a little bit more about wolves

One month ago, gray wolves were delisted as an endangered species, leaving them open to hunting. And the hunting started.

Wolves that didn't happen to have calendars with them wandered into the wrong place at the wrong time and will continue to do so. Now, I don't want to meet a wolf in a dark alley late at night, and we all know that wolves have an irrational rage toward girls in red hoodies, but REALLY. There's somewhere around 1500 gray wolves. We have them a bit outnumbered. Yes, they kill elk and sometimes pester small wild animals and pet dogs, but so do the kids that hangs out in the part across the street from me. (Well, maybe they're not so into the elk...)

Oh, wait, elk are cool too, right? Well, sure. So are the other hoofed animals (ungulates is the vocabulary word of the day) that this law is protecting from those evil wolves. Guess who especially loves ungulates? Hunters. They're fun to hunt.

So, hunters win here. They get more elk and deer and other wild things to kill, and plus they get to kill wolves too. (By the way, I'm not necessarily against hunting, but again, they have the wolves a little outnumbered. And out weaponed.)

I've been thinking about wolves for another reason. I wanted to show you another card for the Totem Tarot: The Wolf.



As a totem, the wolf is a pack creature, reminding us to surround ourselves with likeminded souls. However, the wolf has a set role in the pack, so as a totem the wolf might be warning us not to break away from our role, or she might be telling us that our defined roles might be holding us down. Wolves are big communicators, using attitude, touch and sound to "talk" to other members of their packs. They are extremely loyal to the pack as well. If you think the wolf is your totem, you might be outspoken and good at communicating, but you might also consider whether your pack i sthe right one for you.

If you want to read more about the dangers that await wild wolves, check out this web site. And you can find art prints of The Wolf at my etsy site. I'll be donating a portion of wolf print sales to Earthjustice, or a better wolf rights group if I can find one.