The truth about wolves
cheap jordans sale Reputation: Wolves have two public images. They inspire feelings of fear for their mad eyed drooling cheap air jordan , biting of children, and killing of livestock. But they also draw admiration for their strong, family centric society, and as flagships of wild nature. cheap jordans sale
cheap jordan sneakers Reality: These extreme views of wolves are deeply held, but are rooted in history rather cheap jordans mens size 11 than modern day reality. In the highly modified cheap nike jordans uk landscapes of Europe and North America, it is time to rethink the meaning of wolf. cheap jordan sneakers
cheap jordans on sale How many wolves are there in Europe? If I’d answered this question a year ago, I might have suggested 1000. I would have been wrong, by an order of magnitude. cheap jordans on sale
cheap jordans from china “If we’d been back in the 1970s then we’d have been talking about an endangered species,” says John cheap jordans real authentic Linnell of the Norwegian Institute for Nature Research in Trondheim, and a member very cheap jordans free shipping of the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s Large Carnivore Initiative for Europe. cheap jordans from china
cheap jordans for sale However, over the last 40 years wolves have cheap real jordans made an incredible comeback across the continent. “At the moment we’re talking about 12,000 wolves in Europe fjuter ,” says Linnell. During the same period, the US population has also expanded rapidly, he says. cheap jordans jordan retro 7 cheap for sale
cheap air jordan That’s a lot of wolves. So is there any truth in the notion that super cheap jordans wolves pose a danger to humans? cheap cheap air jordans online air jordan
cheap nike shoes View image of Wolf packs can control huge territories (Credit: Robert Harding World Imagery/Alamy) cheap nike shoes
“If we look at European history, there is actually a cheap jordans 6.5 lot of evidence that wolves have killed a lot of people in past centuries,” says Linnell.
cheap yeezys In rural landscapes that were heavily modified by humans, where there was a tradition of livestock farming and where children were used as shepherds, wolves have attacked people. “This describes a lot of Europe up to the end of the 19th century,” says Linnell. cheap yeezys
cheap Air max shoes Then there is cheap jordans 7 for sale the additional threat posed by a wolf with rabies. “During a very limited period, a rabid wolf can cover fairly large distances, biting just about everything that stands still long enough to get bitten,” he says. “Before we had any treatments for rabies, this was a death sentence.” cheap Air max shoes
cheap adidas There are still parts of the world where these risk cheap jordans ebay factors for wolf attacks are a feature. In one well documented case in India, a rabid wolf went on the cheap jordans app rampage, attacking a dozen people in half a dozen villages in a single day. Three of the victims those with “severe wounds to the face and head” died. cheap adidas
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A few years ago there was a similar incident in cheap but real jordans for sale Turkey, when a wolf leapt onto the face of a 60 year old man sitting in his garden. He managed to strangle the animal to death but not before it had bitten him. The man died a cheap air jordans 8 week or so later, presumably from rabies.
cheap air force However things are different in most of modern day Europe and North America. There are no child shepherds and little rabies, so the chances of a wolf attack are vanishingly small, says jordans for cheap price Linnell. cheap air force
In complete contrast to the demonic stereotype, an alternative vision of the wolf has come to prominence over the last 50 years. This is an equally fantastical beast borne from a long standing worship of wolf power. cheap jordans $35 It has been embraced by the New cheap jordan tennis shoes Age movement, and strengthened by the growing recognition that top predators like wolves can have a profound and often enriching effect upon biodiversity.
Cheap jordans The best way to introduce this other wolf is through the story of Yellowstone National Park. Cheap jordans
cheap jordans free cheap jordans dhgate shipping View image of Wolf packs are tight knit family units (Credit: David Kjaer/NPL) cheap jordans free shipping
cheap jordans shoes In the 1920s, US government employees exterminated Yellowstone’s wolves, leaving the region wolf less for the next 70 years. Then in 1995, after two decades of planning, conservationists finally got the go ahead to cheap high quality jordans release Canadian wolves into the park. cheap jordans shoes
The reintroduction of wolves has transformed the ecology of Yellowstone. The most obvious immediate effect has been on the elk population. At the point of reintroduction, there were around 16,000 elk. By 2004, elk numbers had halved to 8,000.
cheap jordans in china That might not sound good, but the knock on effects were impressive. With fewer plant eating elk around, woody trees like willow, aspen and cottonwood experienced a dramatic recovery. cheap jordans in china
cheap jordans china Ecosystems are complex things, so it would be too simple to attribute all these changes solely to the reintroduction of wolves. But there is overwhelming evidence that the sudden reappearance of Yellowstone’s top predator has triggered a big shift. Wolves, it turns out, are the friends of trees. cheap jordans china
View image of Wolves help trees to grow (Credit: Lynn M. Stone/NPL)
So what is the truth about wolves? It probably lies somewhere in between the demonic wolf of folklore and the new age wolf of the wilderness.
“The challenge we now have is to move away from both those extremes to cheap mens air jordan shoes a middle view that is not fear and is not worship,” says Linnell.
