Wolf Article Archive

Human attitudes towards wolves

The relationship between people and wolves has had a very long, and troubled, history. Historically, humans have often viewed wolves as a great danger or as nuisance to be destroyed. An opposing view suggests that wolves form a valuable part of the ecosystem by hunting down deer and such, and require protection. Often these views occur simultaneously and cause conflicts among differing groups of people, as one sees when a wildlife service or organization attempts to preserve vanishing wolves or to reintroduce wolves to a habitat, like the rare red wolf.

Changing attitudes

In the late 20th century an increased awareness of the beneficial nature of wolves arose, encouraged by books like Never Cry Wolf by Farley Mowat and nature documentaries as well as by classification of the species as endangered. Accordingly, while the stereotype of wolves still has influence, a significant portion of the public has gained a positive opinion of wolves as interesting, valuable and even noble animals. Thus parks with a visible wolf population have often become popular tourist attractions. For instance, visitors to Yellowstone National Park can often see wolves from the roads.

Such organizations as the International Wolf Center attempt to educate people about the true nature of wolves, such action being helpful to the reintroduction process, especially in places such as Yellowstone National Park.

In other parks, tourists often participate in wolf howls, trying to make wolf-like howls in hopes that the resident wolves will answer. In fact, some nature-lovers have complained that this popularity has drawbacks since tourists sometimes intrude into wolf habitats and disturb them.

The large amount of research done on the wolf in the past half century has also helped to educate people and make them realize how sociologically similar humans are to wolves, and how we really have nothing to fear from these shy, majestic animals. Biologists such as L David Mech and Luigi Boitani have been major leaders in wolf research.

Nature documentaries have played a role changing attitudes. For instance, the film evidence of the wolf being a very social animal who is also a devoted parent to its young enlightened and charmed many viewers to a softer side to the feared predator.