north.

“Function dictates design,” says Jenni. “But the wolf has some characteristics that helped lead to its demise. Its behavior patterns don’t include man or his dwellings or way of life. Coyotes, for instance, are better at adapting. They can live just behind your back yard, come in and help themselves to the garbage can or dog bowl, and you may not even know it. They’ve learned to live adjacent to the human population. They’re comfortable in a human environment. Wolves are not.”

So the wolves become ever more remote.

“They’re large animals that require a large environment and a lot of food,” says Jenni. “Six to eight pounds a day isn’t out of the ordinary for a full grown male. And that isn’t a banquet, just a sustaining diet. Now, say you have a pack of eight individuals. That’s 48 pounds a day. They have to kill a pretty good-sized animal. As the predator, which would you choose, a fleet-footed deer or the slow fat cow over there?”

For those reasons, Jenni says wolves should never be released in Oklahoma.

“How could we, knowing the effect it would have on the cattle, sheep, pigs, animals they can take with the least amount of effort. Remember, the primary design-function of the predator is disease control. It takes the easy ones first. And why is one easier than another? Because something’s wrong that slows it down--old age, parasites or illness. This provides the predator with food while enhancing the welfare of those preyed upon. That’s the benefit of the predator. The deer population will be stronger and healthier. Here, however, the impact would be on the domestic population, not the wild one.”

Jenni says we must consider all elements of the environment. There are too many of us, taking up too much space, raising too many animals to feed us, to leave much room for the wolf.

“That’s why these recovery programs may, in one sense, be fanciful thinking,” he says. “Take Yellowstone. It’s an ideal setting, and there’s enough deer, elk and buffalo to sustain them. But what will happen if the wolves go out that north end? There are big cattle ranches just to the north.

“Consider the cost of doing business for the rancher--if he loses a heifer worth several hundred or a $1,000. And he knows it will happen again next week and the next. How many can he afford to lose? Then there’s going to be a problem. People want the wolves, as long as it’s not in their back yards. So we have to carefully evaluate where to place them. As for Yellowstone, the time may come when they have to fence it. And that would be very expensive.”

True, but regrettable. The only way most of us will ever see a wolf is behind a fence or on TV or in our imaginations. When it comes to the latter, just keep in mind, the wolves in the car commercial are the stuff of legend, not reality.

The Wolf Within

It’s difficult to look at the Chihuahua and see the wolf. But he’s in there. No, the Chihuahua won’t howl at the moon. (Actually, neither does the wolf.) But in certain behaviors, the connection remains. For domestic dogs, their pack is now the human family. And, especially if you have a big dog, it’s wise to establish yourself as the alpha.

How did the wolf become a Chihuahua? Well, technically, it didn’t, though at the DNA level, there’s very little difference. Somewhere back there is a common ancestor. According to those who know (and that would not be me), here’s the basic idea: for a long time, humans and wolves were fellow hunters. The conflict arose when humans turned from hunting and gathering to farming and herding. That was, maybe, 12 - 15,000 years ago. It could be that our ancestors took wolf pups and domesticated them. Could be that certain wolves, or wolf-type dogs decided to come in from the cold on their own--perhaps smaller, less threatening ones drawn by the smell of food or looking for leftovers.

Somehow, obviously, they got together. The wolf chose to live on the wild side, but it’s a tough way to make a living. The dog gave up its freedom to live with us, and is now dependent on us. The partnership has been mutually beneficial. The dog paid its own way: helping with the hunt, warning the “new pack” of threats, guarding the herds, even becoming a beast of burden. And, of course, we know of all the contributions dogs make today.

So, how did the wolf become a Chihuahua? That was our doing--tinkering, crossbreeding until we ended up with a species that has more variety than any other. I wonder if wolves look on our pets as those “city slicker” cousins? And I wonder if our dogs ever dream about “The Call of the Wild.”

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