Tuesday July 17, 2007, 9:41 pm
I really and truly am mystifyied by this apparent hatred of wolves, ancestor of the modern dog. Is it just me, or doesn't anyone else look at the wolf and see in those eyes the aspect of "dog" that we all know and love so well? Why is it so hard for people to accept wolves in the environment when we are surrounded by dogs in our own societies? This really and truly makes no sense to me at all. We don't see a concerted effort to exterminate large felines such as lion, leopard or tiger out of their natural environment because of this kind of hatred, and we have one of their distant relatives living amongst us, too.

But wolves - who have never been known to attack humans in North America - are hated as compared to lions and tigers - who have been known to kill and eat humans in Africa and Asia frequently - aren't hated this way. Why the big difference??

I tend to lay much of this blame at the feet of North American "ranchers" specifically because I feel that in contrast, they have and are doing far more harm to wolves than farmers in Africa and India ever inflicted on lions and tigers respectively. Wolves do have a higher success rate when hunting than do lions, even though both species are cooperative hunters. Still, wolves do NOT attack humans and lions certainly do, so why have lions been spared the scourge of hatred? Is this hatred of wolves a truly American hatred exclusively? If so, then I think it's time to haul the ranchers up and make them answerable because I think it is due to their constant and incessant whining that this issue has come to a head.