Society of Wolves

In 1915 the federal government employed 300 full-time hunters and trappers to kill predators, mainly wolves. By the 1950s, except for isolated populations in the upper Midwest, the grey wolf had been exterminated in the continental U.S. As a park ranger for 15 years, McIntyre observed wolves in Denali and Glacier National Parks. While following one Denali Park wolf pack through the seasons, he examines in grisly detail the federal, state and local policies between 1870 and 1930. He notes that Adolph Murie's study of wolves from 1937 to 1944 changed park managers' perception of predators. Since the mid-'80s, grey wolves have been reintroduced to Glacier National Park, and red wolves to a reservation in North Carolina. Currently, there are controversal plans to reintroduce wolves in other parks. A group called Defenders of Wildlife supports a program that rewards landowners for allowing a wolf den on their property. McIntyre's photographs will captivate readers, but his narrative, interrupted throughout by extraneous digressions, is choppy. Photos. (Nov.)