The Wolf Preservation Blog

• “You stand a better chance of being struck by lightening than being killed by a wolf.
  In general, wolves fear humans and do not approach them. In fact, very few incidents involving wolves attacking humans have occurred in North America. Those rare occurrences were reportedly caused because wolves associated humans as a source for food like garbage or scraps, or because a wolf was likely reacting to the presence of dogs (McNay 2002). To prevent conflicts with wildlife, people must act responsibly by never feeding or approaching wild animals or take other actions that cause wild animals to lose fear of humans. Learn more about coexisting with carnivores.
• Wolves and large grazing animals lived side-by-side for tens of thousands of years before the first settlers arrived.
  Recent studies on Yellowstone elk and wolves have found that weather and hunter harvest affect elk declines more than wolf predation. In fact, wolves often enhance prey populations by culling weak and sick animals from the gene pool, leaving only the strongest animals to reproduce. Food availability and weather regulate wolf populations. When their prey is scarce, wolves suffer too. They breed less frequently, have fewer litters, and may even starve to death.
• Wildlife tourism is a major part of the economic base of the northern Rockies.
  For instance, in the counties around Yellowstone National Park , livestock production accounts for less than 4% of personal income, while tourism-related industries account for more than 50%. Moreover the effect of wolves on the livestock industry as a whole is negligible, with wolves accounting for less than 1% of livestock losses.
• In portions of the northern Rockies and Southwest, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) designated wolves as “experimental, nonessential” populations.
  This special designation gave landowners a limited right to kill wolves caught in the act of preying on livestock on private property and increased the ability of FWS to remove or destroy problem wolves. Since 1978, wolves, listed as threatened in Minnesota, have been managed under a special regulation that controls individuals that kill livestock and pets.
• According to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, very few land use restrictions have proven necessary to facilitate wolf recovery in Montana and Minnesota.
  The service reports that land use restrictions are necessary only if illegal mortality of wolves occurs at high levels.
• Numerous polls taken throughout the United States consistently demonstrate that more people support wolf recovery than oppose it.
  In fact, a 2002 quantitative summary of human attitudes towards wolves found that 61% of the general population samples had positive attitudes towards wolves.”

  Works Cited: McNay, Mark E. A Case History of Wolf-Human Encounters in Alaska and Canada. 2002. Alaska Department of Fish and Game. Wildlife Technical Bulletin 13

**Special thanks to “Defenders of Wildlife” for providing this information! (http://www.defenders.org/programs_and_policy/wildlife_conservation/imperiled_species/wolves/wolf_facts/index.php)

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“CASPER, Wyo. – The most highly-efficient predator hunting elk is not the wolf.

A new study of wolves’ elk-hunting abilities finds that Mother Nature didn’t give wolves the best set of tools – and that they would be more successful if they were built more like cats or bears.

It’s also not uncommon for wolves to be mortally wounded by elk hooves and horns, according to the study. One of its co-authors, wildlife ecologist Dan MacNulty, an assistant professor in Utah State University’s Department of Wildland Resources, shares another finding:

“This impression that we have of larger packs being more dangerous in terms of their ability to hunt is incorrect.”

In fact, he found, hunting success levels out with four wolves in a pack. MacNulty says wolves do tend to gather in large packs, but the reasons why are unrelated to food.

“One of those problems is maintaining territories. Bigger packs tend to be more successful at maintaining a territory than are smaller packs.”

MacNulty says he has encountered a general belief that elk are highly vulnerable to wolves – but he has found that’s clearly not true. He explains why wolves target aging animals.

“Those younger, prime-aged individuals are extremely feisty, and they will stand and defend themselves. Very common for elk to simply just confront wolves and run them off.”

The wolves and elk studied were in Yellowstone National Park.

The study, “Nonlinear Effects of Group Size on the Success of Wolves Hunting Elk,” is in the September-October issue of the journal Behavioral Ecology, and is online at beheco.oxfordjournals.org.”

**Special thanks to Deb Courson Smith, Public News Service – WY (http://www.publicnewsservice.org/index.php?%2Fcontent%2Farticle%2F22776-1) for providing this information in the article!

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• In order for a new wolf cub to urinate, its mother has to massage its belly with her warm tongue.^e
• The Vikings wore wolf skins and drank wolf blood to take on the wolf’s spirit in battle. They also viewed real wolves as battle companions or hrægifr (corpse trolls).^f
• The earliest drawings of wolves are in caves in southern Europe and date from 20,000 B.C.^b
• Wolves do not make good guard dogs because they are naturally afraid of the unfamiliar and will hide from visitors rather than bark at them.^g
• The autoimmune disease Systemic Lupus Erythmatosus (SLE), or lupus, literally means wolf redness, because in the eighteenth century, physicians believed the disease was caused by a wolf bite.^f
• Wolves are the largest members of the Canidae family, which includes domestic dogs, coyotes, dingoes, African hunting dogs, many types of foxes, and several kinds of jackals.^a
• Wolves run on their toes, which helps them to stop and turn quickly and to prevent their paw pads from wearing down.^e
• Wolves have about 200 million scent cells. Humans have only about 5 million. Wolves can smell other animals more than one mile (1.6 kilometers) away.^b
• A wolf pup’s eyes are blue at birth. Their eyes turn yellow by the time they are eight months old.
• • A male and female that mate usually stay together for life. They are devoted parents and maintain sophisticated family ties.^c
  • Wolf gestation is around 65 days. Wolf pups are born both deaf and blind and weigh only one pound.^d
  • Under certain conditions, wolves can hear as far as six miles away in the forest and ten miles on the open tundra.^a
  • Wolves were once the most widely distributed land predator the world has ever seen. The only places they didn’t thrive were in the true desert and rainforests.^e
  • Among true wolves, two species are recognized: Canis lupus (often known simply as “gray wolves”), which includes 38 subspecies, such as the gray, timber, artic, tundra, lobos, and buffalo wolves. The other recognized species is the red wolf (Canis rufus), which are smaller and have longer legs and shorter fur than their relatives. Many scientists debate whether Canis rufus is a separate species.^e
  • Immense power is concentrated in a wolf’s jaw. It has a crushing pressure of nearly 1,500 pound per square inch (compared with around 750 for a large dog). The jaws themselves are massive, bearing 42 teeth specialized for stabbing, shearing, and crunching bones. Their jaws also open farther than those of a dog.^g
  • The North American gray wolf population in 1600 was 2 million. Today the population in North America is approximately 65,000. The world population is approximately 150,000.^b
  • A hungry wolf can eat 20 pounds of meat in a single meal, which is akin to a human eating one hundred hamburgers.^b
  • A wolf pack may contain just two or three animals, or it may be 10 times as large.^e
  • Though many females in a pack are able to have pups, only a few will actually mate and bear pups. Often, only the alpha female and male will mate, which serves to produce the strongest cubs and helps limit the number of cubs the pack must care for. The other females will help raise and “babysit” the cubs.^a
  • Lower-ranking males do not mate and often suffer from a condition of stress and inhibition that has been referred to as “psychological castration.” Lower-ranking females are sometimes so afraid of the alpha female that they do not even go into heat.^d
  • An average size wolf produces roughly 1.2 cubic inches of sperm.^b
  • Wolves evolved from an ancient animal called Mesocyon, which lived approximately 35 million years ago. It was a small dog-like creature with short legs and a long body. Like the wolf, it may have lived in packs.^g
  • Wolves can swim distances of up to 8 miles (13 kilometers) aided by small webs between their toes.^b
  • Between 1883 and 1918, more than 80,00 wolves were killed in Montana for bounty.^d
  • Adolph Hitler (whose first name means “lead wolf”) was fascinated by wolves and sometimes used “Herr Wolf” or “Conductor Wolf” as an alias. “Wolf’s Gulch” (Wolfsschlucht), “Wolf’s Lair” (Wolfschanze), and “Werewolf” (Wehrwolf) were Hitler’s code names for various military headquarters.^f
  • In the 1600s, Ireland was called “Wolf-land” because it had so many wolves. Wolf hunting was a popular sport among the nobility, who used the Irish wolfhound to outrun and kill wolves. The earliest record of an Irish wolfhound dates from Roman times in A.D. 391.^f
  • Recent scientists suggest that labeling a wolf “alpha” or “omega” is misleading because “alpha” wolves are simply parent wolves. Using “alpha” terminology falsely suggests a rigidly forced permanent social structure.^c

  Although wolves are usually afraid of humans, they will respond to human howls

  • Biologists have found that wolves will respond to humans imitating their howls. The International Wolf Center in Minnesota even sponsors “howl nights” on which people can howl in the wilderness and hope for an answering howl.^b
  • Wolves have historically been associated with sexual predation. For example, Little Red Riding Hood, who wears a red cape that proclaims her sexual maturity, is seduced off the moral path by a wolf. The sex link endures in common clichés, such as describing a predatory man as “a wolf” or a sexy whistle as a “wolf whistle.”^f
  • Biologists describe wolf territory as not just spatial, but spatial-temporal, so that each pack moves in and out of each other’s turf depending on how recently the “no trespassing” signals were posted.^d
  • The Greek god Apollo is sometimes called Apollo Lykios, the wolf-Apollo, and was associated with the wind and sun. In Athens, the land surrounding the temple of Apollo became known as the Lyceum, or the “wolf skin.”^f
  • In 1927, a French policeman was tried for the shooting of a boy he believed was a werewolf. That same year, the last wild wolves in France were killed.^f
  • When Europeans arrived in North America, wolves became the most widely hunted animal in American history and were nearly extinct by the beginning of the twentieth century. The U.S. Federal government even enacted a wolf eradication program in the Western states in 1915.^a
  • Dire wolves (canis dirus) were prehistoric wolves that lived in North America about two million years ago. Now extinct, they hunted prey as large as woolly mammoths.^e
  • A wolf can run about 20 miles (32 km) per hour, and up to 40 miles (56 km) per hour when necessary, but only for a minute or two. They can “dog trot” around 5 miles (8km) per hour and can travel all day at this speed.^g
  • The smallest wolves live in the Middle East, where they may weigh only 30 pounds. The largest wolves inhabit Canada, Alaska, and the Soviet Union, where they can reach 175 pounds.^e
  • Wolves howl to contact separated members of their group, to rally the group before hunting, or to warn rival wolf packs to keep away. Lone wolves will howl to attract mates or just because they are alone. Each wolf howls for only about five seconds, but howls can seem much longer when the entire pack joins in.^c
  • A light-reflecting layer on a wolf’s eye called the tapetum lucidum (Latin for “bright tapestry”) causes a wolf’s eyes to glow in the dark and may also facilitate night vision. While a wolf’s color perception and visual acuity maybe be inferior to a human’s, a wolf’s eyes are extremely sensitive to movement.^d

  Ravens, or “wolf-birds,” seem to form social attachments with wolves

  • Where there are wolves, there are often ravens (sometimes known as “wolf-birds”). Ravens often follow wolves to grab leftovers from the hunt—and to tease the wolves. They play with the wolves by diving at them and then speeding away or pecking their tails to try to get the wolves to chase them.^g
  • In ancient Rome, barren women attended the Roman festival Lupercalia (named for the legendary nursery cave of Romulus and Remus) in the hopes of becoming fertile.^f
  • According to Pliny the Elder, a first-century Greek scholar, wolf teeth could be rubbed on the gums of infants to ease the pain of teething. He also reported that wolf dung could be used to treat both colic and cataracts.^f
  • The Aztecs used wolf liver as an ingredient for treating melancholy. They also pricked a patient’s breast with a sharpened wolf bone in an attempt to delay death.^f
  • During the Middle Ages, Europeans used powdered wolf liver to ease the pain of childbirth and would tie a wolf’s right front paw around a sore throat to reduce the swelling. Dried wolf meat was also eaten as a remedy for sore shins.^f
  • The Greeks believed that if someone ate meat from a wolf-killed lamb, he or she ran a high risk of becoming a vampire.^f
  • During the reign of Edward the Confessor, which began in 1042, a condemned criminal was forced to wear a wolf-head mask and could be executed on a “wolf’s head tree” or the gallows where a wolf might be hanged next to him.^f
  • Werewolf (wer “man” + wulf “wolf”) trials (which can be distinguished from witchcraft trials) led to hundreds of executions during the 1600s. Men, women, and children—many of whom were physically and mentally handicapped—were put to death.^f
  • The Cherokee Indians did not hunt wolves because they believed a slain wolves’ brothers would exact revenge. Furthermore, if a weapon were used to kill a wolf, the weapon would not work correctly again.^f
  • In approximately the year 800, Charlemagne founded a special wolf-hunting force, the Louveterie, which remained active until 1789. It was reactivated in1814, and the last French wolf was killed in 1927.^a
  • Britain’s King Edgar imposed an annual tax of 300 wolf skins on Wales. The Welsh wolf population was quickly exterminated.^a
  • In 1500, the last wolf was killed in England. In 1770, Ireland’s last wolf was killed. In 1772, Denmark’s last wolf was killed.^a
  • After hearing of “frightening spirits” in the woods with human features that walked on four legs, Reverend Singh in 1920 discovered a den with two cubs and two human girls, one around age 7 or 8, the other around 2. After being brought back to “civilization,” the younger one died within a year. Recently, authors have questioned the validity of this story as modern knowledge has revealed that wolf-like behavior is often seen in autistic or abused children.^d
  • Sextus Placitus, in his fifth-century B.C. Medicina de quadrupedibus (Medicinals from Animals), claims that sleeping with a wolf’s head under one’s pillow would cure insomnia.^f
  • In 1934, Germany became the first nation in modern times to place the wolf under protection. Influenced by Friedrich Nietzsche’s (1844-1900) and Oswald Spengler’s (1880-1936) belief that natural predators possessed more vigor and virility than their prey, the protection was probably more for an “iconic” wolf than the actual wolf, particularly since the last wolves in Germany were killed in the middle of the nineteenth century.^f

  Wolves are one of the few animals that communicate using a great range of facial expressions

  • Unlike other animals, wolves have a variety of distinctive facial expressions they use to communicate and maintain pack unity.^c
  • The Japanese word for wolf means “great god.”^f
  • Between 6,000 and 7,000 wolf skins are still traded across the world each year. The skins are supplied mainly by Russia, Mongolia, and China and are used mainly for coats.^a
  • In India, simple wolf traps are still used. These traps consist of a simple pit, disguised with branches or leaves. The wolves fall in and people then stone them to death.^a
  • Wolves were the first animals to be placed on the U.S. Endangered Species Act list in 1973.^a
  • John Milton’s famous poem “Lycidas” derives its title from the Greek for “wolf cub,” lykideus.^f
  • In the Harry Potter universe, werewolf Remus Lupin’s name is directly related to the Latin word for wolf (lupus) and suggests an association with one of the founders of Rome, Remus, who was suckled by a wolf. The dual nature of Lupin’s werewolf nature suggests that in the Potter realm, there are two sides to everything.^f
  • The last wolf in Yellowstone Park was killed in 1926. In 1995, wolves were reintroduced and, after just ten years, approximately 136 wolves now roam the Park in about 13 wolf packs.^b
  • Currently, there are about 50,000 wolves in Canada; 6,500 in Alaska; and 3,500 in the Lower 48 States. In Europe, Italy has fewer than 300; Spain around 2,000; and Norway and Sweden combined have fewer than 80. There are about 700 wolves in Poland and 70,000 in Russia.^b*

^{*Special thanks to “Random Facts” (http://facts.randomhistory.com/interesting-facts-about-wolves.html) for providing this information!}

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“1) Palin offered a bountyof $150 for each left front leg of freshly killed wolves

2) Palin promoted aerial hunting of wolves even though Alaskans voted twice to ban it

3) Palin used $400,000 of state money to fund a propaganda campaign in support of aerial hunting

4) Palin believes man-made global warming is a farce

5) Palin strongly supports drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge

6) Palin is a champion for big oil and her slogan has become “Drill, baby, drill!”

7) Palin  sued the federal government to prevent listing the polar bear as an endangered species 

8) Palin sued the federal government over listing Cook Inlet beluga whale as an endangered species

rah Palin spent $400,000 of state moneyto “educate” Alaskans about aerial hunting of wolves and bears.  State tax money was used to directly influence the outcome of proposition 2 which would have limited aerial shooting of predators.  Since Alaskans had previously voted twice to ban aerial shooting of predators, Palin used state tax money to buy support for aerial shooting. Buying votes with tax money worked – proposition two was voted down on 8/26/08.  

Read more about Governor Palin’s “predator control” policies and the use of state money to slaughter bears and wolves.  In 2008 the Alaska Dept. of Fish and Game  exterminated 1,400 bears out of a population of 2,000 in an area west of Anchorage. The Alaskan Board of Game even approved the hunting of black bear mothers and cubs with the goal of killing 60 percent of the black bear population.  Although biologists have known since the 60’s that predators actually keep prey populations healthy, Alaskan wolves and bears are being exterminated (using cruel practices such as baiting, trapping, and aerial shooting) to “boost” dwindling moose populations.  Do we really want a leader who doesn’t believe in science?  

The Alaska Board of Game makes most wildlife decisions in Alaska.  The board is comprised entirely of trophy hunters with ties to the sport hunting industry and NRA.  Not a single wildlife biologist or scientist is a member.  For years Alaskans have been asking for  representation on the board of game from non consumptive wildlife industries such as wildlife viewing.  There has never been any representation from Alaska’s huge wildlife viewing and tourism industry.  The most important decisions about wildlife in Alaska are decided by ignorant sport hunters with a total disregard for science.  Palin even appointed her former middle school basketball coach to the board.   In 2009 Palin appointed Teresa Sager-Albaugh, 45, of Tok.  “Sager-Albaugh is a former president of the Alaska Outdoors Council, a federation of outdoors’ clubs and the official state association of the National Rifle Association.”  (Anchorage Daily News).

Alaskan Government Spends Millions to Shoot Wolves

Sarah Palin claims that aerial hunting is necessary to help poor Alaskans who need to hunt moose for food. But it costs $500/hr. to charter a bush plane, and double that to charter a helicopter.  Let’s do the math – with over 800 wolves killed  by aerial shooting, with an average of four hours to kill them (low estimate), times $500/hr. to charter a plane, that’s at least $1.6 Million spent on air travel to kill wolves!  Wouldn’t it be easier to spend that money giving the poor food vouchers?  Add the nearly half a million dollars that Palin spent to “educate” Alaskans about aerial hunting, and you could probably feed the whole state.  It’s obvious that aerial hunting of wolves is not about helping to feed the poor.For more information about Sarah Palin and Alaska’s wildlife policies visit the Alaska Wildlife Alliance“

To read more of this article, please visit, “http://www.grizzlybay.org/SarahPalinInfoPage.htm“

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