gray wolves to lose protected status in u.s.

This makes me very sad.

I've been reading about this, but haven't blogged about it. Twenty years of re-growth will be flushed away. Murdered.

I love wolves. I'm fascinated by them, and dream of one day seeing a wolf in the wild. The closest I've come was when, walking in a dry stream bed in Alaska's Denali National Park, we spotted a huge paw print. (Was it still wet, or do I imagine that?) Just knowing a wolf had been there gave me chills. Park rangers told us they'd been at Denali for six winters without ever seeing a wolf. Wolves have only one natural predator, and they do their best to avoid him.

Wolves are highly intelligent, highly social animals, and to my eyes, among the most beautiful creatures on the planet. Of course they are the ancestors of the animals I share my life with. It's no coincidence I favour dogs that most resemble the wolf.

For amazing wolf photography, Jim Brandenburg's Brother Wolf (about the elusive timber wolves of Minnesota) and White Wolf: Living With An Arctic Legend are the best I've seen. Rick Bass's The Ninemile Wolves is great, as is almost anything by David Mech. In fiction, a wolf story that broke my heart: the first part of Cormac McCarthy's The Crossing.

For more on the delisted wolves and other endangered wildlife, National Resources Defense Council is very good. Wolf Song of Alaska, based in Anchorage, is an excellent wolf education and conservation group.

This is very sad news. And so in keeping with everything happening in the US. So much destruction.

wolf01


wolf02_not tala
This is not Tala.


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wolf07_black


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