April 10, 2015
This was one of my first posts. It’s as timely today as it was almost six years ago.
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September 2009
Nature Magazine examines reasons behind wolf hatred and the systematic campaign to remove them from the lower forty-eight. It merits repeating that for thousands of years Native Americans were able to live with wolves and bears, while settlers saw them as a threat. Even the famed naturalist James Audubon partook in torturing wolves, which was particularly shocking to learn.
As noted in Michael Robinson’s “Predatory Bureaucracy: The Extermination of Wolves and the Transformation of the West”, the federal government became the wolf killing arm for the livestock industry.
By understanding the roots of wolf prejudice it’s clear to see why wolves have been demonized in American culture. The wolf has paid dearly for these attitudes. Even though the same outdated beliefs exist today, we are moving…
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Exposing the Big Game 
Back in 1970, David Mech described how to deal with the wolf haters: “These people cannot be changed. If the wolf is to survive, the wolf haters much be outnumbered. They must be out-shouted, out-financed, and out voted. Their narrow and biased attitude must be outweighed by an attitude based on an understanding of natural process. Finally, their hate must be outdone by a love for the whole of nature, for the unspoiled wilderness, and for the wolf as a beautiful, interesting, and integral part of nature.” Okay, it’s now 45 years later, and the haters are still outnumbering, outshouting, out-financing, and out voting us. And the wolves die.
L. David Mech, The Wolf (1970), p. 348