Of wolf and man - or who's afraid of the big bad wolf

foto: Staffan Widstrand

 Spent the morning in our favorite woods, tracking scents in the snow, then chasing the ghosts of these scents with my nose to the wind. Howl! I'm free, stripped off my veneer of civilization for the moment, forgetting everything except the the wind in my face and the snow under my feet and the sheer happiness of being alive. And running.

Not far from here close relatives live in the wild, the wolves of Riala, with four pups to carry on the legacy. If they live, because the hunt is on, both legally and illegally. Wolves, it seems, are fair game. Wolves, it seems, bring out the worst in man. Wolves, like man, are great hunters, at the top of the food chain. Wolves, like man, live in close-knit family groups, depending on family structures for survival. Wolves, like man, kill. Wolves, unlike man, kill for food and survival. Man, we know, kills because he can.

wolf in setter's clothing

Under the title "Wolf to Woof: The Evolution of Dogs," National Geographic Magazine informs us that "about 12,000 years ago hunter-gatherers in what is now Israel placed a body in a grave with its hand cradling a pup. Whether it was a dog or a wolf can’t be known. Either way, the burial is among the earliest fossil evidence of the dog’s domestication. Scientists know the process was under way by about 14,000 years ago but do not agree on why. Some argue that humans adopted wolf pups and that natural selection favored those less aggressive and better at begging for food. Others say dogs domesticated themselves by adapting to a new niche—human refuse dumps. Scavenging canids that were less likely to flee from people survived in this niche, and succeeding generations became increasingly tame. According to biologist Raymond Coppinger: “All that was selected for was that one trait—the ability to eat in proximity to people.” At the molecular level not much changed at all: The DNA makeup of wolves and dogs is almost identical. In the words of National Geographic.

Identical enough for wolves and dogs to produce fertile offspring, maybe too close for comfort. Having wolves around again, after having hunted them nearly into extinction, reminds us that our dogs are wolves in disguise, and ancient illogical fears rear their ugly heads. Once upon a time ... wolves changed into werewolves at night, abducting and eating babies, hence were the epitome of evil, or the devil incorporate. Now hunters mourn their beloved dogs falling prey to wolves, clamoring for revenge. "A dead wolf is a good wolf," as someone put it, uncomfortably reminiscent of "the only good injun is a dead injun." Exterminate all the brutes! right, reliving the heart of darkness, again. Conveniently forgetting that far more dogs are killed by cars and trigger-happy hunters' bullets than by wolves, but here we go. Were wolves are concerned, logic falls by the wayside.

The Swedish government may cave in to the pressure from hunters' interest (because at the heart of the wolf controversy is, along with irrational fears, the question of who has the right to the game), but wolves are here to stay. If only in the DNA of man's best friend. Howlllllllllllllll!