A Logical Solution

Series: Junior Journal | Story 6

For as long as humanity has built scattered civilizations all around the world, the wolf has been portrayed as the enemy of this progress. And, in some ways, this was true. Wolves and humans had clashed in every way conceivable: by competing for prey, combating for the safety of livestock and keeping one another at bay. Wolves have acted as a barrier between what belonged to the land and what belonged to mankind. Then why, in these modern times where humans have breached into every imaginable territory that earth has to offer, is the battle we fight with wolves still present?

The reason dates back to how the wolf had been portrayed, this time in our stories and fairy tales. In almost every story we were told as children, the wolf has been depicted as malicious, cunning and ruthless.

Of course, this method of thinking would carry with us into our adult lives, along with our ancestral fear of the beast. No matter how much we tell ourselves that we are beings that act on knowledge, humans are still irrational creatures that act on first instinct. And our first instinct, when we are confronted with a beast that our genetic composition has taught us to fear, is to attack such an animal. The negative connotation that surrounds the wolf as a symbol in stories influences our relationship with them to this day.

In order to fully understand our relationship with wolves, we must first look at the way we manage them. Ever since wolves have been reintroduced in Montana, environmentalists and livestock owners quarreled over whether wolves should be hunted freely or left completely alone. Wolf management is a rather controversial issue and many perspectives on the matter offer compelling arguments.

Ranchers assert that their livestock's security is at stake. But once one looks past these claims, you can find that if the wolf is properly maintained, the threat they cause becomes minimal. As long as ranchers make sure to remove any carcasses or diseased animals from the herd and to establish boundaries using electric fencing, wolves will usually steer clear of cattle and pursue wild prey. 

David Mannix, a rancher, had this to say in the 2010 National Geographic article "Wolf Wars" by Douglas Chadwick, "We have to realize that the general U.S. population wants wolves. That population is also our customers for beef. It's not a good idea to tell your customers they don't know what they're doing."

The most important part of controlling wolves is to avoid getting caught up in our emotions. Maintaining wolves with a negative or a positive stance on them will only cause conflict between wolves and humans and between humans and the ecosystem. It's important to look past personal beliefs and realize what a wolf really is. They aren't evil; they aren't good.

Wolves are animals, and projecting human qualities onto them does nothing but create unreasonable fear, or a lapse in the appropriate caution that we need to uphold around all wild animals. If humanity can't find a sensible solution to coexist with wolves, then how will we learn to coexist with each other?

It's time to look past what our predecessors have taught us to think and find our own way of thinking.

Works Cited

Chadwick, Douglas. "Wolf Wars." - National Geographic Magazine. Web. 16 Nov. 2015.

Landers, Rich. "COMMENTARY: Manage Wolves on Facts, Not Hearsay." Web. 16 Nov. 2015.

"Montana Increases Bag Limit for next Wolf Hunt." The Billings Gazette. Web. 16 Nov. 2015.

 

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