Why We Need Wolves

When you read the word wolf what is the first thing you think of? Chances are you think of a ferocious wild animal. That however, is not what a wolf is.

For centuries wolves have been the most misunderstood wild animal. We are taught to fear wolves from a very young age simply because they are wild animals. Fairytales such as 'Little Red Riding Hood' and 'Three Little Pigs' describe wolves as evil. And it goes even further in other stories, poems, books and even films. In 'Beauty and the Beast' Belle's father is attacked by a pack of wolves and seeks refuge in the Beast's castle. In the poem 'Ivan Ivanovitch' a horsedrawn sleigh is chased by wolves and to survive the attack, the adults throw their children to the wolves. All these stories, along with the things we hear and are taught, usually make us believe the worst in wolves. Perhaps this is one reason why wolves are so misunderstood.

Many thousands of years ago people and wolves lived alongside each other in perfect harmony. Then around 500 BC, to protect livestock, humans started killing the wolves. Our relationship altered dramatically and wolves became our enemy. Wolves were killed in many different ways such as traps, poison, snares, burning, drugs, beartraps, dogs, guns, and many more. The slaughter of wolves went up drastically in 10th century England when King Edward accepted wolf heads in payment for taxes and laws were passed allowing the death of wolves for the protection of livestock. Around 1743 the last wolf in Britain was killed in Scotland and just over 30 years later Ireland's wolves suffered the same fate. Sadly, wolves were killed throughout the whole world and today the wolf is an endangered species.

People fear wolves because they are dangerous wild animals. But just how dangerous really is a wolf? It is scientifically estimated that wolves only kill 10 people per year. That means you are more likely to be killed by: freshwater snails, which kill 20,000 or more people per year, domestic dogs, which kill 35,000 people per year, or mosquitoes, which kill over 750,000 people per year. In fact, it is more dangerous to participate in human activities than face a wolf. In the US 1,500 people drown per year, 800 people die in boating accidents per year, and 260 people die in hunting accidents per year.

Our understanding of the wolf has grown along with the understanding of animal science and nature. Despite our past with wolves, people are coming to realise that we need wolves in the world and they have a huge effect in it. People are slowly beginning to see wolves for what they are, instead of what we are taught to see them as. Wolves are actually one of the most successful animals to have ever existed on Earth. They have the ability to adapt to any environment, meaning they can live anywhere on Earth. Wolves are very social animals and live in packs of up to 15 members. Wolves have a highly organised social structure within their pack, which gives them maximum cooperation when hunting, communicating and defending their territory. Wolves also develop close relationships and strong social bonds. They often demonstrate deep affection for their family and may even sacrifice themselves to protect the family unit. Wolves are loyal, once a wolf has found a mate, they usually stay together for life. Wolves are highly developed animals. A wolf has about 200 million scent cells. Humans only have about 5 million. This means wolves can smell other animals more than one mile away. Wolf howls are unique, like fingerprints, which means each member of the pack is identified by their howl. But most amazing of all, wolves play a huge part in the ecosystem.

We know that wolves kill various species of animals, but perhaps we are slightly less aware that they give life to many others. In 1995 wolves were reintroduced into Yellowstone National Park in America and it had the most amazing effects. Before the wolves turned up in Yellowstone, they had been absent for 70 years. The number of elk, caribou and deer had built up, because there had been nothing to hunt them, and despite human's efforts to control them, they had managed to reduce plant life until there was almost nothing left. But as soon as the wolves came everything changed. Firstly, the wolves killed some elk, but that wasn't the major thing, they actually changed the behaviour of the elk. The elk started avoiding certain parts of the park, the places were they could be hunted more easily. Particularly the valleys and gorges and immediately those places started to regenerate. In some areas the trees grew 5 times higher in just 6 years. What once were bare valley sides quickly became forests of aspen, willow and cottonwood trees. And as soon as that happened the birds moved in, the number of songbirds and migratory birds increased greatly. And the number of beavers started to increase because beavers eat and build their homes from the trees. And the dams they built in the rivers provided habitats for otters, ducks, fish, reptiles and amphibians. The wolves also killed coyotes and as a result of that, the number of rabbits and mice began to rise which attracted more hawks, weasels, foxes and badgers. Ravens and bold eagles started to feed on the leftovers from the wolves. Bears ate the leftovers too and their population began to rise, partly because there were now more berries growing on the regenerating shrubs. But here is where it gets really interesting; the rivers changed in response to the wolves. And the reason was that by driving the elk out of some places, the plant life started to recover. And the regenerating plant life by the rivers stabilised the banks so that they didn't collapse as often. The rivers became more fixed in their course, they began to twist and turn less, the channels narrowed and more pools formed. All of which was great for wildlife habitats. The wolves, even though small in number, transformed not only the ecosystem of Yellowstone National Park, but also its physical geography.

As our knowledge of wolves grow, we are learning that these mysterious and complex creatures we were once so quick to judge share many of our traits and still hold many uncovered secretes.

This is why we need wolves.