Wolves

Are you sure coyotes are endangered? Where I live, they are considered pests and have a hunting season.Coyotes are, in fact, more dangerous than a wolf pack.

And okay, I'm sorry. I'm not really familiar with red wolves. That top picture almost looks more like a young wolf than a coyote. It's so orange!

Being "Superior" does not grant someone the right to decide which can live and which should die...
I watched this video not so long ago about a man and woman trying to reintroduce wolves in the wild, bonding with them as well to gain their trust to understand the intimate life of a wolf pack deeper...And it showed me a lot that I did not know about wolves before.

Here is a link if you're interested :
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RWmOtXSAr1M

Saying that our "superiority" is what keeps them alive and what would decide of their extinction might be true in a sense, but it's "power talk"...
Imo, superiority does not only involve power - a superior being should also be able to consider other living beings as part of the world we all share. Everything has its use on Earth to maintain the ecosystems in a good shape.

Saying that wolves should be exterminated just because they are deemed "dangerous" is far too quickly judged.
Wolves have a "safety perimeter" that people should respect if they want to approach the animal without making themselves look like a threat to the animal.
Besides, wolves do not attack humans as often as we'd think...just like sharks, honestly. They are misunderstood animals for the most part because of the stereotypes, as well.

If anything, populations of wolves should be regulated if necessary, but not exterminated.

TheTorraRegion said:

Are you sure coyotes are endangered? Where I live, they are considered pests and have a hunting season.Coyotes are, in fact, more dangerous than a wolf pack.

And okay, I'm sorry. I'm not really familiar with red wolves. That top picture almost looks more like a young wolf than a coyote. It's so orange!

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I said "about to be". Right now they are seen as Least Concern, but at the same time coyotes generally fare in areas of human absence, so the idea that they are overpopulated clashes with the increased desire for them to be hunted all the time. Thus, they are actually being driven to extinction and no one's noticing - like with what happened to the dire wolves and the red wolves.


How to tell the difference:

Red wolves are known by their increased reddish tint in their fur, which you don't always see. This is because red wolves change their fur color year-round, with the seasons. Interestingly enough, these changes mean shedding lighter fur - for summer - to thicker fur - for winter. In other words, red wolves are an astounding species than can naturally change their entire look to fit survivability in the wild, so they don't have to worry about warmth or coolness throughout the seasons. To add to that, the color change may make it so that you don't recognize the same red wolf after 1 year, since their colors will look completely different from the previous year - this is because their fur colors also change with age.

Red tints are not always on red wolves and only show at certain times, so the ability for us to recognize them is based more on their anatomical look - and then their overall appearance, to distinguish them from coyotes and other wolves.

Red wolves have survived so long because they use brains rather than brawn. Unlike the dire wolves, who chose to just Hulk Smash everything, red wolves were able to use strategy in battle and outlined their territory better than other wolves, which is why they were such a threat to human colonists and thus why those same colonists went to war against them. Unlike coyotes, however, they don't run away with their tails between their legs - this is why they chose to fight and went endangered for it.

Ah. gray wolves also look quite different in certain seasons.

I also find the complex hunting methods of canids fascinating. Gray wolves, African Wild Dogs, and, apparently, Red wolves all have complicated, intelligent hunting strategies.

Wolves are noble creatures, and will never attack anything unless their lives depend on it, or for mating rights or territory, but that is only against other wolves.

They are hunted for their furs, and their teeth. But for what? Money. Because of money, people would do anything. There are even some people who go to jail for the rich in return for money in ancient China.

The Alphas, or Vór and Vóras, are looked up to by the lower pack members. They move as one, hunt as one, even think as one. They are like generals of an army. The alpha would risk their lives to save the pack, and vise versa.

You could say that wolves may be more noble than some nobles!

They are animals. I don't think we should go out of our way to kill them unless they are interfering with human affairs. From what I hear, though, that is exactly what's happening in some places: wolves are growing in population to the point where they start intruding on civilization and harming livestock and potentially weaker humans. This is the case in northern Michigan, where recently a very small wolf hunt was approved. In cases like these, I have no problem with hunting them in limited numbers.

However, the idea that many people have (especially in this thread) that wolves are "harmless" or "peaceful" is outright wrong. Wolves are undomesticated dogs. Feral dogs are already extremely dangerous and sometimes attack humans; wolves are this, but a step further. Wild animals are not cute and cuddly. They are wild. Anyone who works with wild animals on a regular basis will tell you that you should always exercise caution when around wild animals because there is no expectation that at any time they won't simply attack you. Telling people that wolves are "peaceful" is the wrong message to send and may well lead to someone not considering them a threat in an encounter, which could easily lead to unnecessary loss of human life. Be mindful of the consequences of what you are saying.

AzuGazer said:

Even gorillas and monkeys in the wild can be feared.

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As well as gorillas and monkeys in captivity. Seriously, primates are some of the most dangerous animals on the planet, and they are honestly much more so than wolves.

The difference is, one can tell that a wolf is dangerous by seeing its teeth and claws, whereas a primate can be misleading. A chimpanzee, for instance, can often be thought of as almost human. This leads to people who aren't professional animal handlers trying to interact with primates, which rarely ever ends well. Faces are ripped off, people are killed, I mean, these monkeys are immensely strong. Unpredictable, too. I mean, they're related to humans, they'll be unpredictable like humans.

As for wolves, while they aren't immensely dangerous, they aren't harmless, though. They're wild animals, they'll attack people if they are on their territory. The problem is when wolves overbreed and expand their territory. There have been instances where wolves, lacking sufficient prey in their territories due to overpopulation, have gone out and slaughtered farmers' livestock. This is why I'm perfectly fine with hunting as a solution to overpopulation. As long as the hunting effort makes certain not to kill too many wolves, it will prevent a lot of pain for both the wolves and the humans. I'm certain that a bullet is a far more humane way to go than a drawn-out, painful death by starvation.