Wolves

This summer, while visiting family for my nephew’s wedding, we were invited to an educational facility in California dedicated to wolves. Now, wolves are awesome creatures and, as a family, we are dedicated to wildlife and environmental conservation and often work with our local wildlife rehabilitator (Iowa Wildlife Center!), so when we were invited to “play with the wolves,” well, my veterinary brain immediately said, “Wow, really? Is this safe?” and then, “But these are wild animals, wild animals are always wild” and then, “How is this fair to the wolves? They aren’t going to be released after this are they?” among other questions...

So I did a bit of checking, looked at their website with photos and realized—these are wolf-dog-hybrids. This made me feel a bit better about being the professional veterinary representative for my sister’s entire extended family of in-laws, but not by much. Also, “playing” was limited to standing quietly and letting them sniff you, handing them treats in a controlled environment and absolutely no running. I have seen wolf-hybrids as patients and generally they have been a bit more cautious than your average labrador, but otherwise manageable and these animals were certainly more socialized than most of my patients. I was curious, as was the rest of the group, so we left all small children at home (after my sister’s instructions— “no running around screaming like a wounded rabbit!”) and ventured off to see what we would see.

We started with an educational program which included a 4 minute video
How Wolves Change Rivers. This is an over-simplified view of the complex ecological interactions in the wild, but is pretty cool anyway. It talks about how re-introducing the larger predators in Yellowstone decreased the elk population and changed their habits allowing the plant life around the water sources to recover providing shelter for other birds and mammals with an interesting trickle-down effect (pardon my pun). This effect has been discussed in other documentaries that I have seen.

Before the actual wolf interaction we were given instructions not to hug the wolves around the neck or approach them from overhead, which can be intimidating or seen as a show of aggression—also good tips for approaching a strange dog! The owners seemed to have a good understanding of animal behavior, motivation and training. These were definitely food-motivated animals and worked for their food. Some of them had been used in movies (this was California after all). Overall, I felt that the owners knew their animals, and worked hard to minimize risk (a couple of the wolves were more shy and not allowed in with us). Mostly these “wolves” behaved like dogs, looking for treats and wanting to be petted. This organization seemed to be a way for this couple, with their pack of wolf-hybrids, to follow their passion and educate about the wolves at the same time. Their message seemed to focus on busting the myths of the evil wolf wanting to eat us. It did concern me that somewhere in the translation we were losing respect for their wildness. The truth is somewhere in-between, along with these hybrids, in that muddy middle-ground. I just hoped these people had really good liability insurance! Because, still, a wild animal is always wild. I would not have been in there with a “tame” grizzly or mountain lion, even in California.

I thought a lot about wildness that day. What makes an animal wild, what allows them to be domesticated and where is that line drawn. It is fascinating to imagine our distant ancestors and their first interactions with the wolves that would eventually become our domestic dogs, from Pugs to Great Danes. I realized that I often approach my patients as if they were wild and unpredictable, especially cats. I respect their inner beast, inner wildness and learn as much as I can about their body language and subtle communications, basic dislikes—like being approached directly from the front or over the top. The owner of this wolf center talked about a recent wildfire that devastated the area around them and with that too he spoke of knowing fire and wind patterns, how with understanding we can decrease if not completely eliminate fear. Fear certainly has its place and if controlled can give us caution, common sense. Most of us have to go out our front door and face some fear everyday, even if it is not a wolf-pack!