![Caccia-lupo](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f7/Caccia-lupo.jpg)
Wolf hunting is the practice of hunting
gray wolves
The wolf (''Canis lupus''; : wolves), also known as the gray wolf or grey wolf, is a large canine native to Eurasia and North America. More than thirty subspecies of ''Canis lupus'' have been recognized, and gray wolves, as popularly u ...
''(Canis lupus)'' or other species of
wolves
The wolf (''Canis lupus''; plural, : wolves), also known as the gray wolf or grey wolf, is a large Canis, canine native to Eurasia and North America. More than thirty subspecies of Canis lupus, subspecies of ''Canis lupus'' have been reco ...
. Wolves are mainly hunted for sport, for their skins, to protect livestock and, in some rare cases, to protect humans.
Wolves have been actively hunted since 8,000 to 10,000 years ago, when they first began to pose a threat to livestock of
Neolithic
The Neolithic period, or New Stone Age, is an Old World archaeological period and the final division of the Stone Age. It saw the Neolithic Revolution, a wide-ranging set of developments that appear to have arisen independently in several parts ...
human communities.
Historically, the hunting of wolves was a huge capital- and manpower-intensive operation. The threat wolves posed to both livestock and people was considered significant enough to warrant the conscription of whole villages under threat of punishment, despite the disruption of economic activities and reduced taxes.
The hunting of gray wolves, while originally actively endorsed in many countries, has become a controversial issue across the globe. Most people see it as
cruel
Cruelty is the pleasure in inflicting suffering or inaction towards another's suffering when a clear remedy is readily available. Sadism can also be related to this form of action or concept. Cruel ways of inflicting suffering may involve vi ...
, unnecessary and based on misconceptions, while proponents argue that it is apparently vital for the
conservation
Conservation is the preservation or efficient use of resources, or the conservation of various quantities under physical laws.
Conservation may also refer to:
Environment and natural resources
* Nature conservation, the protection and manageme ...
of game herds and as
pest control
Pest control is the regulation or management of a species defined as a pest; any animal, plant or fungus that impacts adversely on human activities or environment. The human response depends on the importance of the damage done and will range ...
.
History
Europe and Russia
In the sixth century BC, the first wolf bounty was reportedly opened when
Solon
Solon ( grc-gre, Σόλων; BC) was an Athenian statesman, constitutional lawmaker and poet. He is remembered particularly for his efforts to legislate against political, economic and moral decline in Archaic Athens.Aristotle ''Politics'' ...
of
Athens
Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates ...
offered five silver
drachmas
The drachma ( el, δραχμή , ; pl. ''drachmae'' or ''drachmas'') was the currency used in Greece during several periods in its history:
# An ancient Greek currency unit issued by many Greek city states during a period of ten centuries, fro ...
to any hunter for killing any male wolf, and one for every female.
In Ancient Rome, the treatment given to wolves differed from the treatment meted out to other large predators. The Romans generally seem to have refrained from intentionally harming wolves. For instance, they were not hunted for pleasure (but only in order to protect herds that were out at pasture), and not displayed in the
venatio
Venatio ( la, venatio, "hunting", plural ''venationes'') was a type of entertainment in Roman amphitheaters involving the hunting and killing of wild animals.
History
Venatio was first introduced by Marcus Fulvius Nobilior, who celebrated his G ...
nes, either. The special status of the wolf was not based on national ideology, but rather was connected to the religious importance of the wolf to the Romans.
British isles
In
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
of 950,
King Athelstan
King is the title given to a male monarch in a variety of contexts. The female equivalent is queen, which title is also given to the consort of a king.
*In the context of prehistory, antiquity and contemporary indigenous peoples, the tit ...
imposed an annual
tribute
A tribute (; from Latin ''tributum'', "contribution") is wealth, often in kind, that a party gives to another as a sign of submission, allegiance or respect. Various ancient states exacted tribute from the rulers of land which the state conqu ...
of 300 wolf skins on
Welsh
Welsh may refer to:
Related to Wales
* Welsh, referring or related to Wales
* Welsh language, a Brittonic Celtic language spoken in Wales
* Welsh people
People
* Welsh (surname)
* Sometimes used as a synonym for the ancient Britons (Celtic peop ...
king
Hywel Dda
Hywel Dda, sometimes anglicised as Howel the Good, or Hywel ap Cadell (died 949/950) was a king of Deheubarth who eventually came to rule most of Wales. He became the sole king of Seisyllwg in 920 and shortly thereafter established Deheubarth ...
, an imposition which was maintained until the
Norman conquest of England
The Norman Conquest (or the Conquest) was the 11th-century invasion and occupation of England by an army made up of thousands of Normans, Norman, Duchy of Brittany, Breton, County of Flanders, Flemish, and Kingdom of France, French troops, ...
.
At the time, several criminals, rather than being put to death, would be ordered to provide a certain number of wolf tongues annually.
[''The Progressive English reading books'', by Nelson Thomas and sons, ltd, 1862] The
Norman
Norman or Normans may refer to:
Ethnic and cultural identity
* The Normans, a people partly descended from Norse Vikings who settled in the territory of Normandy in France in the 10th and 11th centuries
** People or things connected with the Norm ...
kings (reigning from 1066 to 1154) employed servants as wolf hunters and many held lands granted on condition they fulfilled this duty.
William the Conqueror
William I; ang, WillelmI (Bates ''William the Conqueror'' p. 33– 9 September 1087), usually known as William the Conqueror and sometimes William the Bastard, was the first House of Normandy, Norman List of English monarchs#House of Norman ...
granted the lordship of Riddesdale in Northumberland to Robert de Umfraville on condition that he defend that land from enemies and wolves.
There were no restrictions or penalties in the hunting of wolves, except in royal game reserves, under the reasoning that the temptation for a commoner to shoot a deer there was too great.
King John King John may refer to:
Rulers
* John, King of England (1166–1216)
* John I of Jerusalem (c. 1170–1237)
* John Balliol, King of Scotland (c. 1249–1314)
* John I of France (15–20 November 1316)
* John II of France (1319–1364)
* John I o ...
gave a premium of 10 shillings for the capture of two wolves.
King
Edward VI
Edward VI (12 October 1537 – 6 July 1553) was King of England and Ireland from 28 January 1547 until his death in 1553. He was crowned on 20 February 1547 at the age of nine. Edward was the son of Henry VIII and Jane Seymour and the first E ...
who reigned from 1272 to 1307 ordered the total extermination of all wolves in his kingdom and personally employed one Peter Corbet, with instructions to destroy wolves in the counties of
Gloucestershire
Gloucestershire ( abbreviated Glos) is a county in South West England. The county comprises part of the Cotswold Hills, part of the flat fertile valley of the River Severn and the entire Forest of Dean.
The county town is the city of Gl ...
,
Herefordshire
Herefordshire () is a county in the West Midlands of England, governed by Herefordshire Council. It is bordered by Shropshire to the north, Worcestershire to the east, Gloucestershire to the south-east, and the Welsh counties of Monmouthshire ...
,
Worcestershire
Worcestershire ( , ; written abbreviation: Worcs) is a county in the West Midlands of England. The area that is now Worcestershire was absorbed into the unified Kingdom of England in 927, at which time it was constituted as a county (see His ...
,
Shropshire
Shropshire (; alternatively Salop; abbreviated in print only as Shrops; demonym Salopian ) is a landlocked historic county in the West Midlands region of England. It is bordered by Wales to the west and the English counties of Cheshire to th ...
and
Staffordshire
Staffordshire (; postal abbreviation Staffs.) is a landlocked county in the West Midlands region of England. It borders Cheshire to the northwest, Derbyshire and Leicestershire to the east, Warwickshire to the southeast, the West Midlands Cou ...
, areas near the
Welsh Marches
The Welsh Marches ( cy, Y Mers) is an imprecisely defined area along the border between England and Wales in the United Kingdom. The precise meaning of the term has varied at different periods.
The English term Welsh March (in Medieval Latin ...
where wolves were more common than in the southern areas of England.
James I of Scotland
James I (late July 139421 February 1437) was King of Scots from 1406 until his assassination in 1437. The youngest of three sons, he was born in Dunfermline Abbey to King Robert III and Annabella Drummond. His older brother David, Duke of Ro ...
passed a law in 1427 requiring three wolf hunts a year between April 25 to August 1, coinciding with the wolf's cubbing season.
The wolf became extinct in England during the reign of
Henry VII (1485–1509).
![Gerard Rijsbrack - Wolf Hunt](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/26/Gerard_Rijsbrack_-_Wolf_Hunt.jpg)
It is known that wolves survived in
Scotland
Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...
up until the 18th century.
Mary, Queen of Scots
Mary, Queen of Scots (8 December 1542 – 8 February 1587), also known as Mary Stuart or Mary I of Scotland, was Queen of Scotland from 14 December 1542 until her forced abdication in 1567.
The only surviving legitimate child of James V of Scot ...
, is known to have hunted wolves in the forest of
Atholl
Atholl or Athole ( gd, Athall; Old Gaelic ''Athfhotla'') is a large historical division in the Scottish Highlands, bordering (in anti-clockwise order, from Northeast) Marr, Badenoch, Lochaber, Breadalbane, Strathearn, Perth, and Gowrie. Histor ...
in 1563.
Stories on the killing of the alleged last wolf of Scotland vary. Official records indicate that the last Scottish wolf was killed by Sir Ewan Cameron in 1680. Popular folklore on the other hand tells of how an old man named
MacQueen of Pall à Chrocain
MacQueen of Pall a' Chrocain was a legendary Highland deer stalker popularly believed to have slain the last wolf in Scotland in 1743. The scene of the incident was Darnaway Forest in the province of Morayshire. MacQueen received a message from hi ...
in the
Findhorn
Findhorn ( gd, Inbhir Èir or ''Inbhir Èireann'') is a village in Moray, Scotland. It is located on the eastern shore of Findhorn Bay and immediately south of the Moray Firth. Findhorn is 3 miles (5 km) northwest of Kinloss, and about 5 m ...
Valley of
Morayshire
Moray; ( gd, Moireibh ) or Morayshire, called Elginshire until 1919, is a historic county, registration county and lieutenancy area of Scotland, bordering Nairnshire to the west, Inverness-shire to the south, and Banffshire to the east. It w ...
killed the last wolf in 1743.
Ireland throughout most of the first half of the 17th century had a substantial wolf population of not less than 400 and may be as high as 1000 wolves at any one time. Although the Irish hunted wolves, it is evident from documentary data that they did not see the same need as the English to exterminate the wolves. Although wolves were perceived as threats, they were nonetheless seen as natural parts of the Irish landscapes. The level of rewards and bounties established by
Oliver Cromwell
Oliver Cromwell (25 April 15993 September 1658) was an English politician and military officer who is widely regarded as one of the most important statesmen in English history. He came to prominence during the 1639 to 1651 Wars of the Three Ki ...
's regime after the
Cromwellian conquest of Ireland
The Cromwellian conquest of Ireland or Cromwellian war in Ireland (1649–1653) was the re-conquest of Ireland by the forces of the English Parliament, led by Oliver Cromwell, during the Wars of the Three Kingdoms. Cromwell invaded Ireland wi ...
(1649–1653) attracted a few professional wolf hunters to Ireland, mostly from England. Politically, the prospect of numbers of armed Irish roaming around the country hunting wolves was not acceptable, given the ongoing conflict between the Irish and the new English settlers, so it was seen as much safer for the English authorities to encourage men from their own country to deal with the wolf problem. Wolves were exterminated from Ireland in the late 18th century, most likely 1786.
Western and central Europe
In 9th century France,
Charlemagne
Charlemagne ( , ) or Charles the Great ( la, Carolus Magnus; german: Karl der Große; 2 April 747 – 28 January 814), a member of the Carolingian dynasty, was King of the Franks from 768, King of the Lombards from 774, and the first Holy ...
founded an elite corps of crown funded officials called , whose purpose was to control wolf populations in
France
France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...
during the Middle Ages.
Luparii were responsible for the initial reduction of wolf populations in France, which would become decimated in later centuries. The office of is today known as the
Wolfcatcher Royal
The Wolfcatcher Royal (french: louvetier royal), a position also known historically as the Grand Wolfcatcher (french: grand louvetier) which is now known as , was established as a prestigious office in the House of the King during the Ancien R ...
.
On 9 August 1787 the office of luparii was dissolved because of financing issues during the
French Revolution
The French Revolution ( ) was a period of radical political and societal change in France that began with the Estates General of 1789 and ended with the formation of the French Consulate in November 1799. Many of its ideas are considere ...
but was reinstated twelve years later by
Napoleon
Napoleon Bonaparte ; it, Napoleone Bonaparte, ; co, Napulione Buonaparte. (born Napoleone Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French military commander and political leader who ...
.
After the Revolution ended, wolf hunting was no longer an activity reserved for the aristocracy. Wolves could be killed for monetary rewards equivalent to a month's pay. From 1818 to 1829, 1400 wolves were killed each year. This high kill rate coincided with the increased distribution of
flintlock
Flintlock is a general term for any firearm that uses a flint-striking lock (firearm), ignition mechanism, the first of which appeared in Western Europe in the early 16th century. The term may also apply to a particular form of the mechanism its ...
s. At the dawn of the 19th century, there were up to 5000 wolves in France, a number which was reduced to half that amount by 1850. By 1890, the wolf population had been reduced to 1000 animals, and further fell to 500 in 1900 because of increased usage of
strychnine
Strychnine (, , US chiefly ) is a highly toxic, colorless, bitter, crystalline alkaloid used as a pesticide, particularly for killing small vertebrates such as birds and rodents. Strychnine, when inhaled, swallowed, or absorbed through the eye ...
. Wolves temporarily increased during the
First World War
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
, though by the time it ended, the population was estimated to be between 150 and 200 animals. The last confirmed French wolf kill occurred in 1937.
With the extinction of the wolf in metropolitan France, the office of Wolfcatcher Royal was modified in 1971 and now serves an administrative function regulating vermin and maintaining healthy wildlife populations.
Wolf bounties were regularly paid in Italy during the 12th and 13th centuries and as recently as the 1950s.
Gian Galeazzo Visconti
Gian Galeazzo Visconti (16 October 1351 – 3 September 1402), was the first duke of Milan (1395) and ruled the late-medieval city just before the dawn of the Renaissance. He also ruled Lombardy jointly with his uncle Bernabò. He was the foundi ...
himself offered ten Imperial marks for every wolf killed.
600 wolves are recorded to have been bountied between the 14th and 19th centuries. Presentation of the killed wolf to the authorities was obligatory. The authorities had to give an accurate testimony with a description of the presented animal (gender, weight, measurements, color, estimated age, etc.) and the symptomatic ascertainment of any rabies infection. The wolf's paw was then amputated and/or its ears were sealed in wax in order to avoid the spoils being represented elsewhere. Only one case of fraud occurred, in 1834, which was punished by arrest. Italian wolf hunters lacked the organisation or determination of their French counterparts, having not formed any special hunting teams. Wolves were exterminated from the
Alps
The Alps () ; german: Alpen ; it, Alpi ; rm, Alps ; sl, Alpe . are the highest and most extensive mountain range system that lies entirely in Europe, stretching approximately across seven Alpine countries (from west to east): France, Sw ...
in the 19th century, though they were never fully exterminated in the peninsula.
In Switzerland, conflicts between humans and wolves reached a peak in the 16th century, amid large-scale deforestation. Wolves became extinct in
Zürich
Zürich () is the list of cities in Switzerland, largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zürich. It is located in north-central Switzerland, at the northwestern tip of Lake Zürich. As of January 2020, the municipality has 43 ...
in 1684. They were later exterminated from
Appenzell Ausserrhoden
Appenzell Ausserrhoden (; in English sometimes Appenzell Outer Rhodes) (german: Kanton Appenzell Ausserrhoden; rm, Chantun Appenzell Dadora; french: Canton d'Appenzell Rhodes-Extérieures; it, Canton Appenzello Esterno) is one of the 26 canton ...
in 1695, and
Schaffhausen
Schaffhausen (; gsw, Schafuuse; french: Schaffhouse; it, Sciaffusa; rm, Schaffusa; en, Shaffhouse) is a list of towns in Switzerland, town with historic roots, a municipalities of Switzerland, municipality in northern Switzerland, and the ...
in 1712. The last known traces of wolves in central Switzerland date back to 1707 in
Zug
, neighboring_municipalities = Cham, Baar, Walchwil, Steinhausen, Unterägeri
, twintowns = Fürstenfeld (Austria), Kalesija (Bosnia-Herzegowina)
Zug (Standard German: , Alemannic German: ; french: Zoug it, Zugo r ...
, 1753 in
Uri Uri may refer to:
Places
* Canton of Uri, a canton in Switzerland
* Úri, a village and commune in Hungary
* Uri, Iran, a village in East Azerbaijan Province
* Uri, Jammu and Kashmir, a town in India
* Uri (island), an island off Malakula Islan ...
, and 1793 in
Glarus
, neighboring_municipalities= Glarus Nord, Glarus Süd, Muotathal (SZ), Innerthal (SZ)
, twintowns= Wiesbaden-Biebrich (Germany)
}
Glarus (; gsw, Glaris; french: Glaris; it, Glarona; rm, Glaruna) is the capital of the canton of Glarus in S ...
. Wolves became extinct in
Engadin
The Engadin or Engadine ( rm, ;This is the name in the two Romansh idioms that are spoken in the Engadin, Vallader and Puter, as well as in Sursilvan and Rumantsch Grischun. In Surmiran, the name is ''Nagiadegna'', and in Sutsilvan, it is ' ...
in 1821. Between 1762 and 1842, 80 wolves were recorded to have been bountied in
Vaud
Vaud ( ; french: (Canton de) Vaud, ; german: (Kanton) Waadt, or ), more formally the canton of Vaud, is one of the 26 cantons forming the Swiss Confederation. It is composed of ten districts and its capital city is Lausanne. Its coat of arms b ...
. Wolves were further exterminated in
Valais
Valais ( , , ; frp, Valês; german: Wallis ), more formally the Canton of Valais,; german: Kanton Wallis; in other official Swiss languages outside Valais: it, (Canton) Vallese ; rm, (Chantun) Vallais. is one of the cantons of Switzerland, 26 ...
in 1870,
Ticino
Ticino (), sometimes Tessin (), officially the Republic and Canton of Ticino or less formally the Canton of Ticino,, informally ''Canton Ticino'' ; lmo, Canton Tesin ; german: Kanton Tessin ; french: Canton du Tessin ; rm, Chantun dal Tessin . ...
in 1872 and
Solothurn
Solothurn ( , ; french: Soleure ; it, Soletta ; rm, ) is a List of towns in Switzerland, town, a Municipalities of Switzerland, municipality, and the Capital (political), capital of the canton of Solothurn in Switzerland. It is located in the n ...
in 1874. Wolves occasionally migrated to Switzerland in small numbers in the early 20th century. In 1908, a wolf was shot in Ticino, and a further two were killed in 1914 in
Lignerolle
Lignerolle is a municipality in the district of Jura-Nord Vaudois in the canton of Vaud in Switzerland.
History
Lignerolle is first mentioned around 1160–64 as ''de Lineroles''.
Geography
Lignerolle has an area, , of . Of this area, or 48 ...
.
In 19th century Spain, the
Principality of Asturias
Asturias (, ; ast, Asturies ), officially the Principality of Asturias ( es, Principado de Asturias; ast, Principáu d'Asturies; Galician-Asturian: ''Principao d'Asturias''), is an autonomous community in northwest Spain.
It is coextensive ...
passed an act between March and December 1816 paying out bounties for the death of 76 adult and 414 young wolves at 160
reales for an adult wolf and 32 for a wolf cub. The hunting of wolves represented a considerable source of wealth for local populations, with the or wolf-hunter being a respected county figure.
In an 1856 brochure, the Hungarian nationalist exile
István Türr
István Türr ( it, Stefano Türr, french: Étienne Türr), (10 August 1825 in Baja, Hungary – 3 May 1908 in Budapest) was a Hungarian soldier, revolutionary, canal architect and engineer, remembered in Italy for his role in that country's ...
noted, among many other grievances against
Habsburg
The House of Habsburg (), alternatively spelled Hapsburg in Englishgerman: Haus Habsburg, ; es, Casa de Habsburgo; hu, Habsburg család, it, Casa di Asburgo, nl, Huis van Habsburg, pl, dom Habsburgów, pt, Casa de Habsburgo, la, Domus Hab ...
rule in his country, that "Since the restriction of the liberty of hunting and the seizure of all arms in Hungary, wild beasts have so multiplied, that, besides an enormous damage done to the crops, the flocks, and the poultry, the wolves venture, not only into villages, but into the very towns, and besides doing fearful depredations, attack even people. The number of (district huntsmen appointed by the government) is not sufficient to destroy them; arid in consequence of the universal dislike to public functionaries, increased still more by the circumstance that they are not Hungarians, the landed proprietors do not allow them to hunt on their grounds. One of these huntsmen told me that a nobleman, being requested to allow him to kill some wolves which were in his forest, refused by saying, "No, sir! the wolves belong to me, not to the
government."
In Croatia, between 1986 and 2004, 115 wolf deaths were recorded, of which 54% were due to shooting. During that period, the number of dead wolves found ranged from 0 to 15 annually. The lowest kill rates occurred in the late 1980s and early 1990s, coinciding with the start of the
Croatian War of Independence
The Croatian War of Independence was fought from 1991 to 1995 between Croat forces loyal to the Government of Croatia—which had declared independence from the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (SFRY)—and the Serb-controlled Yugosl ...
.
Northern and eastern Europe
The Swedish kings
Magnus Eriksson and
Christopher of Bavaria
Christopher of Bavaria (26 February 1416 – 5/6 January 1448) was King of Denmark (1440–48, as Christopher III), Sweden (1441–48) and Norway (1442–48) during the era of the Kalmar Union.
Biography
Coming to power
He was the son of John, ...
decreed wolf hunting a civic duty, with only priests, parish clerks and landless women exempted. Sweden's first wolf bounty was opened in 1647. The bounties remained in force in
the new laws of the
Kingdom of Sweden
Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic countries, Nordic c ...
from 1734.
Hundreds of
Sami
Acronyms
* SAMI, ''Synchronized Accessible Media Interchange'', a closed-captioning format developed by Microsoft
* Saudi Arabian Military Industries, a government-owned defence company
* South African Malaria Initiative, a virtual expertise net ...
killed wolves in order to protect their reindeer herds. In the 1960s, wolf numbers rapidly declined with the onset of snow mobiles used for hunting. Sweden's last wolf was killed in 1966, after which, the species was declared legally protected and eventually recolonized the area.
Norway followed a similar pattern as Sweden, with its last wolf being killed in 1976, before becoming being protected and eventually recolonizing the area.
In the
Lithuanian SSR
The Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic (Lithuanian SSR; lt, Lietuvos Tarybų Socialistinė Respublika; russian: Литовская Советская Социалистическая Республика, Litovskaya Sovetskaya Sotsialistiche ...
, the hunting of wolves was formally permitted all year long with killing cubs in their dens and payment of monetary rewards. The number of wolves in those times in Lithuania fell to about 20–40 individuals.
In
Communist Romania
The Socialist Republic of Romania ( ro, Republica Socialistă România, RSR) was a Marxism–Leninism, Marxist–Leninist One-party state, one-party socialist state that existed officially in Romania from 1947 to 1989. From 1947 to 1965, the s ...
, up to 2,800 wolves were killed between 1955 and 1965.
During the reign of
Nicolae Ceauşescu Nicolae may refer to:
* Nicolae (name), a Romanian name
* ''Nicolae'' (novel), a 1997 novel
See also
*Nicolai (disambiguation)
*Nicolao Nicolao is an Italian given name and a surname. It may refer to the following:
Given name
*Nicolao Civitali ...
, a reward equal to a quarter of a month's pay was offered to rangers killing wolf cubs. Full-grown wolves killed by any method at all resulted in as much as a half-month's pay.
![Okhota na volka](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/af/Okhota_na_volka.jpg)
In
Czarist Russia
The Tsardom of Russia or Tsardom of Rus' also externally referenced as the Tsardom of Muscovy, was the centralized Russian state from the assumption of the title of Tsar by Ivan IV in 1547 until the foundation of the Russian Empire by Peter I in ...
, before the
emancipation reform of 1861
The emancipation reform of 1861 in Russia, also known as the Edict of Emancipation of Russia, (russian: Крестьянская реформа 1861 года, translit=Krestyanskaya reforma 1861 goda – "peasants' reform of 1861") was the first ...
, wolf hunting was done solely by authorized firearm holders, usually police, soldiers, rich landowners or nobles. Upon learning of the frequency of attacks on livestock and humans, the
Ministry of the Interior
An interior ministry (sometimes called a ministry of internal affairs or ministry of home affairs) is a government department that is responsible for internal affairs.
Lists of current ministries of internal affairs
Named "ministry"
* Ministry ...
sent agents to Western Europe in order to learn how the people there dealt with wolf problems. Upon returning, the Ministry of the Interior developed a plan in 1846 to deal with wolves involving the opening of wolf bounties and appointment of government hunters. Each hunter was given jurisdiction to hunt in one district, with more than one for large areas. Hunters were given 3
rubles
The ruble (American English) or rouble (Commonwealth English) (; rus, рубль, p=rublʲ) is the currency unit of Belarus and Russia. Historically, it was the currency of the Russian Empire and of the Soviet Union.
, currencies named ''rub ...
for each male wolf killed and 1.5 for each cub, with a tail presented as proof. Each hunter would receive an annual salary of 60 rubles a year, provided he killed 15 adults and 30 cubs a year. Peasant hunters, however, were rarely rewarded, because of corrupt bureaucrats stealing the money. In 1858, after paying the equivalent of $1,250,000 for over a million wolves in Central Russia, officials became suspicious, and discovered that some hunters bought wolf pelts for low prices, cut them up and handed them to magistrates as wolf tails. In the later years of the 19th century, Russian hunting societies began an energetic campaign against wolves. In 1897, members of the Moscow Hunting Society killed their first 1000 wolves, though the number of professional wolf hunters at the time was rather low. Former
serf
Serfdom was the status of many peasants under feudalism, specifically relating to manorialism, and similar systems. It was a condition of debt bondage and indentured servitude with similarities to and differences from slavery, which developed ...
s began hunting wolves after their emancipation in 1861, though rarely with success, as civilian firearms were highly expensive, and the cheaper ones were usually primitive and unable to bear the heavy ammunition necessary to kill wolves.
After the
October Revolution
The October Revolution,. officially known as the Great October Socialist Revolution. in the Soviet Union, also known as the Bolshevik Revolution, was a revolution in Russia led by the Bolshevik Party of Vladimir Lenin that was a key moment ...
in 1917, the newly formed
Soviet
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...
government worked heavily to eradicate wolves and other predators during an extensive land reclamation program.
During
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
, wolf populations increased, though after
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...
's defeat, wolf hunts resumed. With the end of the war and the onset of aerial hunting, the USSR destroyed 42,300 wolves in 1945, 62,700 wolves in 1946, 58,700 wolves in 1947, 57,600 in 1948, and 55,300 in 1949. From 1950 to 1954, an average of 50,000 wolves were killed annually. In 1966, wolves had been successfully exterminated in 30
oblast
An oblast (; ; Cyrillic (in most languages, including Russian and Ukrainian): , Bulgarian: ) is a type of administrative division of Belarus, Bulgaria, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, and Ukraine, as well as the Soviet Union and the Kingdom of ...
s of the
RSFSR
The Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, Russian SFSR or RSFSR ( rus, Российская Советская Федеративная Социалистическая Республика, Rossíyskaya Sovétskaya Federatívnaya Soci ...
. During this time, wolf predation on humans and livestock had dropped by a factor of ten. However, with the publishing of a Russian translation of
Farley Mowatt
Farley McGill Mowat, (May 12, 1921 – May 6, 2014) was a Canadian writer and environmentalist. His works were translated into 52 languages, and he sold more than 17 million books. He achieved fame with the publication of his books on the Can ...
's book ''
Never Cry Wolf
''Never Cry Wolf'' is an account of the author's experience observing wolves in subarctic Canada by Farley Mowat, first published in 1963 by McClelland and Stewart. It was adapted into a film of the same name in 1983. It has been credited for dra ...
'', wolf hunts decreased in popularity. Amid public outcry, Czarist and Soviet records of wolf attacks on both livestock and people were ignored and wolf hunts decreased in number, allowing wolves to multiply. 15,900 wolves were reportedly culled from the
RSFSR
The Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, Russian SFSR or RSFSR ( rus, Российская Советская Федеративная Социалистическая Республика, Rossíyskaya Sovétskaya Federatívnaya Soci ...
in 1978, compared to 7,900 two years prior. With an increase in population, twice as many wolves were culled in the 1980s than in the prior decade.
Wolves became extinct in
Wrangel Island
Wrangel Island ( rus, О́стров Вра́нгеля, r=Ostrov Vrangelya, p=ˈostrəf ˈvrangʲɪlʲə; ckt, Умӄиԓир, translit=Umqiḷir) is an island of the Chukotka Autonomous Okrug, Russia. It is the 91st largest island in the w ...
in the early 1980s.
In 1984, the RSFSR had over 2,000 wolf hunting brigades consisting of 15,000 hunters who killed 16,400 wolves.
Overall, the Soviet Union culled over 1,500,000 wolves for a cost of 150,000,000 rubles on bounties alone. With the
dissolution of the Soviet Union
The dissolution of the Soviet Union, also negatively connoted as rus, Разва́л Сове́тского Сою́за, r=Razvál Sovétskogo Soyúza, ''Ruining of the Soviet Union''. was the process of internal disintegration within the Sov ...
, many wolf bounties were lowered or dropped altogether.
Wolf hunting continues in Russia, at the expense of individual hunters rather than the government.
Asia
![Bundesarchiv Bild 135-S-03-20-14, Tibetexpedition, Erlegter Wolf mit Pansi](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/13/Bundesarchiv_Bild_135-S-03-20-14%2C_Tibetexpedition%2C_Erlegter_Wolf_mit_Pansi.jpg)
In India,
Hindus
Hindus (; ) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism.Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pages 35–37 Historically, the term has also been used as a geographical, cultural, and later religious identifier for ...
traditionally considered the hunting of wolves, even dangerous ones, as
taboo
A taboo or tabu is a social group's ban, prohibition, or avoidance of something (usually an utterance or behavior) based on the group's sense that it is excessively repulsive, sacred, or allowed only for certain persons.''Encyclopædia Britannica ...
, for fear of causing a bad harvest. The
Santals
The Santal or Santhal are an Austroasiatic speaking
Munda ethnic group in South Asia. Santals are the largest tribe in the Jharkhand and West Bengal state of India in terms of population and are also found in the states of Odisha, Bihar and A ...
, however, considered them fair game, as with every other forest dwelling animal.
In 1876, in the
North-West Provinces
The North-Western Provinces was an administrative region in British India. The North-Western Provinces were established in 1836, through merging the administrative divisions of the Ceded and Conquered Provinces. In 1858, the nawab-ruled kingdo ...
and
Bihar
Bihar (; ) is a state in eastern India. It is the 2nd largest state by population in 2019, 12th largest by area of , and 14th largest by GDP in 2021. Bihar borders Uttar Pradesh to its west, Nepal to the north, the northern part of West Be ...
State of
British India
The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance on the Indian subcontinent. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one ...
, 2,825 wolves were killed in response to 721 fatal attacks on humans.
Two years later, 2,600 wolves were killed in response to attacks leaving 624 humans dead.
Wolf exterminations remained a priority in the NWP and
Awadh
Awadh (), known in British historical texts as Avadh or Oudh, is a region in the modern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, which was before independence known as the United Provinces of Agra and Oudh. It is synonymous with the Kośāla region of ...
through to the 1920s, because wolves were reportedly killing more people than any other predator in the region. Female cubs were bountied for 12
Indian anna
An anna (or ānna) was a currency unit formerly used in British India, equal to of a rupee. It was subdivided into four (old) Paisa or twelve pies (thus there were 192 pies in a rupee). When the rupee was decimalised and subdivided into 10 ...
s, while males for 8. Higher rewards of 5
rupee
Rupee is the common name for the currencies of
India, Mauritius, Nepal, Pakistan, Seychelles, and Sri Lanka, and of former currencies of Afghanistan, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, the United Arab Emirates (as the Gulf rupee), British East Africa, B ...
s for each adult and one for each cub were favored in
Jaunpur. In
Gorakhpur
Gorakhpur is a city in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, along the banks of the Rapti river in the Purvanchal region. It is situated 272 kilometers east of the state capital Lucknow. It is the administrative headquarters of Gorakhpur dist ...
, where human fatalities were highest in summer, the reward for an adult wolf was 4 rupees, with 3 for a cub. Acts of fraud were quite common, with some bounty hunters presenting
golden jackal
The golden jackal (''Canis aureus''), also called common jackal, is a wolf-like canid that is native to Southeast Europe, Southwest Asia, South Asia, and regions of Southeast Asia. The golden jackal's coat varies in color from a pale creamy y ...
s or simply exhuming the bodies of bountied wolves and presenting them to unsuspecting magistrates for rewards. Overall, it is thought that up to 100,000 wolves were killed in British India between 1871 and 1916.
Before the onset of the
Meiji restoration
The , referred to at the time as the , and also known as the Meiji Renovation, Revolution, Regeneration, Reform, or Renewal, was a political event that restored practical imperial rule to Japan in 1868 under Emperor Meiji. Although there were ...
period in 1868, wolves had a benign rather than noxious place in
Japanese culture
The culture of Japan has changed greatly over the millennia, from the country's prehistoric Jōmon period, to its contemporary modern culture, which absorbs influences from Asia and other regions of the world.
Historical overview
The ance ...
and folklore. Wolves were, however, occasionally hunted. Wolf bounties (''shōkin'') first appeared in
Morioka
is the capital city of Iwate Prefecture located in the Tōhoku region of northern Japan. On 1 February 2021, the city had an estimated population of 290,700 in 132,719 households, and a population density of . The total area of the city is .
...
where horse predation by wolves was frequent. Domain lords would pay 700
mon
Mon, MON or Mon. may refer to:
Places
* Mon State, a subdivision of Myanmar
* Mon, India, a town in Nagaland
* Mon district, Nagaland
* Mon, Raebareli, a village in Uttar Pradesh, India
* Mon, Switzerland, a village in the Canton of Grisons
* An ...
for males, and 900 for females, though peasants received much less.
Wolves in Japan became extinct during the Meiji restoration period, an extermination known as ''ōkami no kujo''. The wolf was deemed a threat to ranching which the Meiji government promoted at the time, and targeted via a bounty system and a direct chemical extermination campaign inspired by the similar contemporary American campaign. Starting August 1875, the
Iwate Prefecture
is a prefecture of Japan located in the Tōhoku region of Honshu. It is the second-largest Japanese prefecture at , with a population of 1,210,534 (as of October 1, 2020). Iwate Prefecture borders Aomori Prefecture to the north, Akita Prefectur ...
government offered bounties (''shōreikin'') of 7
¥ for male wolves and 8 for females. In 1878 in
Sapporo
( ain, サッ・ポロ・ペッ, Satporopet, lit=Dry, Great River) is a city in Japan. It is the largest city north of Tokyo and the largest city on Hokkaido, the northernmost main island of the country. It ranks as the fifth most populous city ...
, it was decided to set higher bounties for wolves than bears in order to further motivate the ethnic
Ainu people
The Ainu are the indigenous people of the lands surrounding the Sea of Okhotsk, including Hokkaido Island, Northeast Honshu Island, Sakhalin Island, the Kuril Islands, the Kamchatka Peninsula and Khabarovsk Krai, before the arrival of the Y ...
into killing wolves, which were once considered sacred to them.
Hokkaido experienced significant development during this period and the
Hokkaido wolf
The Hokkaido wolf (''Canis lupus hattai''), also known as the and in Russia as the Sakhalin wolf,Heptner, V. G. & Naumov, N., P. (1998''Mammals of the Soviet Union'' Vol.II Part 1a, SIRENIA AND CARNIVORA (Sea cows; Wolves and Bears) Science Pub ...
also suffered from resulting environmental disruption. The last Japanese wolf was a male killed on 23 January 1905 near Washikaguchi (now called Higashi Yoshiro). The carcass was bought by a man working for the Duke of Bedford, and was subsequently put on display in the
British Museum of Natural History
The Natural History Museum in London is a museum that exhibits a vast range of specimens from various segments of natural history. It is one of three major museums on Exhibition Road in South Kensington, the others being the Science Museum an ...
.
In the
Mongolian People's Republic
The Mongolian People's Republic ( mn, Бүгд Найрамдах Монгол Ард Улс, БНМАУ; , ''BNMAU''; ) was a socialist state which existed from 1924 to 1992, located in the historical region of Outer Mongolia in East Asia. It w ...
, the
Mongolian People's Revolutionary Party organized two national wolf hunting weeks, one in March and another in December. Anyone who killed a wolf and presented a pair of ears as proof was rewarded with a sheep and some felt. Each May, the government commanded the populace to scour the countryside for wolf lairs in an effort to exterminate wolf pups. When the inhabitants of a district believed it had destroyed its last wolf, the local government would proclaim a public holiday. Records show that up to 5,000 wolves were taken annually in the early 1930s.
4,000–4,500 wolves were killed annually in Mongolia in 1976.
In the
Kazakh SSR
; kk, Қазақ Советтік Социалистік Республикасы)
*1991: Republic of Kazakhstan (russian: Республика Казахстан; kk, Қазақстан Республикасы)
, linking_name = the ...
, some 1,000 professional hunters killed thousands of the wolves yearly to collect government bounties. In 1988, just before the Soviet economy collapsed, the hunters killed 16,000 wolves.
North America
In the majority of Native American
hunter-gatherer
A traditional hunter-gatherer or forager is a human living an ancestrally derived lifestyle in which most or all food is obtained by foraging, that is, by gathering food from local sources, especially edible wild plants but also insects, fungi, ...
societies, wolves were usually killed for body parts used in rituals, or to stop them raiding food caches,
though some tribes would raid wolf dens to kill pups when wolf populations became too great for the Natives to live with. This also served as a method of acquiring food, as wolf pups were considered a delicacy. Native Americans were aware of the dangers of habituated wolves, and would quickly dispatch wolves following them too closely.
Active hunting of wolves was rare because many tribes believed that such an act would cause game animals to disappear or bring retribution from other wolves.
The
Cherokee
The Cherokee (; chr, ᎠᏂᏴᏫᏯᎢ, translit=Aniyvwiyaʔi or Anigiduwagi, or chr, ᏣᎳᎩ, links=no, translit=Tsalagi) are one of the indigenous peoples of the Southeastern Woodlands of the United States. Prior to the 18th century, t ...
feared that the unjust killing of a wolf would bring about the vengeance of its pack mates, and that the weapon used for the deed would be useless in future unless exorcised by a medicine man. However, they would kill wolves with impunity if they knew the proper rites of atonement, and if the wolves themselves happened to raid their fish nets. When the
Kwakiutl killed a wolf, the animal would be laid out on a blanket and have portions of its flesh eaten by the perpetrators, who would express regret at the act before burying it. The
Ahtna
The Ahtna (also Ahtena, Atna, Ahtna-kohtaene, or Copper River) are an Alaska Native Athabaskan people of the Athabaskan-speaking ethnolinguistic group. The people's homeland called Atna Nenn', is located in the Copper River area of souther ...
would take the dead wolf to a hut, where it would be propped in a sitting position with a banquet made by a shaman set before it. When men from certain Inuit tribes killed a wolf, they would walk around their houses four times, expressing regret and abstaining from sexual relations with their wives for four days.
Young
Apache
The Apache () are a group of culturally related Native American tribes in the Southwestern United States, which include the Chiricahua, Jicarilla, Lipan, Mescalero, Mimbreño, Ndendahe (Bedonkohe or Mogollon and Nednhi or Carrizaleño an ...
s would kill wolves, cougars or bears as a
rite of passage
A rite of passage is a ceremony or ritual of the passage which occurs when an individual leaves one group to enter another. It involves a significant change of status in society. In cultural anthropology the term is the Anglicisation of ''rite ...
. Although some of the first European colonists traveling to North America would report back that wolves were more populous in the
New World
The term ''New World'' is often used to mean the majority of Earth's Western Hemisphere, specifically the Americas."America." ''The Oxford Companion to the English Language'' (). McArthur, Tom, ed., 1992. New York: Oxford University Press, p. 3 ...
than in Europe,
writings from the
Lewis and Clark Expedition
The Lewis and Clark Expedition, also known as the Corps of Discovery Expedition, was the United States expedition to cross the newly acquired western portion of the country after the Louisiana Purchase. The Corps of Discovery was a select gro ...
indicate that wolves were seldom seen except in aboriginal
buffer zone
A buffer zone is a neutral zonal area that lies between two or more bodies of land, usually pertaining to countries. Depending on the type of buffer zone, it may serve to separate regions or conjoin them.
Common types of buffer zones are demil ...
s.
After the
European colonization of the Americas
During the Age of Discovery, a large scale European colonization of the Americas took place between about 1492 and 1800. Although the Norse had explored and colonized areas of the North Atlantic, colonizing Greenland and creating a short ter ...
, the first American wolf bounty was passed by the
Massachusetts Bay Colony
The Massachusetts Bay Colony (1630–1691), more formally the Colony of Massachusetts Bay, was an English settlement on the east coast of North America around the Massachusetts Bay, the northernmost of the several colonies later reorganized as the ...
on November 9, 1630. Further wolf bounties opened in
Jamestown, Virginia
The Jamestown settlement in the Colony of Virginia was the first permanent English settlement in the Americas. It was located on the northeast bank of the James (Powhatan) River about southwest of the center of modern Williamsburg. It was ...
on September 4, 1632, and in other colonies. Payments to white settlers included cash, tobacco, wine and corn, while Native Americans were given blankets and trinkets. A New Jersey law started in 1697 stated that any white
Christian
Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρι ...
who brought a wolf carcass to a magistrate would have been paid 20
shillings
The shilling is a historical coin, and the name of a unit of modern currencies formerly used in the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, other British Commonwealth countries and Ireland, where they were generally equivalent to 12 pence or ...
, while a Native American or Black person would have been paid half that much. It later became customary for Native Americans to provide two wolf pelts a year without payment. In 1688, a Virginia law abolished the requirement of tribute in wolves to be paid in accordance to the number of hunters in each tribe, demanding 725 hunters to kill 145 wolves a year.
In the 19th century, as the settlers began increasingly moving west in pursuit of more land for
ranching
A ranch (from es, rancho/Mexican Spanish) is an area of land, including various structures, given primarily to ranching, the practice of raising grazing livestock such as cattle and sheep. It is a subtype of a farm. These terms are most often ...
, wolves were becoming increasingly more hunted as threats to livestock. In 1818, a "War of Extermination" against wolves and bears was declared in
Ohio
Ohio () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Of the fifty U.S. states, it is the 34th-largest by area, and with a population of nearly 11.8 million, is the seventh-most populous and tenth-most densely populated. The sta ...
.
Iowa
Iowa () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States, bordered by the Mississippi River to the east and the Missouri River and Big Sioux River to the west. It is bordered by six states: Wisconsin to the northeast, Illinois to the ...
began its own wolf bounty in 1858, with
Wisconsin
Wisconsin () is a state in the upper Midwestern United States. Wisconsin is the 25th-largest state by total area and the 20th-most populous. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake M ...
and
Colorado
Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of t ...
following suit in 1865 and 1869. Wolf pelts soon began to increase in demand as
beaver
Beavers are large, semiaquatic rodents in the genus ''Castor'' native to the temperate Northern Hemisphere. There are two extant species: the North American beaver (''Castor canadensis'') and the Eurasian beaver (''C. fiber''). Beavers ar ...
s began to become
scarce
In economics, scarcity "refers to the basic fact of life that there exists only a finite amount of human and nonhuman resources which the best technical knowledge is capable of using to produce only limited maximum amounts of each economic good. ...
from over-trapping. In the 1830s, a wolf pelt was worth only $1, doubling in the 1850s.
Records of the upper Missouri outfit of the American Fur Trading Company indicate that 20 wolf pelts were shipped down-river in 1850, with 3,000 being shipped three years later.
Civilians turned
bounty hunter
A bounty hunter is a private agent working for bail bonds who captures fugitives or criminals for a commission or bounty. The occupation, officially known as bail enforcement agent, or fugitive recovery agent, has traditionally operated outsid ...
s known as "
wolfers" began killing ungulates in large numbers as bait, poisoning the meat in hopes of attracting unsuspecting wolves. It is estimated that between 1871 and 1875, this method killed thirty-four thousand wolves in Montana and Alberta alone.
In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, wolf hunting could become a cultural event as large numbers of people advanced through wolf territory in hopes of flushing any animals from hiding. In these types of hunts, firearms and dogs were forbidden, and the wolves were killed with clubs or otherwise by hand.
Between 1916 and 1926 the
National Park Service
The National Park Service (NPS) is an agency of the United States federal government within the U.S. Department of the Interior that manages all national parks, most national monuments, and other natural, historical, and recreational propertie ...
predator control program resulted in the extermination of sustainable packs of wolves in
Yellowstone National Park
Yellowstone National Park is an American national park located in the western United States, largely in the northwest corner of Wyoming and extending into Montana and Idaho. It was established by the 42nd U.S. Congress with the Yellowston ...
by 1926. American wolf hunts peaked in the 1920s-1930s, when up to 21,000 were killed annually.
After
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
, wolves were seen less as vermin and more as big game trophy animals.
In 1978 the
Endangered Species Act
The Endangered Species Act of 1973 (ESA or "The Act"; 16 U.S.C. § 1531 et seq.) is the primary law in the United States for protecting imperiled species. Designed to protect critically imperiled species from extinction as a "consequence of ec ...
(ESA) labeled gray wolves as an endangered species in the contiguous United States, except for in Minnesota, and federally protected gray wolves from hunting.
In response to recovery progress of wolf populations under the act, the
Fish and Wildlife Service
The United States Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS or FWS) is an agency within the United States Department of the Interior dedicated to the management of fish, wildlife, and natural habitats. The mission of the agency is "working with othe ...
proposed in 2013 to delist gray wolves from ESA, though the proposal failed as it was not supported by adequate science. In instances of delisting, federal protection is removed and states are left to manage their own wolf populations. Some states with residing wolf populations have notably few regulations on wolf hunting, as in Idaho where there is no bag limit for gray wolves, and hunting is allowed throughout the year.
In ranges of the United States where there are concentrated populations of wolves, the Fish and Wildlife service can divide wolves into
Distinct Population Segments (DPSs) which allow protections to vary depending on the recovery status of each wolf population.
In the 2000s, proposed DPSs designations for the gray wolf were coupled with delisting or down-listing actions, which removed federal protections against wolf hunting. District courts dismissed these proposals on the account that it went against the purpose of the ESA. The only remaining DPS is the Northern Rocky Mountain DPS, which includes a range shared between 6 states. The wolf population within this range is not listed as endangered and is not protected from hunting.
The first
Canadian
Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...
wolf bounty was offered in 1793 in
Ontario
Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...
and
Quebec
Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...
. Wolves became rare in Eastern Canada by the 1870s, becoming extinct in
New Brunswick
New Brunswick (french: Nouveau-Brunswick, , locally ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is one of the three Maritime provinces and one of the four Atlantic provinces. It is the only province with both English and ...
by 1880, in
Nova Scotia
Nova Scotia ( ; ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is one of the three Maritime provinces and one of the four Atlantic provinces. Nova Scotia is Latin for "New Scotland".
Most of the population are native Eng ...
by 1900 and had disappeared from
Newfoundland
Newfoundland and Labrador (; french: Terre-Neuve-et-Labrador; frequently abbreviated as NL) is the easternmost province of Canada, in the country's Atlantic region. The province comprises the island of Newfoundland and the continental region ...
by 1913. Full-scale eradication programs did not peak in western and northern Canada until the 1950s, when resource development brought more people into originally sparsely populated wilderness.
A government-backed wolf extermination program was initiated in 1948 after serious declines in
caribou
Reindeer (in North American English, known as caribou if wild and ''reindeer'' if domesticated) are deer in the genus ''Rangifer''. For the last few decades, reindeer were assigned to one species, ''Rangifer tarandus'', with about 10 subspe ...
herds in the
Northern Territories and a
rabies
Rabies is a viral disease that causes encephalitis in humans and other mammals. Early symptoms can include fever and tingling at the site of exposure. These symptoms are followed by one or more of the following symptoms: nausea, vomiting, vi ...
concern due to wolves migrating south near populated areas. 39,960
cyanide
Cyanide is a naturally occurring, rapidly acting, toxic chemical that can exist in many different forms.
In chemistry, a cyanide () is a chemical compound that contains a functional group. This group, known as the cyano group, consists of ...
guns, 106,100 cyanide cartridges and 628,000 strychnine pellets were distributed. Up to 17,500 wolves were poisoned in Canada between 1955 and 1961. In the mid-1950s, wolf bounties were dropped in the western provinces in favor of hiring provincial hunters. Quebec's wolf bounties ended in 1971 and Ontario in 1972. Overall, 20,000 wolves were bountied between 1935 and 1955 in British Columbia, 12,000 between 1942 and 1955 in Alberta and 33,000 between 1947 and 1971 in Ontario.
Unlike wolf populations in the lower 48 states, which declined steadily as settlers moved west, the Canadian wolf population fluctuated between growth and decline, largely because the human population in Canada never reached the same level as in the lower 48, thus leaving large areas of land free for the wolves.
Unlike European wolf hunts which were usually reserved for the
nobility
Nobility is a social class found in many societies that have an aristocracy (class), aristocracy. It is normally ranked immediately below Royal family, royalty. Nobility has often been an Estates of the realm, estate of the realm with many e ...
, North American wolf hunts were partaken by ordinary citizens, nearly all of them possessing firearms, thus the extermination of wolves in the lower 48 states was carried out in far less time than in Europe.
By the 1960s the population of wolves decreased dramatically because people in
North America
North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Car ...
have hunted wolves for a variety of purposes. For example, wolf hunting allowed people to acquire fur, which was further used in a variety of practical ways. It also allowed people to gain control over the spread of diseases transmitted by the animals and enabled people to better protect their livestock. The circumstances finally started to change in the 1960s, as people finally start to realise that the wolf population had reached a crucially low point and had to be saved and put under the legal protection of the government. Environmental movement was transforming the public views on the issue and that was the starting point of the wolf population recovery.
United States federal government took the issue under its control and enacted the Endangered Species Act of 1973 to help protect and restore the wolf population.
The Endangered Species Act of 1973 restricted the killing of wolves and labeled them as endangered animals in 48 contiguous states and
Minnesota
Minnesota () is a state in the upper midwestern region of the United States. It is the 12th largest U.S. state in area and the 22nd most populous, with over 5.75 million residents. Minnesota is home to western prairies, now given over to ...
.
The grey wolf (''Canis lupus'') was one of the main subspecies to be classified as endangered, along with others such as the
Northern Rocky Mountain wolf
The northern Rocky Mountain wolf (''Canis lupus irremotus''), also known as the northern Rocky Mountain timber wolf, is a subspecies of gray wolf native to the northern Rocky Mountains. It is a light-colored, medium to large-sized subspecies wi ...
,
Eastern Timber wolf
The eastern wolf (''Canis lycaon'' or ''Canis lupus lycaon'' or ''Canis rufus lycaon'') also known as the timber wolf, Algonquin wolf or eastern timber wolf, is a canine of debated taxonomy native to the Great Lakes region and southeastern Canad ...
, as well as
Red wolf
The red wolf (''Canis rufus'') is a canine native to the southeastern United States. Its size is intermediate between the coyote (''Canis latrans'') and gray wolf (''Canis lupus'').
The red wolf's taxonomic classification as being a separate s ...
and
Mexican wolf
The Mexican wolf (''Canis lupus baileyi''), also known as the lobo,; nah, Cuetlāchcoyōtl is a subspecies of gray wolf native to southeastern Arizona and southern New Mexico in the United States, and northern Mexico; it also previously range ...
.
Since the wolf recovery journey began, under the protection of the law, wolf population numbers went up throughout the northern United States.
For example, Minnesota's recovery efforts positively influenced the wolf population and resulted in an increase their numbers from 200 to 350 between 1974 and 1990.
Current situation
Europe and Russia
In Norway, in 2001, the government authorized a controversial wolf cull on the grounds that the animals were overpopulating and were responsible for the killing of more than 600 sheep in 2000. The Norwegian authorities' original plans to kill 20 wolves were scaled down amid public outcry. However, sheep farmers generally welcome wolf hunting, as the wolves are a great threat to sheep and dogs. In 2005, the Norwegian government proposed another cull, with the intent of exterminating 25% of Norway's wolf population.
As of 2015, there were an estimated 460 wolves in the Scandinavian population, with the large majority located in Sweden. Wolf hunting is controversial in Sweden, where decisions by public authorities to authorize hunting seasons each year since 2010 have resulted in legal challenges by the European Commission and by NGOs.
In Spain, wolves were hunted north of the Duero river under strict conditions to control damage over livestock, but strictly protected at the South margin. The recent Wolf expansion even to the mountains of Madrid, has generated a great controversy in Autonomous Community of Castile-León over whether to allow hunting also south of the Duero river. As of 2021 the wolf hunt has been banned in all of Spain.
The European Union has exceptionally permitted Estonia, which has the highest wolf density in the EU, to continue wolf hunting as long as the overall numbers remain stable. In 2010, 173 wolves were permitted to be culled, but only 130 were actually caught. In 2011, 149 wolves were culled of the permitted 150.
Under the
Berne Convention
The Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works, usually known as the Berne Convention, was an international assembly held in 1886 in the Swiss city of Bern by ten European countries with the goal to agree on a set of leg ...
wolves in France are listed as an endangered species, and killing them is illegal, though official culls are permitted to protect farm animals as long as there is no threat to the species in its entirety.
Though wolf populations have increased in Ukraine, wolves remain unprotected there and can be hunted year-round by permit-holders.
Bulgaria considers the wolf a pest animal and there is a bounty equivalent to two weeks average wages on their heads.
With the exception of specimens in nature reserves, wolves in Belarus are largely unprotected. They are designated a game species, and bounties ranging between 60 and 70 Euros are paid to hunters for each wolf killed. This is a considerable sum in a country where the average monthly wage is 230 Euros.
In Russia, government-backed wolf exterminations have been largely discontinued since the fall of the
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...
. As a result, their numbers have stabilized and are increasing, though they are still hunted legally.
According to Alexander Tikhonov, head of the Department of Hunting Resources "the more wolves you have, the more problems there are". His department currently licenses a national bag limit of up to 14,000 wolves annually, with permits given to hunt even within nature reserves.
Currently, Russia is the only nation where poison is legally used to kill wolves. The government licensed a
fluorine
Fluorine is a chemical element with the symbol F and atomic number 9. It is the lightest halogen and exists at standard conditions as a highly toxic, pale yellow diatomic gas. As the most electronegative reactive element, it is extremely reacti ...
-
acetate
An acetate is a salt (chemistry), salt formed by the combination of acetic acid with a base (e.g. Alkali metal, alkaline, Alkaline earth metal, earthy, Transition metal, metallic, nonmetallic or radical Radical (chemistry), base). "Acetate" als ...
-
barium
Barium is a chemical element with the symbol Ba and atomic number 56. It is the fifth element in group 2 and is a soft, silvery alkaline earth metal. Because of its high chemical reactivity, barium is never found in nature as a free element.
Th ...
compound and distributed it through hunting associations.
Asia
Since the fall of the Soviet Union, wolf hunting in Kazakhstan has decreased in profit. About 2,000 are killed yearly for a $40 bounty, though the animal's numbers have risen sharply.
Wolf hunting has become a fashionable pastime for Mongolia's new capitalist rich, particularly around
Ulaanbaatar
Ulaanbaatar (; mn, Улаанбаатар, , "Red Hero"), previously anglicized as Ulan Bator, is the capital and most populous city of Mongolia. It is the coldest capital city in the world, on average. The municipality is located in north ce ...
. It is currently illegal to shoot animals from helicopters or jeeps, though many rich hunters do not pay attention to this, including the lawmakers. For Mongolian nomads, hunting wolves is more than a rich man's hobby because of evocations to the wolf's role in their mythology. Most post-Soviet Mongols have reverted to the traditional belief that to kill a wolf in January, or even to see one, brings good fortune for the whole year.
In 2006, the government of the
People's Republic of China
China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...
began plans to auction licenses for foreigners to hunt wild animals, including wolves which are the only carnivores on the list of animals that can be hunted. The license to shoot a wolf can apparently be acquired for $200.
North America
In
Alaska
Alaska ( ; russian: Аляска, Alyaska; ale, Alax̂sxax̂; ; ems, Alas'kaaq; Yup'ik: ''Alaskaq''; tli, Anáaski) is a state located in the Western United States on the northwest extremity of North America. A semi-exclave of the U.S., ...
, it is illegal to shoot a wolf with a
rimfire rifle
Rimfire ammunition is a type of firearm metallic cartridge whose primer is located within a hollow circumferential rim protruding from the base of its casing. When fired, the gun's firing pin will strike and crush the rim against the edge ...
because wolves are classified as
big game. The state predator control program includes aerial shooting. In 2007 state biologists' goal was to have volunteer hunters kill 407 to 680 wolves by the time the predator-control season ended April 30, but high fuel prices and poor flying conditions kept hunters from meeting that goal. A subsidy of $150 per wolf offered by the
Alaska Department of Fish and Game
The Alaska Department of Fish and Game (ADF&G) is a department within the government of Alaska. ADF&G's mission is to protect, maintain, and improve the fish, game, and aquatic plant resources of the state, and manage their use and development in ...
was overturned by a judge on the grounds that only the Board of Game had the power to offer bounties. Despite relatively heavy hunting and trapping over the last century in Alaska, wolves occur on nearly all of their traditional habitat throughout mainland Alaska.
Alaska currently has five wolf control programs that comprise about 9.4% of the state's land area. A closely controlled permit system is used in allowing aerial or airborne methods to remove wolves in designated areas. Wolf numbers are temporarily reduced in these areas, but are not permanently eliminated from any area.
Wolf populations in North America commonly sustain annual harvests or natural mortality rates of 20–40% without experiencing a year-to-year decline in numbers.
Sarah Palin
Sarah Louise Palin (; Heath; born February 11, 1964) is an American politician, commentator, author, and reality television personality who served as the ninth governor of Alaska from 2006 until her resignation in 2009. She was the 2008 R ...
of Alaska in 2007 approved the use of this provision in the law to shoot wolves and bears while flying for the purpose of protection of property.
Many scientists believe that this artificial inflation of game populations is actually detrimental to both caribou and moose populations as well as the ecosystem as a whole; artificially boosted populations "could result in habitat destruction by moose and caribou, and ultimately, a crash in these populations".
This is why large numbers of people support the Protect America's Wildlife (PAW) Act which was proposed to Congress by George Miller, the state representative of California in July 2009. This legislation has already received official support from nine former members of the Alaska Board of Game and Wildlife and conservation groups, including
Defenders of Wildlife
Defenders of Wildlife is a 501(c)(3) non-profit conservation organization based in the United States. It works to protect all native animals and plants throughout North America in their natural communities.
Background
Defenders of Wildlife is a n ...
. According to Miller, "The state of Alaska has been operating an airborne hunting program that has blatantly ignored federal law, ignored Alaskans' opposition, ignored the science, and ignored even their own wildlife experts. It's time to ground this air assault on wolves. The PAW Act is urgently needed to close the loophole in federal law and protect our nation's wildlife from the unethical and unsportsmanlike practice of airborne hunting."
The PAW Act has been created to close the loophole in the existing Airborne Hunting Act that has allowed Alaska legislators and officials to continue to aerial hunt. The bill would clarify under which conditions it is acceptable to use aircraft to aid in the management of wildlife. It would bar states from using aerial hunting to artificially boost game species when they are not at risk and to clarify the prohibition of harassing animals from planes which is part of the "land and shoot" hunting that is being utilized in Alaska. The PAW Act acknowledges the right of states to manage wildlife by clearly stating that wildlife agencies may use planes to respond to legitimate biological emergencies in wildlife populations. It also states that aircraft may be used for animal control where land, livestock, water, pets, crops, or human health are at risk.
An estimated 15% of Canada and Alaska's wolf population of 6,000-7,000 is eliminated annually. (Canada's total wolf population is about 30,000.)
Ontario
Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...
ceased its wolf bounty system in 1972, though retaining a year-round open season for wolves.
In Alberta, wolves bounties are still offered by some local governments. Starting in 2010,
Big Lakes County
Big Lakes County, formerly the Municipal District of Big Lakes, is a municipal district in north-central Alberta, Canada.
It is located in Census Division 17, around the Lesser Slave Lake. Utikuma Lake and Winagami Lake are also located in t ...
offered a bounty of C$300 per adult wolf, leading to 290 wolves worth $87,000 by mid-2012.
After the gray wolf was removed from the endangered species list for the western great lakes region in January 2012, the
Minnesota Department of Natural Resources
The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, or Minnesota DNR, is the agency of the U.S. state of Minnesota charged with conserving and managing the state's natural resources. The agency maintains areas such as state parks, state forests, recre ...
instituted a hunting season to manage the population. This new season ran from November 3, 2012, through the 18th, 2012 in some regions and continued November 24, 2012 and ran through January 31, 2013 or until the tag limit was reached. That limit was set at a target of 400 wolves across the state.
The total number of wolves killed in this inaugural season was 412 wolves. Twelve more wolves were killed past the target number.
On December 19, 2014, a US Federal Court ordered a stop to the hunting of wolves in Minnesota, Wisconsin and in Michigan.
In the United States hunting wolves became legal again once Trump's administration issued the policy which took away
Endangered Species Act
The Endangered Species Act of 1973 (ESA or "The Act"; 16 U.S.C. § 1531 et seq.) is the primary law in the United States for protecting imperiled species. Designed to protect critically imperiled species from extinction as a "consequence of ec ...
protections for endangered gray wolves. States then resumed the fight against gray wolves as the
federal government
A federation (also known as a federal state) is a political entity characterized by a union of partially self-governing provinces, states, or other regions under a central federal government (federalism). In a federation, the self-governin ...
was no longer protecting wolves. Making the hunting of wolves legal destroyed packs of wolves, and niches.
Hunting wolves can have destructive impacts on their population as it can break up packs. Smaller packs of wolves have a harder time finding food to survive as they cannot carry bigger prey. One pack member hunted has a tremendous impact on the pact. A research paper published in the Journal of Animal Ecology in 2014, confirmed the impact of the loss of one wolf. Findings included that where a pack broke apart, dissolution followed by a loss of an alpha. The grey wolf pack and population is highly susceptive to the fate of breeders.
The current situation in the western United States allows for the hunting and trapping of wolves during designated seasons. As of 2022 in Montana, hunters can hunt up to 10 wolves and trap up to 10 wolves for a combined total of up to 20 wolves.
The majority of wolves hunted in Montana were originally re-introduced in the protected
Yellowstone National Park
Yellowstone National Park is an American national park located in the western United States, largely in the northwest corner of Wyoming and extending into Montana and Idaho. It was established by the 42nd U.S. Congress with the Yellowston ...
but are not safe from hunting once the wolves exit the park's land. It has been reported that some wolves have been hunted merely 10 miles from the park's border with one in 2020 wearing a scientific radio collar. As of January 9, 2022 more Yellowstone wolves which have wandered outside of the Park have been hunted and killed than any season since their species reintroduction in 1995.
A federal judge later restored protections for gray wolves in much of the United States. This action essentially reversed Trump's Policy where he eliminated all protections for endangered gray wolves. With protection, gray wolves are better off than they were previously. However, this restoration did not restore protections for wolves in the
northern Rockies
The Northern Rocky Mountains, usually referred to as the Northern Rockies, are a subdivision of the Canadian Rockies comprising the northern half of the Canadian segment of the Rocky Mountains. While their northward limit is easily defined as th ...
.
This is where their population is being aggressively hunted which is prevalently shown through the number of wolves still being killed. February 10, 2022, was when a court order for gray wolves was issued in the contiguous 48 states and Mexico to protect the gray wolves under the
Endangered Species Act
The Endangered Species Act of 1973 (ESA or "The Act"; 16 U.S.C. § 1531 et seq.) is the primary law in the United States for protecting imperiled species. Designed to protect critically imperiled species from extinction as a "consequence of ec ...
(ESA). The gray wolves were able to protected again Senior District Judge
Jeffrey S. White, of the United States District Court for the Northern District of California declared removing protection did not consider threats outside of the Great Lakes and Northern Rocky Mountains.
With regards to Wolf hunting in other Western States, the laws vary drastically. In Oregon although the gray wolf,
Canis lupus
The wolf (''Canis lupus''; : wolves), also known as the gray wolf or grey wolf, is a large canine native to Eurasia and North America. More than thirty subspecies of ''Canis lupus'' have been recognized, and gray wolves, as popularly un ...
, was controversially removed from the state's endangered species list, the killing of wolves remains strictly illegal. This includes a ban on all trapping and hunting of the species in any part of the state for any reason. Contrary to Oregon's strict laws, the state's neighbor to the east, Idaho, has very different laws. In Idaho, the trapping of wolves on private property is legal year round.
In addition to trapping, there is no limit to the number of tags wolf hunters can possess, therefore making the hunting of wolves legal year round in the state of Idaho. As a result of the change in legislation, the killing of wolves is incredibly similar to that of coyotes and foxes in the state currently.
Quarry
![Wolf Fox & Seal Skins in Norway](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/32/Wolf_Fox_%26_Seal_Skins_in_Norway.jpg)
The
grey wolf
The wolf (''Canis lupus''; : wolves), also known as the gray wolf or grey wolf, is a large canine native to Eurasia and North America. More than thirty subspecies of ''Canis lupus'' have been recognized, and gray wolves, as popularly ...
''(Canis lupus)'' is the largest member of the
Canidae
Canidae (; from Latin, ''canis'', "dog") is a biological family of dog-like carnivorans, colloquially referred to as dogs, and constitutes a clade. A member of this family is also called a canid (). There are three subfamilies found within th ...
. Though once abundant over much of
North America
North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Car ...
and
Eurasia
Eurasia (, ) is the largest continental area on Earth, comprising all of Europe and Asia. Primarily in the Northern and Eastern Hemispheres, it spans from the British Isles and the Iberian Peninsula in the west to the Japanese archipelago a ...
, the grey wolf inhabits a very small portion of its former range because of widespread destruction of its habitat; in some regions it is endangered or threatened. Considered as a whole, however, the grey wolf is regarded as of least concern for extinction according to the
. Wolf weight and size can vary greatly worldwide, tending to increase proportionally with
latitude
In geography, latitude is a coordinate that specifies the north– south position of a point on the surface of the Earth or another celestial body. Latitude is given as an angle that ranges from –90° at the south pole to 90° at the north pol ...
as predicted by
Bergmann's Rule
Bergmann's rule is an ecogeographical rule that states that within a broadly distributed taxonomic clade, populations and species of larger size are found in colder environments, while populations and species of smaller size are found in warmer ...
. Wolves are usually hunted in heavy brush and are considered especially challenging to hunt, because of their elusive nature and sharp senses.
Grey wolves are notoriously shy and difficult to kill, having been stated to be almost as hard to
stalk as
cougar
The cougar (''Puma concolor'') is a large Felidae, cat native to the Americas. Its Species distribution, range spans from the Canadian Yukon to the southern Andes in South America and is the most widespread of any large wild terrestrial mamm ...
s, and being far more problematic to dispatch with poison, traps or hounds. However, wolves generally do not defend themselves as effectively as cougars or
bear
Bears are carnivoran mammals of the family Ursidae. They are classified as caniforms, or doglike carnivorans. Although only eight species of bears are extant, they are widespread, appearing in a wide variety of habitats throughout the Nor ...
s.
Some wolves will evade capture for very long periods of time and display great cunning. One specimen nicknamed "Three Toes of Harding County" in South Dakota eluded its pursuers for 13 years before finally being caught.
Another wolf nicknamed "Rags the digger" near Meeker, Colorado would deliberately ruin trap lines by digging up traps without tripping them.
In sport hunting, wolves are usually taken in late autumn and early winter, when their pelts are of the highest quality and because the heavy snow makes it easier for the wolves to be tracked.
Adult wolves are usually too fast to be overtaken by wolfhounds, but not for well conditioned horses, especially in thick snow. A shot wolf must be approached with caution, as some wolves will
play possum.
Accounts as to how wolves react to being trapped or cornered vary.
John James Audubon
John James Audubon (born Jean-Jacques Rabin; April 26, 1785 – January 27, 1851) was an American self-trained artist, naturalist, and ornithologist. His combined interests in art and ornithology turned into a plan to make a complete pictoria ...
wrote that young wolves typically show little resistance to being caught, whereas older, more experienced wolves will fight savagely.
Pelts
![Wolfskinning](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/63/Wolfskinning.jpg)
Wolves are commonly hunted for their fur. The color of a wolf's fur can vary, from the pure white of the largest, Alaskan wolves, through the range of reddish brown. Even the so-called "grey wolves" can include pure black pups in a litter, although grey is the most common color. Wolves have two kinds of hairs; an outer coat of long, stiff hairs called "
guard hair
Guard hair or overhair is the outer layer of hair of most mammals, which overlay the fur. Guard hairs are long and coarse and protect the rest of the pelage (fur) from abrasion and frequently from moisture. They are visible on the surface of the fu ...
s" and an "
undercoat" of soft fur which grows thick in the winter and helps to insulate their bodies from the cold; this fur has the advantage of not freezing. The long guard hairs which are shed in spring and summer are waterproof, keeping the wolf's underfur dry and warm. The fur of the undercoat may be nearly two and a half inches thick and help keep a wolf warm even in temperatures reaching 40 degrees below zero.
Wolves in warm climates have shorter guard hairs and less dense underfur.
In some areas of medieval Europe, pelts were the only considered practicality of wolves. Pelts were usually made into cloaks or mittens, though not without hesitation, because of the wolf's strong odor.
Wolf pelts were important to many
Native American tribes and considered by some to be powerful medicine. Sacred articles were wrapped in wolf skin and some tribes also wove wolf and
American bison
The American bison (''Bison bison'') is a species of bison native to North America. Sometimes colloquially referred to as American buffalo or simply buffalo (a different clade of bovine), it is one of two extant species of bison, alongside the ...
hair together in small blankets. Native American hunters used wolf pelts as disguises to allow them stalk close bison herds. The bison were accustomed to having wolves walk among them and did not fear wolves unless they were vulnerable because of disease, injury, or if guarding young. Wolf pelts were also valuable as clothing, objects for trade and for ruffs or coats. They were also used in ritual dances and worn by some
shaman
Shamanism is a religious practice that involves a practitioner (shaman) interacting with what they believe to be a spirit world through altered states of consciousness, such as trance. The goal of this is usually to direct spirits or spiritu ...
s, or medicine men.
Tundra
In physical geography, tundra () is a type of biome where tree growth is hindered by frigid temperatures and short growing seasons. The term ''tundra'' comes through Russian (') from the Kildin Sámi word (') meaning "uplands", "treeless moun ...
-dwelling wolves are especially valued, as their
pelage
Fur is a thick growth of hair that covers the skin of mammals. It consists of a combination of oily #Guard hair, guard hair on top and thick #Down hair, underfur beneath. The guard hair keeps moisture from reaching the skin; the underfur acts as ...
s are more luxuriant than those of forest dwelling wolves, sometimes selling for twice as much. Females typically have smoother coats than males.
Ethiopian wolves are not usually exploited for fur, though there was an occasion in
Wollo
Wollo (Amharic: ወሎ) was a historical province of northern Ethiopia that overlayed part of the present day Amhara, Afar, and Tigray regions. During the Middle Ages this region was known as Bete Amhara and had Amhara kings. Bete Amhara had ...
in which wolf skins were used as
saddle pad
The terms saddle blanket, saddle pad (or numnah), and saddle cloth refer to blankets, pads or fabrics inserted under a saddle. These are usually used to absorb sweat, cushion the saddle, and protect the horse's back. There are lighter types ...
s.
In Russia, between the years 1600–1725, wolves were not actively sought out for their fur, which was not considered a major commodity, though they were taken when the opportunity presented itself.
In the former
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...
, between 1976 and 1988, 30,000 wolf pelts were produced annually. Recent statistics from
CITES
CITES (shorter name for the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, also known as the Washington Convention) is a multilateral treaty to protect endangered plants and animals from the threats of interna ...
indicate that 6,000-7,000 wolf skins are internationally traded each year, with Canada, the former Soviet Union, Mongolia and China being the largest exporters, and the United States and Great Britain being the largest importers.
Today, wolf pelts are still valued for
parka
A parka or anorak is a type of coat with a hood, often lined with fur or faux fur. This kind of garment is a staple of Inuit clothing, traditionally made from caribou or seal skin, for hunting and kayaking in the frigid Arctic. Some Inuit ano ...
trim, fur coats and
rug
Rug or RUG may refer to:
* Rug, or carpet, a textile floor covering
* Rug, slang for a toupée
* Ghent University (''Rijksunversiteit Gent'', or RUG)
* Really Useful Group, or RUG, a company set up by Andrew Lloyd Webber
* Rugby railway station, N ...
s. The production of wolf pelts is still an important source of income for Arctic communities in Alaska and Canada.
While not in the same class as high grade
furbearer
Fur is a thick growth of hair that covers the skin of mammals. It consists of a combination of oily guard hair on top and thick underfur beneath. The guard hair keeps moisture from reaching the skin; the underfur acts as an insulating blanket t ...
s like
beaver
Beavers are large, semiaquatic rodents in the genus ''Castor'' native to the temperate Northern Hemisphere. There are two extant species: the North American beaver (''Castor canadensis'') and the Eurasian beaver (''C. fiber''). Beavers ar ...
,
otter
Otters are carnivorous mammals in the subfamily Lutrinae. The 13 extant otter species are all semiaquatic, aquatic, or marine, with diets based on fish and invertebrates. Lutrinae is a branch of the Mustelidae family, which also includes wea ...
or
mink
Mink are dark-colored, semiaquatic, carnivorous mammals of the genera ''Neogale'' and '' Mustela'' and part of the family Mustelidae, which also includes weasels, otters, and ferrets. There are two extant species referred to as "mink": the A ...
, the gray wolf's fur is nonetheless thick and durable,
and is primarily used for
scarf
A scarf, plural ''scarves'', is a piece of fabric worn around the neck or head for warmth, sun protection, cleanliness, fashion, religious reasons, or used to show the support for a sports club or team. They can be made in a variety of diff ...
s and the
trimmings of women's garments, though it is occasionally used for
jacket
A jacket is a garment for the upper body, usually extending below the hips. A jacket typically has sleeves, and fastens in the front or slightly on the side. A jacket is generally lighter, tighter-fitting, and less insulating than a coat, which ...
s, short
cape
A cape is a clothing accessory or a sleeveless outer garment which drapes the wearer's back, arms, and chest, and connects at the neck.
History
Capes were common in medieval Europe, especially when combined with a hood in the chaperon. Th ...
s,
coat
A coat typically is an outer garment for the upper body as worn by either gender for warmth or fashion. Coats typically have long sleeves and are open down the front and closing by means of buttons, zippers, hook-and-loop fasteners, toggles, a ...
s,
mukluk
Mukluks or kamik ( iu, ᑲᒥᒃ ) (singular: , plural: ) are a soft boot, traditionally made of reindeer (caribou) skin or sealskin, and worn by Arctic aboriginal people, including the Inuit, Iñupiat, and Yup'ik.
Mukluks may be worn over a ...
s and
rugs
Rug or RUG may refer to:
* Rug, or carpet, a textile floor covering
* Rug, slang for a toupée
* Ghent University (''Rijksunversiteit Gent'', or RUG)
* Really Useful Group, or RUG, a company set up by Andrew Lloyd Webber
* Rugby railway station, N ...
.
Aside from bodily protection and adornment, gray wolf pelts have also been used as camouflage in hunting and warfare, as an insignia among western Native Americans and as a form of
currency
A currency, "in circulation", from la, currens, -entis, literally meaning "running" or "traversing" is a standardization of money in any form, in use or circulation as a medium of exchange, for example banknotes and coins.
A more general def ...
.
The quality of wolf peltries rests on the density and strength of the fur fibre, which keeps the fur upright and gives the pelt an appealing bushy aspect. These characteristics are mostly found in northern wolf populations, but gradually lessen further south in warmer climates. North American wolf pelts are among the most valuable, as they are silkier and fluffier than Eurasian peltries.
In
Medieval Europe
In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire a ...
, pelts were considered the only practical aspect of wolves, though they were seldom used, because of the skin's foul odour.
In
Scandinavian folklore
Nordic folklore is the folklore of Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Iceland and the Faroe Islands. It has common roots with, and has been mutually influenced by, folklore in England, Germany, the Low Countries, the Baltic countries, Finland and Sapmi. ...
, wolf-skin
girdle
A belt, especially if a cord or rope, is called a girdle if it is worn as part of Christian liturgical vestments, or in certain historical, literary or sports contexts.
Girdles are used to close a cassock in Christian denominations, including th ...
s assisted in transforming the wearers into werewolves, while several Native American tribes used wolf pelts for medicinal purposes.
Plains Indians
Plains Indians or Indigenous peoples of the Great Plains and Canadian Prairies are the Native American tribes and First Nation band governments who have historically lived on the Interior Plains (the Great Plains and Canadian Prairies) of N ...
often wore wolf pelts as disguises to get close to
American bison
The American bison (''Bison bison'') is a species of bison native to North America. Sometimes colloquially referred to as American buffalo or simply buffalo (a different clade of bovine), it is one of two extant species of bison, alongside the ...
when hunting.
The
Pawnee Pawnee initially refers to a Native American people and its language:
* Pawnee people
* Pawnee language
Pawnee is also the name of several places in the United States:
* Pawnee, Illinois
* Pawnee, Kansas
* Pawnee, Missouri
* Pawnee City, Nebraska
* ...
wore wolf skins as capes when exploring enemy territories.
The
United States Army
The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cla ...
used wolf skin for
parka
A parka or anorak is a type of coat with a hood, often lined with fur or faux fur. This kind of garment is a staple of Inuit clothing, traditionally made from caribou or seal skin, for hunting and kayaking in the frigid Arctic. Some Inuit ano ...
s during the later stages of
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
and the
Korean War
, date = {{Ubl, 25 June 1950 – 27 July 1953 (''de facto'')({{Age in years, months, weeks and days, month1=6, day1=25, year1=1950, month2=7, day2=27, year2=1953), 25 June 1950 – present (''de jure'')({{Age in years, months, weeks a ...
to protect the faces of soldiers from
frostbite
Frostbite is a skin injury that occurs when exposed to extreme low temperatures, causing the freezing of the skin or other tissues, commonly affecting the fingers, toes, nose, ears, cheeks and chin areas. Most often, frostbite occurs in the han ...
.
In the
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...
, 30,000 wolf pelts were produced annually between 1976 and 1988. Statistics from
CITES
CITES (shorter name for the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, also known as the Washington Convention) is a multilateral treaty to protect endangered plants and animals from the threats of interna ...
indicate that 6,000–7,000 wolf skins are internationally traded each year, with Canada, the former Soviet Union,
Mongolia
Mongolia; Mongolian script: , , ; lit. "Mongol Nation" or "State of Mongolia" () is a landlocked country in East Asia, bordered by Russia to the north and China to the south. It covers an area of , with a population of just 3.3 million, ...
and China being the largest exporters, and the United States and
Great Britain
Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It is ...
being the largest importers. Overall, the harvesting of wolves for their fur has little impact on their population, as only the northern varieties (whose numbers are stable) are of commercial value. Wolf trapping for fur remains a lucrative source of income for many Native Americans.
Ritual and traditional medicine
In
Ancient Greece
Ancient Greece ( el, Ἑλλάς, Hellás) was a northeastern Mediterranean civilization, existing from the Greek Dark Ages of the 12th–9th centuries BC to the end of classical antiquity ( AD 600), that comprised a loose collection of cult ...
and
Ancient Rome
In modern historiography, ancient Rome refers to Roman civilisation from the founding of the city of Rome in the 8th century BC to the collapse of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century AD. It encompasses the Roman Kingdom (753–509 B ...
, wolf flesh was a main ingredient in
unguent
An unguent is a soothing preparation spread on wounds, burns, rashes, abrasions or other topical injuries (i.e. damage to the skin). It is similar to an ointment, though typically an unguent is oilier and less viscous. It is usually delivered as a ...
s used to ward off evil. When applied in the form of a powder, the wolf unguent would be used to cure
epilepsy
Epilepsy is a group of non-communicable neurological disorders characterized by recurrent epileptic seizures. Epileptic seizures can vary from brief and nearly undetectable periods to long periods of vigorous shaking due to abnormal electrical ...
,
plague
Plague or The Plague may refer to:
Agriculture, fauna, and medicine
*Plague (disease), a disease caused by ''Yersinia pestis''
* An epidemic of infectious disease (medical or agricultural)
* A pandemic caused by such a disease
* A swarm of pes ...
and
gout
Gout ( ) is a form of inflammatory arthritis characterized by recurrent attacks of a red, tender, hot and swollen joint, caused by deposition of monosodium urate monohydrate crystals. Pain typically comes on rapidly, reaching maximal intensit ...
. Powdered wolf bones were used to cure chest and back pains, broken bones and strained tendons. Wolf teeth, particularly the canines, would be perforated and used as talismans against evil spirits. This practice is thought to fall back to the Paleolithic, as shown by some prehistoric grave sites showing numerous wolf tooth charms. It continues in some areas of rural France, where it is also thought that wearing a wolf tooth offers protection from wolf attacks. The
tongue
The tongue is a muscular organ (anatomy), organ in the mouth of a typical tetrapod. It manipulates food for mastication and swallowing as part of the digestive system, digestive process, and is the primary organ of taste. The tongue's upper surfa ...
, when cooked with
flour
Flour is a powder made by grinding raw grains, roots, beans, nuts, or seeds. Flours are used to make many different foods. Cereal flour, particularly wheat flour, is the main ingredient of bread, which is a staple food for many culture ...
and
honey
Honey is a sweet and viscous substance made by several bees, the best-known of which are honey bees. Honey is made and stored to nourish bee colonies. Bees produce honey by gathering and then refining the sugary secretions of plants (primar ...
, was traditionally used as a remedy for
epilepsy
Epilepsy is a group of non-communicable neurological disorders characterized by recurrent epileptic seizures. Epileptic seizures can vary from brief and nearly undetectable periods to long periods of vigorous shaking due to abnormal electrical ...
and as a guarantee of good luck. The eyes of a wolf were traditionally thought to give courage to children and render the user partially invisible. The
liver
The liver is a major Organ (anatomy), organ only found in vertebrates which performs many essential biological functions such as detoxification of the organism, and the Protein biosynthesis, synthesis of proteins and biochemicals necessary for ...
was particularly prized for medicinal and ritualistic purposes. When cooked or desiccated into a powder and mixed with certain ingredients (flour, wine, water, blood,
urine
Urine is a liquid by-product of metabolism in humans and in many other animals. Urine flows from the kidneys through the ureters to the urinary bladder. Urination results in urine being excretion, excreted from the body through the urethra.
Cel ...
etc.), wolf liver was said to cure epilepsy,
edema
Edema, also spelled oedema, and also known as fluid retention, dropsy, hydropsy and swelling, is the build-up of fluid in the body's Tissue (biology), tissue. Most commonly, the legs or arms are affected. Symptoms may include skin which feels t ...
,
tachycardia
Tachycardia, also called tachyarrhythmia, is a heart rate that exceeds the normal resting rate. In general, a resting heart rate over 100 beats per minute is accepted as tachycardia in adults. Heart rates above the resting rate may be normal (su ...
,
syphilis
Syphilis () is a sexually transmitted infection caused by the bacterium ''Treponema pallidum'' subspecies ''pallidum''. The signs and symptoms of syphilis vary depending in which of the four stages it presents (primary, secondary, latent, an ...
,
gangrene
Gangrene is a type of tissue death caused by a lack of blood supply. Symptoms may include a change in skin color to red or black, numbness, swelling, pain, skin breakdown, and coolness. The feet and hands are most commonly affected. If the ga ...
,
vertigo
Vertigo is a condition where a person has the sensation of movement or of surrounding objects moving when they are not. Often it feels like a spinning or swaying movement. This may be associated with nausea, vomiting, sweating, or difficulties w ...
,
migraine
Migraine (, ) is a common neurological disorder characterized by recurrent headaches. Typically, the associated headache affects one side of the head, is pulsating in nature, may be moderate to severe in intensity, and could last from a few hou ...
s,
verucas and
dysentery
Dysentery (UK pronunciation: , US: ), historically known as the bloody flux, is a type of gastroenteritis that results in bloody diarrhea. Other symptoms may include fever, abdominal pain, and a feeling of incomplete defecation. Complications ...
.
Wolf penis
The wolf (''Canis lupus''; : wolves), also known as the gray wolf or grey wolf, is a large canine native to Eurasia and North America. More than thirty subspecies of ''Canis lupus'' have been recognized, and gray wolves, as popularly un ...
supposedly cured impotence. Wolf blood was used for gout, menstruation, period pains and deafness. The paws and fat of a wolf were sometimes used to ward off evil, or facilitate the transformation of a werewolf. Wolf Feces, dung was used against colics. The milk of a she-wolf made the drinker invulnerable, while eating the heart of a wolf gave the consumer courage in battle. A wolf's tail, while used for warding off evil, was also used as a love charm. The head of a wolf, if hung outside a house, would deter wolves, robbers and evil spirits. When reduced to powder, a wolf's head could be used against toothache and joint pains.
In the cultures of certain Native American tribes, wolf body parts were considered important additions to certain rituals.
Pawnee Pawnee initially refers to a Native American people and its language:
* Pawnee people
* Pawnee language
Pawnee is also the name of several places in the United States:
* Pawnee, Illinois
* Pawnee, Kansas
* Pawnee, Missouri
* Pawnee City, Nebraska
* ...
warriors, known as Wolf People, dressed in wolf skin cloaks when scouting or hunting. Nez Perce tribe, Nez Perce warriors wore wolf teeth pushed through the septums of their noses. Cheyenne medicine men wrapped wolf fur on sacred arrows used to motion prey into traps. Arikara men wove wolf fur with bison fur in order to make small sacred blankets. Nuxalk Nation, Nuxálk mothers painted wolf gall bladders on their young male children's backs, so they could grow up to perform religious ceremonies without making mistakes as hunters. Hidatsan women experiencing difficult births would call upon the familial power of wolves by rubbing wolf-skin caps on their bellies.
In
Mongolia
Mongolia; Mongolian script: , , ; lit. "Mongol Nation" or "State of Mongolia" () is a landlocked country in East Asia, bordered by Russia to the north and China to the south. It covers an area of , with a population of just 3.3 million, ...
n folk medicine, eating the intestines of a wolf is said to alleviate chronic indigestion, while sprinkling food with powdered wolf rectum is said to cure haemorroids.
There are not many traditional uses for Ethiopian wolves, though their
liver
The liver is a major Organ (anatomy), organ only found in vertebrates which performs many essential biological functions such as detoxification of the organism, and the Protein biosynthesis, synthesis of proteins and biochemicals necessary for ...
s may be used for medicinal reasons in northern Ethiopia.
Meat
It is rare for wolves to be hunted for food, though historically, people have resorted to consuming wolf flesh in times of scarcity, or for medicinal reasons.
Most Native American tribes, especially the Naskapis, viewed wolf flesh as edible but inadequate nutrition, as it was not a herbivore and thus did not possess the same healing qualities thought to be distinct in plant eaters.
The mountain people of Japan once ate wolf meat in order to boost their courage, though they commented that the meat was tough. Mountain dwelling wolves known as ''yomainu'' were considered poisonous.
The ''"Derboun"'' of the Arabian mountains and southern Syria was a small black wolf which apparently was considered by the Arabs to be more closely related to dogs, as they freely ate its flesh like any other game, unlike with regular wolves which had an unpleasant odour.
[''The Natural History of Dogs: Canidæ Or Genus Canis of Authors. Including Also the Genera Hyæna and Proteles'' by Charles Hamilton Smith, Published by W.H. Lizars, ... S. Highley, ... London; and W. Curry, jun. and Co. Dublin., 1839] During the European colonization of Western America, wolf meat was considered "not usually eatable", though fair game for a hungry man. However, Martin Schmitt argued that references to the consumption of wolf meat at the time may have actually been on coyotes.
During Vilhjalmur Stefansson's Arctic expedition in 1913, George H. Wilkins sampled cooked wolf meat and commented that it was "fine eating" and noted tastes like chicken, a resemblance to chicken.
There have been reports of parasites in the meat. Wolf meat is considered haraam, haram under Islamic dietary laws (Sahih Muslim, no: 1934)
In an 1868 issue of ''The Sant Paul's Magazine'', Anthony Trollope gave an account on the palatability of wolf flesh, and how it was sometimes used as the subject of practical jokes among French hunters.
Wolf meat was eaten several times during Vilhjalmur Stefansson's 1913 Arctic expedition, particularly during the summer, when wolves were fat. Natives in Transbaikalia reportedly ate wolf meat even when other food was plentiful.
[Cherkassov, Alexander Alexandrovich (2012). ''Notes of an East Siberian Hunter'', Authorhouse, p. 94, ] The consumption of wolf flesh and organs plays an important role in Asian folk medicine: in
Mongolia
Mongolia; Mongolian script: , , ; lit. "Mongol Nation" or "State of Mongolia" () is a landlocked country in East Asia, bordered by Russia to the north and China to the south. It covers an area of , with a population of just 3.3 million, ...
, eating the meat and lungs of a wolf is said to alleviate colds, and sprinkling food with powdered wolf rectum is said to cure haemorroids.
[Kohn, Michael (2008). ''Mongolia'', Lonely Planet, p. 50, ] Accounts on how wolf meat tastes vary greatly, with descriptions ranging from "tough",
"gristly",
"distasteful" and "smelly",
to "somewhat tastes like chicken, [resembling] chicken", and "very superior to lean venison".
Terminology
Wolf hunting historically gave rise to a vast vocabulary:
*Berkut: A tame golden eagle used to hunt wolves in Central Asia.
*Grand vieux loup: An old, solitary male wolf.
*Loup Chevalier: A wolf which regularly attacks horses.
*Loup lévrier: A wolf exceptionally fast in the chase.
*Loup Moutonnier: A wolf which regularly attacks sheep.
*Louve: A female wolf.
*La Louveterie: Wolf hunting.
*Louvetier royal Modern day offshoot of the ''luparii''. Now serves an administrative function regulating vermin and maintaining healthy wildlife populations.
*Lovière: A wolf den.
*Luparii: An elite corps of crown funded officials whose purpose was to control wolf populations in France during the Middle Ages.
*Lycisca: A wolf-dog hybrid.
*Outlaw wolf: A wolf which regularly killed livestock in America.
*Wolfer: Both professional and civilian wolf hunters who operated in North America in the 19th and early 20th centuries.
*Wolfhound: A dog bred or trained to hunt wolves.
Methods
Aerial shooting
![An-2 on skis](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/95/An-2_on_skis.jpg)
Aerial shooting involves the tracking of wolves via a small airplane or helicopter and is considered by many to be the most effective method of wolf control. It was frequently used in the Soviet Union during its wolf control campaigns, starting in 1946 when the Chief Directorate of Aviation received reports that pilots flying at low altitudes frequently saw wolves. Polikarpov Po-2s and Antonov An-2s were the most frequently used models. The normal protocol was for the pilot to search frontally, and the shooter sideways. 70%-80% of wolves were first sighted by the pilot. Rocket guns would be fired into dense brush in order to scare wolves out into the open. Markers were thrown at the site of each kill for later collection. Actual shooting was done from the rear cockpit or left side when at a distance of 18–20 metres from the quarry. An experienced shooter could spot a standing wolf a kilometre away at heights of up to 100–140 metres. Most wolves were killed when the planes flew at speeds of 70 to 85 km/h. The load limit of a Po-2 was 2 men and 5 adult wolves; the rear cockpit could hold 4 wolves, while the shooter's cockpit could hold 2, or carcasses could be tied to the fuselage or wings of the plane.
Aerial hunting has been discontinued in the former Soviet Union because of budget restraints.
Wolf hunting is still practiced this way in the U.S. state of Alaska. "United States Congress, Congress passed the Federal Airborne Hunting Act of 1972, which made it illegal for hunters to shoot animals from a plane or helicopter. The federal legislation does have a provision for predator control, permitting state employees or licensed individuals to shoot from an aircraft for the sake of protecting "land, water, wildlife, livestock, domesticated animals, human life, or crops".
Blind
The use of heated box Hunting blind, blinds is a popular method of wolf hunting in modern Alberta. Bait stations are set in advance of the hunt, with blinds being erected in the more frequented spots. The method was developed as a response to the fact that finding wolves on foot was almost always a pure luck scenario, because of the wolf's elusiveness. Shots are usually fired when the wolf is from the blind.
Calling
Game call, Calling is a traditional wolf hunting method of Mongolia. The hunters go to the place where the pack is located early in the morning and will imitate a wolf's howl. The hunters howl in unison with the wolves and wait for the animals to come to them. Mongolian wolf hunting is usually done with the assistance of local herders.
Fladry
In modern European Russia, a traditional wolf hunting method involves encircling the located wolf pack with a fladry, a long rope with small swatches of fabric stitched to it every few feet. The fabric is usually red in order to be easier spotted over the background of snow by the guides. Since it retains a human scent for several days, wolves tend to stay within the encircled area. When the hunters arrive, the pack of wolves is already "flagged".
Hunting with dogs
Several dog breeds known as wolf hunting with dogs, wolfhounds have been bred for the purpose of hunting wolves, though conventional hunting breeds have also been used.
Hunting with eagles
The use of Bird of prey, raptors in the hunting of wolves is primarily practised in Central Asia. The Kyrgyz people have traditionally used golden eagles, known as ''berkut'', to hunt wolves. In the past, wolf pelts provided material for clothes crucial for the survival of the nomadic people in the severe colds. The eagles are used to immobilize the wolves by placing one foot at the back of the neck and another at the flank closer to the heart and lungs. Hunters usually only use eagles against pups, as an adult wolf can cripple in combat even a highly experienced eagle. Losing even one toe or talon will significantly lower the eagle's ability to tackle prey. Only a minor injury to the sinew of a foot may leave the eagle incapable of further hunting. As a wolf is capable of resisting even the best-trained bird, the falconer always keeps near, ready at the first opportunity to help the eagle. This is done carefully, as the wolf, sensing human presence, fights desperately to tear loose from the bird's talons, and the eagle can be severely injured. Because of the violent nature of their work, eagles trained to hunt wolves have shorter life spans.
Luring
In 19th century Russia and Scandinavia, pigs were used as decoys and were transported in strong canvas sacks on horse-drawn sleighs. The pigs, kept in the canvas bags, were made to squeal in order to attract the wolves. Hunters would wait at a distance to shoot the wolves when they came out after the pig. Once the wolves arrived, the hunters would either shoot them or retrieve the pig and canvas bag. In the latter case, they took off down the road, luring the wolves behind. The wolves would be led to a palisade, where they would be trapped and shot.
[''Scandinavian Adventures: During a Residence of Upwards of Twenty Years; Representing Sporting Incidents, and Subjects of Natural History, and Devices for Entrapping Wild Animals: With Some Account of the Northern Fauna'', by Llewelyn Lloyd, published by R. Bentley, 1854]
Poisoning
Historically, poisoning was very successful in reducing wolf populations, particularly in the American West and Imperial Japan. Strychnine was the most frequently used compound. The poison would be typically mixed in lard or tallow, and spread on bits of meat, or placed within incisions on the bait. Though effective, the method had the disadvantage of greatly loosening the fur of the dead wolf, causing it to shed easily. Wolves killed by strychnine were typically skinned immediately after death, in order to avoid the fur absorbing too much of the poison.
Strychnine is a poisonous ingredient included in a variety of pesticides and is used as a grain baits most of the time. The strychnine was used to kill wolves and became one of the most effective methods for protecting livestock and also eradicating pests that threaten the environment.
Pesticides containing strychnine are lethal to everything that consumes them. But since this sort of poison caused pain and brutal death for the animals who swallowed it strychnine baits, capable of killing wolves, were banned in 1972 by the US government and in 2006 by the European Union.
Back in 2019, a Montana resident illegally used strychnine bait by placing the poison into cow meat in order to poison a wolf. The consequence of this unlawful behavior, according to U.S. Magistrate Judge Kathleen L. DeSoto, was the death of not just a wolf, but also resulted in additional collateral deaths of a pet dog and other small animals. The individual was fined $500 and ordered to pay $1,000 in restitution to the Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife, and Parks.
Skidor
In Sápmi (area), Lapland, wolves were occasionally hunted by the Lapps on skis. They would be armed with stout, poles tipped with a pike which was used both as propulsion and as a weapon. A skidor hunt was usually undertaken by multiple hunters over a course of a few days. The kill itself was usually made at a slope or hillside.
Traps
Knife and hook traps
The Native Americans used two kinds of knife traps. One method was to encase a sharp blade in fat and frozen upright on a block of ice. The wolf would cut itself while licking the blade and bleed to death. Some argue that this method is a myth. The other method was a baited Torsion (mechanics), torsion spring which when triggered, would stab the wolf in the head.
In medieval Germany and eastern France, an iron Wolfsangel ("wolf hook") was used to bait the wolf in the manner of catching a fish.
Trapping pit
Across the top of the trapping pit was a thick stick or pole, and on this was fastened a plank, which covered the top of the trap. On one end of this plank was a piece of venison, and on the other a stone. The way the trap was meant to work was this: The wolf would come to the venison, and just as it got on the plank to eat it, the plank would turn, causing the wolf to fall into the pit. The weight of the stone at the other end would bring the plank up again, ready baited for another wolf.
Steel wolf trap
Steel wolf traps, used frequently in the American west, were made from heavy steel, were six and a half inches wide, and had two springs, each with 100 lbs of power. Steel wolf traps were usually the same models used in the capture of beavers, lynx and wolverine. In order to hide the human scent, trappers would handle their equipment with gloves, and cover the traps in beeswax or blood. As the wolf's power of scent is so great, a mere touch of human skin on the trap will result in the wolf vacating the area. Wolves may also dig up or spring the traps. The traps would typically be set in fours around a bait and strongly fastened to concealed logs, and covered in moss, chaff, cotton or sand for camouflage. Sometimes, the trap and the bait would be placed in a pool of water, thus leaving no other point of access for the wolf to take.
[Camp Life in the Woods and the Tricks of Trapping and Trap Making; Containing Comprehensive Hints on Camp Shelter, Etc
By W. Hamilton Gibson 1881][''Imagining ourselves: classics of Canadian non-fiction''
By Daniel Francis
Contributor Daniel Francis
Edition: illustrated
Published by Arsenal Pulp Press, 1994
,
353 pages]
Reactions
Livestock and crop damage
Opponents have argued that at least in North America, wolves contribute little to overall livestock losses. In 2005 0.11% of all cattle losses were due to wolves. In states with wolf populations, they were responsible for an average of 2.5% of predation on sheep. Jim Dutcher, a filmmaker who raised a captive wolf pack, observed that the wolves were very reluctant to try meat that they had not previously eaten or seen another wolf eat before, possibly explaining why livestock depredation is unlikely except in cases of desperation. In Wyoming, Idaho and Montana, wolf predation accounts for 1% of total sheep deaths.
Wolf hunting proponents have drawn attention to the fact that wolves will on occasion commit acts of surplus killing when within the confines of human-made livestock shelters. Rare incidents of surplus killing by wolves in Minnesota are reported to leave up to 35 sheep killed and injured in flocks and losses of 50 to 200 birds in turkey flocks. In spite of the low percentage of attacks on livestock in Minnesota, farms in wolf territories and environments may become more susceptible to depredation under certain conditions. These conditions include larger farm size, increased numbers of cattle, an increased distance from human management, and improper disposal of livestock carcasses. While loss of livestock by wolves makes up only a small percentage of total losses in North America,
surveys in Eurasia show some instances where wolf predation was frequent. In some areas of the former Soviet Union, wolves cause serious damage to watermelon plantations. Wolves will usually only take ripe melons after giving test bites, which can render even unripe fruits worthless for future consumption. Sometimes, up to 20% of the total watermelon crop can be destroyed on one raid.
Wolves and game herds
Wolf hunting opponents have argued that wolves serve vital functions in areas where they are sympatric with game herds. By culling unhealthy animals, wolves keep game herds healthy. Opponents state that without wolves, prey populations swell unnaturally, unbalancing ecosystems whilst simultaneously sapping wildlife management resources.
In the Iberian Peninsula for example, conservationists consider wolves to be beneficial because they keep wild boar populations stable, thus allowing some respite to the endangered capercaillie populations which suffer greatly from boars eating the eggs and nestlings. In
Yellowstone National Park
Yellowstone National Park is an American national park located in the western United States, largely in the northwest corner of Wyoming and extending into Montana and Idaho. It was established by the 42nd U.S. Congress with the Yellowston ...
, wolves were shown to have a hugely positive effect on general ecological health, and by extension, that of game herds. Game animals in Yellowstone killed off all young, reachable tree saplings, destroying beaver, songbird, insect, fish and amphibian populations, and threatening to starve themselves via overexploitation. Wolves reduced game animal numbers and forced them to be more mobile, allowing more saplings to grow and allowing the populations of aforementioned animals to increase.
[National Geographic, Wolf Wars, pg. 43,]
Proponents for wolf hunting often point out the apparently adverse effects large wolf populations have on game herds. An example occurred in 2008, in which the Alaska Board of Game approved plans calling for department staff to shoot wolves from helicopters on the southern Alaska Peninsula in order to assist the survival of the Southern Alaska Peninsula Caribou Herd. Wolves were believed to be responsible for a dramatic drop in the Southern Alaska Caribou Herd's population, which once numbered up to 10,000 in 1983, only to drop to a population of 600 animals in 2008. Wolf predation was also believed to be responsible for virtually no calves surviving for the two years prior the culling plans, despite a 70% pregnancy rate.
In the former Soviet Union, depending on the locality, a single wolf can consume 90 saiga, 50-80 wild boar or an average of 50 domestic or wild caribou annually. A pack of 2-5 wolves will often kill 2 caribou every three days. Further reports from the former Soviet Union indicate that rather than prey on exclusively sick or infirm prey, wolves seem to attack young or pregnant animals far more frequently, regardless of their sanitary state. In the Nenetskij National Okrug, wolves were shown to select pregnant female domestic caribou and calves rather than infirm specimens, with some reports showing that wolves bypassed emaciated, sickly animals in favour of well fed ones. Large numbers of wolves have also been blamed on the decline of Critically endangered species, critically endangered saiga antelope herds in Central Asia. During the late 1950s and early 1960s when the Soviet Union used poison to effectively bring down wolf numbers, the number, as well as the range of moose, wild boar and red deer increased. Caspian seals were valued as fur bearers in the Soviet industry, and in a three-week period in February 1978, wolves were responsible for the wanton killing of numerous seals on the Caspian sea near Astrakhan. Between 17 and 40% of the seals in the area were estimated to have been killed, but not eaten.
Wolves and the spread of disease
Some hunt proponents argue that large numbers of wolves are central to the spread of numerous infectious diseases because of their nomadic nature. Diseases recorded to be carried by wolves include
rabies
Rabies is a viral disease that causes encephalitis in humans and other mammals. Early symptoms can include fever and tingling at the site of exposure. These symptoms are followed by one or more of the following symptoms: nausea, vomiting, vi ...
, brucella, deerfly fever, listeriosis, foot and mouth disease and anthrax. Wolves are major hosts for rabies in Russia, Iran, Afghanistan, Iraq and India. Wolves in Russia have been recorded to carry over 50 kinds of harmful parasites. A 10-year study in the former Soviet Union showed that in some regions, every successful wolf litter in spring coincided with a 100% increase in cestode infections in moose and wild boar, with some specimens having up to 30-40 cysts. It also showed that where wolves were absent, the number of cysticercosis-infected wild ungulates was much less. Although they by habit carry harmful diseases, large wolf populations are not negatively influenced by epizootic outbreaks as with other canids, and thus some hunting proponents argue that disease cannot be a guarantee of naturally controlling wolf numbers.
Attacks on humans
The absence of a global review, and the language barrier having partially hindered the flow of international information has led some international groups to level criticism at some wolf advocates, claiming that they have extrapolated America's general lack of negative experiences with wolves to the rest of the world, whilst ignoring the differing histories and cultures which lead to diverse interactions with the animals.
Hunting proponents argue that wolves with no negative experiences of humans are more likely to encroach upon human settlements and attack people, citing for example the differences in attitudes toward the public distribution of firearms in America and Eurasia as examples as to why nations on both continents have differing accounts of wolf aggression.
Hunting wolves is reasoned to maintain shyness in wolves,
an idea which is correlated by a modern account demonstrating that wolves in protected areas are more likely to show no fear toward humans than ones in areas where they are actively hunted.
Historical and recent accounts indicate that habituated or "fearless" individual wolves or wolf packs must be met with measures to dissociate wolves' association between and dependence on humans for food to mitigate risk for attack.
Notable wolf hunters
*Antoine de Beauterne
*Jean Chastel
*
MacQueen of Pall à Chrocain
MacQueen of Pall a' Chrocain was a legendary Highland deer stalker popularly believed to have slain the last wolf in Scotland in 1743. The scene of the incident was Darnaway Forest in the province of Morayshire. MacQueen received a message from hi ...
*
Mary, Queen of Scots
Mary, Queen of Scots (8 December 1542 – 8 February 1587), also known as Mary Stuart or Mary I of Scotland, was Queen of Scotland from 14 December 1542 until her forced abdication in 1567.
The only surviving legitimate child of James V of Scot ...
*Jack O'Connor (American writer), Jack O'Connor
*Theodore Roosevelt
*Ernest Thompson Seton
*Ivan IV Vasilyevich
Gallery
File:Medium loup.jpg, Wolf hunt depicted in a 14th-century bestiary
File:Medieval wolf hunt.jpg, ''Wolf hunt with hounds'', 15th-century engraving (wolf in upper right)
File:How Wolves may be caught with a Snare Fac simile of a Miniature in the Manuscript of Phoebus Fifteenth Century.png, 15th-century paper instructing on how to trap wolves with snares
File:Wolfhunt1582.jpg, Drawing of a wolf hunt from ''Neuw Jag vnnd Weyderwerck Buch'', Frankfurt am Main 1582
File:Philip Galle, Stradanus (After) - Hunt of wolves with spears.jpg, A 16th-century print after Stradanus depicting a wolf hunt
File:Werwolf von Neuses.png, The Wolf of Ansbach, chased into a well and displayed on a gibbet
File:Wolf and Fox Hunt .jpg, ''Wolf and Fox Hunt'' by Peter Paul Rubens
File:Loup Oudry.jpg, ''Wolf hunt'' by Jean-Baptiste Oudry
File:Desportes_wolf.png, The Wolf Hunt, Alexandre-François Desportes
File:Wolf-shoot.jpg, A 19th-century painting depicting the conclusion of a wolf hunt
File:Château_de_Pibrac_(21).jpg, Fireplace decoration depicting a wolf hunt in the château de Pibrac, castle of Pibrac (France).
See also
*Animal welfare
*Beast of Gevaudan, Beast of Gévaudan, a famous episode of wolf-hunting
*Hunting license
*Jackal coursing
*Three Toes of Harding County famous wolf hunted in South Dakota
*Wolf attacks on humans, some of which have spurred hunts
*Wolf-baiting
*Wolf hunting with dogs
References
Bibliography
*
*
*
*
External links
"China police track and kill wolf after fatal attacks on humans" By David R. Arnott, msnbc.com, March 20, 2012Petition calling for an end to wolf hunting by the US Federal Government
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wolf Hunting
Wolf hunting,