Co-existence With Wolves by Juanita Amero
“Coexistence between wolves and humans is possible only when there is no conflict between their ways of life.”
I thought this to be a very interesting quote. Let’s take a look back into history and into the lives of our forefathers, and see just how much truth lies in it.
Generations before us were a hardy breed of hunters and gatherers. Native Americans as well as their Eskimo cousins of the northern tundra have cohabited with the wolf quite favorably. They hunted the same prey and led the same nomadic style of life. They seemed to respect each other for their skills as a hunter and admire the strong “family ties”. The Eskimo’s and natives did take the life of a wolf on occasion for perhaps the fur, skins or other reasons, but it was taking the life of an equal, not killing an enemy. It seems the conflict began to arise when humans stopped hunting and gathering, when they started producing their own food instead of “living off the land”. However, the wolves had no choice but to continue their wild ways of life, thus creating this conflict between the two.
As this slowly took place, the wolf’s image began to change in the eyes of man. He was no longer considered admirable and courageous but a dangerous predator to control or exterminate. As the Europeans arrived in America they brought not only dreams for a brighter future, but their traditional hatred for the wolf. The real so called “war” did not get fully underway until the 1800’s when the pioneers were moving to the plains in central America. For decades, the natives, buffalo, and wolf had peacefully co-existed together.
Unfortunately all three were doomed by civilization. But of course you have read this in your history books. When the buffalo disappeared and these domestic helpless cattle appeared, the wolf didn’t turn his nose up at the dinner table and walk away. The natives believe, as do I, that there is an unspoken communication with death between the wolf and it’s prey. The outcome of the hunt is usually settled in that first moment, the moment of eye contact between the animals. What transpires during those moments of staring between predator and prey is probably a complex exchange of information regarding the chase and kill to follow.
This encounter is what some refer to as the conversation of death. The conversation faltered when wolves encountered domestic stock, animals that have had the language of death bred out of them. I have no doubt in my mind that some renegade wolves did kill livestock simply because they could. This is what my Outlaw writings have all been about. Discussions of and remembering the wolves that went down with a fight, so to speak. Therefore the opening quote does contain considerable truth. It was bound to happen. We surely would not have stayed in wigwams or igloos, and chewed our hides to leather till the ends of time. Man and wolf only lived peacefully together when they shared the same ways of life.
Man created in his mind an outlaw, when in fact, the wolf was only continuing to live his life. We were progressing, he was surviving by learning to live in a new world that took his only world. Well, they call it progress, but sometimes I wonder. The gift of wisdom comes when you have walked enough pathways and come upon enough dead ends to truly know the forest! Today, the wolf represents all which is wild and free. They call us to the last retreats of our vanishing wilderness, where their songs carry a wild defiant sorrow. Roaming where few men dare, wolves pierce the silence with their powerful song. The howl begins low and melodious. The sound is lonely, haunting, as if the voices of our ancestors were howling through the canyons and forests. Then, as the last note descends, it is quiet, as the winds whisper like spirits of ancient times.
Remember that sound and treasure it. It is also the call of our forefathers. It is as old as time, wild as the wind and as poetic as moonlight on snow.
Can you hear it?