Wolves-Fact and Fiction
Wolves, who once were the dominate predators with ranges from the Arctic to the sub-tropics, are much maligned and much loved. The species most familiar to us is the Grey Wolf, but even this species come in a variety of colors from greys to solid white or black to a mix. Wolves are found in a variety of shapes and sizes, but they all share the same characteristics, rounded ears, a slender muzzle with powerful jaws filled with forty-two teeth, and a double coat with soft inner fur with a protective layer of hair over it. They are skilled communicators, possessing a language of howls, growls, and whines along with a huge repetoire of body stances that communicate everything from playful happiness with high haunches and a wagging tail to anger with tail straightened, bared teeth, and raised neck fur. They are all long-legged. Wolves have much endurance, spending much of their lives on the move, following herds of prey animals.
Wolves come in two recognized species, the Grey Wolf (Canis lupis) and the Red Wolf (Canis rufus). The Grey Wolf is primarily found in North America and other northern climes, as well as the Southwestern U. S. and the Sonoran Desert of Mexico. Grey Wolves in this region are known as Mexican Wolves. The Red Wolf was most common in the southeastern United States. There are efforts to re-populate old wolf lands both in Midwest and in the Rockies (primarily in Yellowstone National Park) with Grey Wolves. There are also efforts to bring Mexican Wolves back to some of their old territories in the Southwestern U. S. Efforts to re-populate the South and the Mid-Atlantic with Red Wolves have mostly failed due to lack of wide territory and good breeding stocks of that species that preferred those areas of the country.
Wolves live in tight-knit family groups called packs. The pack is led by an alpha male and an alpha female, with a well-defined status of rank within the pack. Only the alphas may mate and have the pups in a pack. The pack works together as team to take down prey, usually deer, elk, moose, and other ungulate species. Wolves prefer to take down sick, injured, or elderly prey, as it helps keep those herds healthy, and even in a pack, wolves are not foolish enough to take on a young and healthy male moose or elk.
Wolves are not the evil man-eaters as seen in most tales. In fact, wolves will shy away from humans unless the humans are raising the animals in controlled settings such as zoos or in re-population centers. There is absolutely no proof that a healthy wolf has even taken a human as prey. The wolf has not found many friends among hunters who see them as competition for the elk and deer they stalk. Western ranchers also see the wolf as major competition. Wolves will take cows and sheep for food, but only due to the fact that they are effortless to catch. This puts wolves in between ranchers, who lose sheep and cattle to wolf predation and wildlife managers, who wish to advocate for the wolf as well as keep them separated from the easy kills of domesticated herd animals. Aside from conflicts with ranchers and hunters that see the wolf as an unfair competitor, the nature of wolves has been another reason for the long time problems between man and this beast. It is viewed by many that the wolf is considered evil, because the wolf represents the wildness that man has suppressed and fears but still desires in some fashion (many wolf advocates say humans have this inheirited and unfounded fear of the wolf, because man sees himself in this predator). It is also viewed by many wolf advocates that man sees themselves as master over animals not as stewards of nature. This is the great divide between those that see the wolf as an evil force, and those that see it as a noble creature.
Despite a massive loss of territory, which is the most dire threat to the wolf, this predator is making a comeback through the good stewardship of people willing to lay it on the line to disprove the myths and fairy tales of the wolf.
The Wolf as a Heroic Creature
The wolf has been the atagonist of many a tale, the wolf disguised as Little Red Riding Hood's grandmother that he ate, the wolf that relentlessly pursued three little pigs, the unflattering images of wolves in Aesop's fables, and much, much more. Wolves have been hunted to obliteration, primarily in Europe and North America, fueled by superstition and misinterpretation of how the Bible has portrayed the wolf (the predatory nature of the wolf allusion has been interpreted as a symbol of evil, yet animals are incapable of evil or even good). Also, the wild places the wolf inhabited were considered by Medieval peoples to be places occupied by demons that had to be tamed, and wolves had to be manifestations of those demons, therefore they had to be exterminated. Some even accuse the Church (primarily the Latin Rite Church of the Middle Ages and, later, some Protestant denominations) as advocating that man is not part of nature but higher than nature, thus making it a duty of man to destroy the wolf, a creature that refused to bow to man.
Not all tales of the wolf are tales of a vicious man-eater or demon in disguise. Besides, the myths of wolves as pathfinders and spiritual mentors as told in the oral traditions of American Indian peoples such as the Sioux, Apache, and the Pawnee. There are many stories in Western Civilization that do not depict the wolf as a killer or an antithesis to God. It is not widely known by many that many early Christians celebrated the wolf and did not take to the belief that humanity is master of nature but a part of it and a steward of it. This aspect can be seen in the Celtic world. Celtic Christians adopted the old Pagan belief that man and nature, sacred and secular are not separate. Anything that God created is good, including wolves. This optimism is seen in Celtic Christian legends about the wolf. St. Patrick, Patron of Ireland was once said to have evangelized wolves, who quietly listened to him and took his message to heart. St. Maedoc of Ferns, another Irish saint shared his food with a starving wolf. St. Columba of Iona once lived among wolves and considered them friends and equals. A tale that has been passed down by Irish tradition, but is little known is the story of St. Ailbe.
According to ancient Celtic legend, St. Ailbe, as a baby, was left to die in the woods by his thoughtless parents, but a passing female wolf took pity on the child and suckled him until the child was found and taken in by a human family. Years later, a female wolf was being pursued by a hunting party. Tired and starving, the lupine stumbled into Ailbe's cell and laid her head on his breast. The saint recognized the beast as his foster mother, and he immediately cared for her as return for her gift of life to him. For the rest of his life, he cared for her and her descendents, feeding them from his table and giving them shelter. This legend is a symbol of the Saint's main focus, radical Christian hospitality for the lonely stranger and the poor, a very important aspect of the community-minded Celts.
Other Christian saints have been represented with wolves as friends. St. Anthony was guided by a female wolf to the desert home of St. Paul, and the same wolf and a raven brought food to the two saints as they spent time alone in the desert. Saint Francis of Assisi, an Italian saint revered for his love of nature as a gift from God, has his own tale of a wolf. A town in Italy was being menaced by a wolf that could never be bested by the town's best fighters, but the meek saint was able to communicate with the marauding beast, learning that the wolf was just looking for food and shelter. Francis told the animal that he would arrange to have the townspeople look after him, if he vowed to never attack them again. The deal was struck with the wolf bowing his head and placing his paw in the hand of the Saint asking for forgiveness, and the wolf and the townspeople lived in harmony. The wolf was soon a part of the town, a friend and neighbor that was loved and respected by the populace, that came to be known as Brother Wolf. Neither ever fought again, and when the creature died after many years of living as a member of this town, he was mourned and buried with honor and love in a fine tomb.
It is a mistake that all Christians view the wolf as a force of evil. The wolf has not only been revered by the Pagan and Animistic cultures, but many Christian sects have this predator as a symbol of the faith. Many of the early saints considered the intelligent wolf as a creature that could recognize and react to that human need to have an intimate relationship with God.
This is why my stories, The Last of the Pack, has the wolf as hero not villain. These stories combine the myths and symbols found in many American Indian cultures and the legends from Europe that scholars of the past have preserved despite the dominant lupine pre-conceptions of a misguided few. It's my hope to show my love for the wolf by doing my little part to help destroy the image of the wolf as a force of evil. If you are curious about my contribution to the legend of the wolf as mentor and friend, click on the image below to learn more about my fantasy books for readers ages 10 and up.
Source Material Cited
http://www.truthseek.net/truewolves.html
http://www.wolfsongalaska.org
To learn more about Wolves, visit the links below.
