Some people see wolves as frenzied and terrifying killers, while others consider them beautiful examples of nature in its wildest and clearest forms.
Before you read my article, which one are you? Do you like the wolves?
Wolves have two images known to people. One of them raises feelings of fear because of the saliva that flows from her mouth as soon as sparks fly from her eyes, and because she sterilizes children and kills livestock. But at the same time it is admired because of the strength of its communities, and their concentration together in a family setting, and because they are one of the main features of wild nature.
Such extremist beliefs about wolves are deeply rooted among people, but the roots of these beliefs stem from history, not contemporary reality. In the wilds of Europe and North America where wolves have led to major environmental changes, it is time to rethink what they mean.
How many wolves are there in Europe?
If I were asked to answer this question a year ago, I would suggest there are 1,000 wolves. I would have seemed terribly wrong.
"If we went back to the 1970s, we'd be talking about endangered species," says John Linnell, of the Norwegian Institute for Nature Research in Trondheim and a member of the European Large Carnivores Conservation Initiative, an initiative of the International Union for Conservation of Nature.
Over the past 40 years, wolf numbers across the European continent have grown incredibly well. "At the moment, there is talk about 12,000 wolves in Europe," Linnell says. Then he points to evidence that during the same period, the wolf population in the USA has increased by leaps and bounds as well.
That means there are many wolves. So, is there any truth to the idea that wolves pose a great danger to humans?
"If we look at European history, we will notice a lot of evidence that wolves have killed many people during the past centuries," Linnell adds.
In rural areas that were heavily settled by humans, where cattle ranching prevailed, and children were working as herders, wolves actually attacked people. "This description applied to most of Europe until the end of the nineteenth century," Linnell says.
Then there's the added danger from rabid wolves. Linnell adds, "During a very limited period, a rabid wolf can cover large distances. During that time, it can nibble any creature that does not flee in front of it. Before we discovered a treatment for rabies, this meant a death sentence."
There are still places in our world that differ in the dangers of being attacked by wolves. In a well-documented incident in India, a frenzied wolf went mad and attacked more than ten people in six villages in one day. Three of the wounded were killed, "they had serious wounds to the face and neck."
A few years ago, a similar incident occurred in Turkey when a wolf attacked the face of a 60-year-old man sitting in his garden. The man succeeded in wrestling that wolf until he killed him, but only after he was struck by a wolf bite. The man died after about a week, and it is likely that this was due to rabies as a result of a wolf bite.
Nevertheless, things are somewhat different in most parts of Europe and North America today. There are no children among the shepherds, and there are few cases of infection from wolf rabies. So, the odds of a wolf attack do not matter to anyone, Linnell says.
In stark contrast to the depiction of a wolf as a demon, an alternate vision has emerged over the past 50 years. But this vision, like its previous fictional counterpart, depicts the wolf as a monster that people adore because of its power and power.
This idea embraced a spiritual movement called the "New Age". What has also added strength to this idea is the growing recognition that major predators, such as wolves, can profoundly influence, and often enrich, biodiversity.
The best way to get acquainted with this vision of wolves is through what happened in Yellowstone National Park in the United States of America.
In the 1920s, US government employees exterminated the Yellowstone Park wolves. The park became free of wolves for the next 70 years. Then came 1995, and after two decades of planning, conservationists got the green light to deploy Canadian wolves to that park.
Bringing wolves back into the park completely changed the environment there. The most obvious immediate effect was the number of antelopes, which when the wolves returned to the park were 16,000. In 2004, the number of these antelopes was halved, which is only 8,000.
The reader may find this unpleasant, but the ramifications have been impressive. Through the decline in the numbers of plant-eating antelopes, the woody trees of willows, aspen and cottonwood have seen dramatic flowering.
Ecology is a complex matter, so it is not simple to attribute all of these changes to wolf re-propagation alone. There is overwhelming evidence that the sudden emergence of the most predatory animals in Yellowstone has sparked transformations. Wolves, it seems, are friends of trees.
So, what is the truth about wolves? It is probably halfway between the demonic wolf we inherited from popular stories and the coyote of the new era.
Linnell says: "The challenge we face now is moving away from these two extremes, and towards a middle vision in which there is no intense fear or intense passion."
"The wolf is not a demon, nor is it a saint," he adds. "It is simply a large predator."
Wolves are intelligent animals that bear many characteristics that are not available in other animals, as they are organized predators with high intuitive speed, as wolves distinguish their prey from many kilometers away due to their ability to smell their blood. Wolves rely on howling to alert other animals and herds of wolves, as they howl in an orderly fashion every 8 hours throughout the day And its voice is very loud and reaches distances of 10 km, and wolves are distinguished by many things, including that it is an animal that the jinn fear, and it is an animal that does not tame, and is able to determine whether a person carries a weapon or not, and it's is very mobile and sleeps with one of his eyes open, but these wolves It has one weakness that its prey can escape if it runs in a circle; This is because of the straightening of his spine, which cannot handle this rotation.
I would say finally that the wolves of course are dangerous but I really like them and I believe that if we take care of them they will take care of us and they will not hurt us ❤️
Very nice article. About a year ago I read through a pamphlet of an organization that wants to reintroduce wolves in parts of Germany where they are extinct and where I live. The information they gave was in accordance with yours.
My take-away message is that wolves usually don't attack humans -- with the exception of children. Unless the wolves have rabies. Then they can attack anyone.
I'm on team people and would prefer not to have wolves near me. To people who want to reintroduce them, I would say: Go live close to a forest and raise your kids there. That might change your mind. 😅