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Winter 2008-RANGE-Anxiety Through the Ages

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Winter 2008-RANGE-Anxiety Through the Ages ANXIETY THROUGH THE AGES In his new book, “Wolves in Russia,” Will N. Graves chronicles the reasons wolves are feared by the people who must live with them. Introduction only old, sick, or crippled wolves attack peo- support from the Government of Canada by Barney Nelson, Ph.D. ple. The current facts do not support that and the Alberta Foundation for the Arts. For belief.” more information, see Graves’ website at “Wolves in Russia” is a must-read book for This year, with editorial help from a Cana- www.wolvesinrussia.com. wolf advocates, ranchers, college professors, dian scientist, Graves has now published his The following are excerpts from “Wolves government agencies, and those who might life’s work on Russian wolves through Det- in Russia: Anxiety through the Ages” (2007): be camping in wolf territory. Will Graves’ bal- selig Enterprises, Ltd. of Calgary, Alberta, with anced investigation provides rare honesty and sanity in a groundbreaking and illuminating collection of Russian wolf science and docu- mented predation on humans and livestock. The book paints a vivid picture of govern- ment suppression of information; it docu- ments the effect of an unarmed population on wolf behavior; and it points to cycles of PHOTOS COURTESY WILL GRAVES terror and starvation that correspond to wolf population explosions. The author led a far-flung, adventurous life. During the Mexican outbreak of Foot and Mouth Disease,he served in 1950 as chief of a horseback cattle-vaccinating brigade where he became interested in wolves spreading diseases among cloven-hoofed ani- mals. Next, he went on to careers with U.S. Will Graves in Mexico, 1950. Air Force and Army intelligence in Germany during the Cold War, and as assistant con- From the Foreword by editor ence that did it. sular at the U.S. Embassy in Moscow. His A pack of wolves settled for about four combined employment in livestock diseases Valerius Geist, Ph.D., professor years near our home on Vancouver Island, and national security eventually led to an ever emeritus of environmental Canada, and behaved in typical “Russian” increasing interest in wolves. After a lifetime science, University of Calgary fashion. This most “un-American behavior” of government service, Graves retired, fluent of wolves lasted until the last pack member in four languages—English, Spanish, Ger- This book is a unique review of wolves as was shot three years later.... Wolves in Russia man, and Russian. experienced in a culture much different from or North America behave in identical fash- While in Russia, he became friends with ours in North America. It was put to paper by ion—depending on the circumstances. Cir- numerous Russian professors, scientists, and an American linguist, who, to upgrade his cumstance is crucial, not geography. The hunters, amassing a huge collection of data, understanding of the Russian language, began wolves here and there are the same animals, oral interviews, and literature on Russian to read about wolves in Russia.... acting in all cases with brutal logic to fit the wolves. His research spanned the centuries as What the Russian authors take for grant- circumstances. That’s why the Russian experi- he sifted through government documents, ed, but which readers in the West may not be ence as told in his book is so important for us magazine and newspaper articles, travel cognizant of, is the great poverty of the rural in the West. North Americans have an oppor- diaries, village parish registers, hunter and population especially under Communist mis- tunity to learn from others in good time to hunting club records, and bounty payments. management. Wolf depredation, and the adopt management measures that minimize Instead of simply totaling numbers, he chronic helplessness to stop it, added to that dangers and problems with wolves. If we fail methodically reports every incident, month deep misery and despair.... The condition of to discuss the Russian experience and contin- by month, year by year; every research study, poverty-stricken serfs was not a political pri- ue with myopic and currently fashionable every interview. ority in Russia, unlike the control of peasant romantic visions about wolves, which are Although sometimes his method seems rebellions and revolutions. This led to social enshrined in law, then in the long run it will tedious, it prevents naysayers from accusing policies in the Russian Empire that generated be wolves, if not wildlife conservation as a him of exaggeration. Eventually his details of an environment in which wolves were able to whole, that will pay the price. We can learn wolf attacks on children and unarmed people thrive and maintain themselves. It is here from history that failure to manage wolves walking or working alone begin to form a where we can learn from history. results in their decimation, if not extinction. pattern in the reader’s mind. The accumula- I have been as guilty as anyone of think- Unfortunately, as the great philosopher tion of victims’ names, ages, dates, places, wit- ing, without adequate investigation or inter- Emanuel Kant once quipped, we learn from nesses, and sources as well as the health, est, that the Russian experience with wolves history that we do not learn from history! weight, and gender of the attacking wolves was irrelevant to us in the West. I regret to say Russian experiences with wolves are dis- eventually becomes convincing. Periodically, that it is not! It was an error on my part—a tant to us in part by virtue of language and he summarizes his extensive collection of deep error. I would have been glad to report attitude. North Americans are notoriously examples with the low-key, objective voice of that scholarship made me abandon that error, unilingual and ahistorical. We live narrowly in JOE MCDONALD/TOM STACK & ASSOCIATES © a scientist: “It is sometimes suggested that but it has not. It was brutal personal experi- the universe of the English language, and even WINTER 2008 • RANGE MAGAZINE • 9 our institutions of higher learning promote that singularity. We suffer from institutional amnesia. Consequently, historical accounts are undervalued and those scholars who buck that trend assume a maverick status. Also, sci- entism casts its long, dark shadow. All is not well in the scholarship of biological science.... Most North Americans today have a very benign and romantic view of wolves, in good part because they have been largely spared negative experiences. The reason is simple: an armed population. In North America wolves threatening livestock or persons met, invari- ably, a person with a gun who, without fanfare or publicity, killed the wolf or wolves. And if that failed, predator control officers were brought in to eliminate wolves. That is still the experience in rural Canada. And that is also my personal experience. Any outbreak of rabies also had consequences in Canada, such as the application of poisoned bait to elimi- nate wolves. And then there is a market in wolf fur, which also depressed wolf numbers. Wolves in North America are, historically, Russian illustration, 1883, showing panic caused by wolves. shy and careful for excellent reasons. I From the Author’s Preface in their prime. Some write that a healthy From the Book wolf will not attack a human; wolves are I have always loved nature, animals, and the wolves, and in Russia and Asia, throughout Leonid P. Sabaneev is considered to be the out-of-doors. I have been an avid hunter, fish- history, wolves, including healthy wolves, first scientist to write about wolves in Russia. erman, and sportsman since my early youth. have been attacking and killing people. His well-researched book, published in 1876, Some of my fondest memories are hunting There is also much documentation about contained detailed information about wolves and target shooting with my father, primarily wolves in Russia and the U.S.S.R. eating peo- and their damage to the Russian economy. It in Texas and Wisconsin.... ple. One western author wrote that wolves in also dealt with wolf attacks on humans. I first started researching for this book northern climates prey and exist primarily on Sabaneev wrote, “The wolf is...a menacing about wolves in 1965 when I became disgust- lemmings and rodents, and not on caribou. symbol of the poverty, helplessness and sup- ed with all of the highly pro-wolf—mislead- Some write that fear of wolves is based on pression of the masses of the people.” Saba- neev states that V. M. Lazarevskij reported that wolves in Russia were killing more than Most North Americans today have a very benign and romantic 200 people a year in the 1800s.... Children view of wolves—because they have been largely spared negative who lived in villages were more likely than experiences. The reason is simple: an armed population. adults to become victims for several reasons: first, children usually went into the forests to ing and often inaccurate—western literature superstition and old wives tales and not on pick berries and mushrooms without accom- about wolves. I had learned a lot about wolves facts. So, I decided to write a book to make panying adults; second, children often tended from reading Russian. available to the American people what I have and watched over cattle and sheep; third, chil- By 1965 I had already been reading read and learned about wolf characteristics, dren often mistook wolves for dogs and tried Russian literature about wolves and talking habits, and behaviors. to pet them; fourth, children would often to many Russians about wolves for 14 years. Most of what I have learned is from walk to and from school, sometimes along I could not understand how any writers reading Russian and from talking to Rus- forest paths...
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