L. David Mech: Human

“Demanding that wolf populations be allowed to continue to increase is not only a false conservation goal, but also a counterproductive tactic that is bound for short-term failure. It is strategically preferable to promote wolf range expansion and to accept reduction of unacceptable levels of conflict through scientifically planned and managed culling rather than through uncontrolled poaching. Full protection of wolf populations living near, or interspersed with, human settlements leads sooner or later to surplus wolves being killed, legally or illegally. Opposing wolf killing altogether implies accepting that all wolves will eventually be removed from these areas, whereas accepting some wolf control will allow wolves over much larger ranges. This vision requires a fundamental shift in the way wolves are perceived by folks who consider every wolf a symbol of the conservation battle or an animal with special rights among all other species. In the end, this approach probably will yield many more wolves than we could afford to keep in a few fully protected areas, no matter how large.”

L. David Mech

Wolves: Behavior, Ecology and Conservation (2003)

Way , Failure , Wolf , Animals

“It is beyond ridiculous that wolves need to study a human or that they are capable of it.”

L. David Mech

On Jodi Picoult's Lone Wolf, as quoted in Tom Myrick. International Wolf Center Nominates Picoult's Lone Wolf for Scat Award http://www.wolf.org/wolves/news/pdf/picoults_release_final.pdf. IWC Scat Awards. (March 8, 2012).

Study

“After decades of advocacy for wolf conservation using all possible means to sell the goal of wolf recovery, it is now necessary to start advocating for compromise between wolf and human interests.”

L. David Mech

Wolves: Behavior, Ecology and Conservation (2003)

Wolf

“Labeling a high-ranking wolf alpha emphasizes its rank in a dominance hierarchy. However, in natural wolf packs, the alpha male or female are merely the breeding animals, the parents of the pack, and dominance contests with other wolves are rare, if they exist at all. During my 13 summers observing the Ellesmere Island pack, I saw none. Thus, calling a wolf an alpha is usually no more appropriate than referring to a human parent or a doe deer as an alpha. Any parent is dominant to its young offspring, so "alpha" adds no information. Why not refer to an alpha female as the female parent, the breeding female, the matriarch, or simply the mother? Such a designation emphasizes not the animal's dominant status, which is trivial information, but its role as pack progenitor, which is critical information.”

L. David Mech

Alpha status, dominance, and division of labor in wolf packs http://www.npwrc.usgs.gov/resource/mammals/alstat/. Canadian Journal of Zoology 77:1196-1203 (1999).

Nature , Parent , Wolf , Animals