A Wildlife Article from All-Creatures.org

Protecting Wolves, One Health and Humanity: Stop Crying Wolf! Cry for the Wolves

From Dr. Michael W. Fox, OneHealth.com
February 2023

Allowing any hunting if the wolf population reaches some estimated number is ethically and ecologically unacceptable. There will be inevitable suffering of injured survivors and of pack -members losing their companions.

Patrice Schoefolt Pexels

Wolves embody the same spark that ignites and sustains the human spirit, and the One Health of Earth.

“We humans should be noble because we are star dust, and humble because we are manure.” ~ Serbian saying.

I speak and write about wolves as a veterinarian, scientist and bioethicist who has raised wolf cubs and studied their behavior, development and communication. Without wolves in my life, I would not likely have earned the doctor of science degree in animal behaviour/ethology from London University, England. I have authored and edited several academic books about wolves and other wild canids, and the award-winning book of fiction for children, The Wolf.

One of the founding fathers of the science of animal behavior/ethology, Nobel prize laureate Konrad Lorenz, MD, proclaimed “Before you can really study an animal you must first love it.” Native American Indian Chief Dan George put it this way: “If you talk to the animals, they will talk with you and you will know each other. If you do not talk to them, you will not know them, and what you do not know you will fear. What one fears one destroys.”

Those who know wolves would respect rather than seek to destroy them. I can attest to their high degree of intelligence, insight, playful humor and empathy as detailed in my popular book The Soul of the Wolf. Wolves are exemplary parents, instilling obedience in their cubs so essential for their survival as well as self-control, gentleness and pack-cooperation/mutual aid. They will bring food to a pack-mate who is injured, most often while hunting. Conflicts between packs are rare but when food is scarce there can be injuries, deaths and dispersal.

The vital role of wolves in contributing to the health of deer and other wildlife and their ecosystems, and to public health have been well documented. The ecological, environmental and public health services that wolves provide help rectify the ecological, environmental and public health costs of the livestock industry, too long denied. (https://drfoxonehealth.com/post/wolves-and-human-well-being-ecological-public-health-concerns/).

[Listen to an excellent recording of WOLF HOWLS HERE.]

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Please read the ENTIRE ARTICLE HERE.

NOTE:

Wildlife photographer Jim Robertson, in his 2012 book about trophy hunting, Exposing the Big Game: Living Targets of a Dying Sport writes:

“Children the world over are taught a version of the golden rule, roughly along the lines of, “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.“ Kids are generally told that this directive applies to everyone, from their parents and teachers to their siblings and friends—not just to members of their in-group. And a lot of parents wouldn‘t hesitate to invoke the golden rule to stop a child from hurting the family pet. Yet for many people, the bias of speciesism is so entrenched that they can‘t seem to recognize a wild animal as a deserving other. But biases and isms are not written in stone. If humanity keeps evolving along a compassion continuum, we will inevitably apply the same rules of consideration to all creatures who have the ability to think and feel.

“Perhaps it’s time to update and clarify the golden rule to read: 'Do unto other sentient beings as they would have you do unto them.'”

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