Humans are not wolves

Isn’t wolf behaviour fascinating? A lot of people must think so because according to Mech and Boitani in their book Wolves: Behaviour, Ecology and Conservation, they have become one of the most studied species in the world. The question is: What makes them so fascinating? Certainly their behaviours are complex, and the importance of their role within the ecosystems they inhabit is now widely accepted to the extent that scientific researchers spend much of their time providing evidence to support the case for the conservation of wolves.

It is also well documented that the human fascination for wolves has a spiritual basis. The wolf is a species that we identify with closely. There are parallels in the way wolves and humans live their lives, each forming strong family bonds with structured hierarchies, raising young, and teaching them the skills they will need to survive in life. Judao-Christian religion went a step further and used what are perceived by humans to be the more negative traits of the wolf to symbolise the devil and all that is evil. Conversely, native American Indians took the opposite approach, and focused on the positive aspects of wolf behaviour: their intelligence, good hunting skills, and the strength and aesthetic beauty of the animal itself. They viewed the wolf as a teacher, and as a fellow creature.

The complex mix of culturally-derived attitudes, scientific knowledge, and socio-economic and political influences have brought us to the current situation where wolf populations are steadily recovering throughout the world, after centuries of persecution and widespread destruction. There are still polarised groups on wolves. It seems you either love them or you hate them, and a lot of this still depends on where you live, how you make your living and how you were brought up.

In Western societies, we probably know more about the wolf today than we’ve ever known. And there is still so much more to learn. But because we do now have a growing body of scientific evidence about wolf behaviours, that is supporting the conservation of the species as a whole, it is disheartening when National Geographic, a high profile and highly respected organisation, broadcasts a programme that has the potential to undermine a lot of this work by listening to the psycho-babble of someone who appears to be primarily interested in being a self-publicist rather than a wolf advocate.

Anyone who has spent any time at all with wild animals will know that a lot of their behaviours are instinctive and innate. Thus self-proclaimed “Wolf Man” Shaun Ellis’s attempts at teaching wolves how to howl and hunt gives one the impression of an arrogant and colonial attitude that really ought to have been left behind in the enlightened times we now live in in wildlife conservation circles. Furthermore, to try and assert that you are accepted as a “wolf” in the pack is not just laughable, but also extremely dangerous, not just for the person making this assertion, but for the wolves too. In the programme, Ellis demonstrated that he was alpha male in his “pack”, and indeed the wolves accepted him as being dominant. The end sequence, however, showed Ellis having been demoted to omega status. There are two issues here. One is that broadcasting this kind of interaction and behaviour with wolves gives totally the wrong impression. It is going down the same route as the macho-driven pursuits of the late Steve Irwin, and his followers who now think it is acceptable to drag what are perceived to be scary and highly dangerous creatures from their habitats, and wrestle with them and dominate them. Quite how this can be called conservation, I’m not entirely sure, and it certainly doesn’t contribute anything to our knowledge of these creatures. The other issue is that there is a very real risk that one or several of the wolves within the pack could turn on Ellis, and badly injure him. We may still have a lot to learn about wolves, but one thing we do know is that you cannot generalise about wolf behaviour. The complexities involved make this virtually impossible. An attack on Ellis would potentially undo decades of work undertaken by thousands of people who work with and for wolves. The wolves themselves would very likely have to be destroyed, and through one man’s misguided or foolish attempts at demonstrating the dynamics of wolf behaviour in this way, he would simply be achieving quite the opposite.

At the UKWCT, we have many volunteers who have a strong and close bond with our own captive wolves. They have not felt the need to teach the wolves how to howl, hunt or to carry out any of the other innate behaviours that come naturally to them whether they are wild or captive. They have also not felt the need to eat from a carcass, nor urinate along territorial boundaries to prove their status. You are either accepted by a particular wolf pack or not as the case may be. Much depends on the dynamics of the situation at a point in time: how the wolf pack is currently structured in terms of hierarchy, the age of the wolves, their health, your health and strength, and your approach to them. In Ellis’s case, the wolves were pups and then juveniles at the time he had “alpha” status, when it is not difficult to play a dominant role in their lives. Maintaining that “dominance” is a different story, and one not achieved by everyone who works with wolves. And even then, the dynamics can change if you suddenly become ill or have some kind of physical weakness that puts you at a disadvantage. Wolves are also intelligent creatures. Research has shown them to be problem-solvers, and they know that humans are not wolves.

There are many people throughout the world who work with both captive and wild wolves, and nearly everyone in this situation will tell you that it is a two-way process built on mutual respect, trust and acceptance, and tolerance. The people who have these values are the true heroes of wolf conservation. They don’t need or seek self-proclaimed glory.

Colleagues at the UKWCT and in the scientific world of wolf research feel that Ellis has done wolves and their conservation a great disservice. It is time that we moved away from the worrying increase in “documentaries” that show humans wrestling with dangerous animals. These archaic attitudes that prevail from centuries of classical science and Judeo-Christian beliefs of human dominance over nature should be consigned to the dark ages from which they stemmed. If we want to truly co-exist with other creatures, then we need to accept them for what they are and what they do, and this can only be achieved through true knowledge, understanding and respect.