The Big Bad Wolf Unmasked

Why do we make predators into seeming like such… predators? The history of the wolf and coyote throughout history has not been great and the demonization of these predators has lead to the problem in our view of them today. For centuries they have been the antagonist in stories, always eating some pigs, even a grandmother, blowing down houses, trying to catch a friendly roadrunner, and terrorizing sheep. Everywhere in folklore the wolves are a predator that is causing harm to humans, the anthropological animals in these stories, or our possessions, painting these majestic creatures as envious, greedy, and evil. if you don’t think that it is so bad for them to be labeled this way then let’s look at the war we created with them in 1905. The Bureau of Biological Survey. Sounds nice right? Well this government agency propagated the hunting of coyotes and wolves and would set bounties on their coats and fur to further incentivise hunters to take aim. IN their first 2 years of operation, they were the cause of more than 1800 wolves and 23000 coyotes being killed (Corbett 2006). In the 1920’s the same bureau began poisoning these animals by setting traps and were responsible for killing over 35000 coyotes a year with this method. It wasn’t until the late 1930’s and 40’s when these actions were called into question and eventually stopped.

So how do these creatures act in the wild? While yes wolves and coyotes are known for killing livestock and animals being herded across the US and it is still common to have armed cowboys protecting the herd, their involvement with humans is not quite what we imagined it to be. These predators are not the blackhearted killers and criminals that we imagined them to be. Farley Mowat, a Canadian Biologist found in a study of caribou population, that humans had a greater impact on population size than the wolves did and the rapid decline was caused by poaching rather than predation. I think this a great summary of the burden that we are placing on these animals as the majority of blame that they carry is actually caused by us or some unknown reason and placed on them due to lack of information. With the reintroduction act in the 90’s by Bill Clinton, the wolf and coyote (especially coyote) populations are seeing a bounce back into healthy levels and their impact on the environment is incredible. Hopefully we will begin to see more natural populations in the environment than what is currently in zoos and preservations and less mass hunts like the unrestricted hunting of coyotes in Arizona that we have today.

Sources:

Corbett, Julia B. Communicating nature how we create and understand environmental messages. Island Press, 2006.

Related posts:

In Major League Baseball history, there are plenty of brother combinations to have tremendous success. Families like the Aaron’s (Henry and Tommie), the Alomar’s (Roberto and Sandy), and the Waner’s…

The Pasadena International Film Festival celebrated its 5th Annual Independent Film Block Party inside Pasadena’s Laemmle’s Playhouse 7. The festival began March 7 and ran through March 15 this year…