Return of the Wolf: Conflict and Coexistence

In this thoughtful study, nature writer Wild (The Cougar) examines the uneasy relationship between humans and wolves and the prospects for peaceful coexistence. Fairy tales and idioms such as “the wolf at the door” cast these animals as villains, Wild observes. To counter myths and misconceptions, she provides arresting real-life details: every wolf’s howl is as “unique as a human fingerprint”; wolves navigate largely through the sense of smell, enabled by 280 million scent receptors, compared to a human’s five million to six million; and enjoy close symbiotic bonds with ravens. Wild’s investigation takes her to many different environs, from a family in British Columbia that keeps cross-bred wolf-dogs at great expense (more than $600 a month for feeding), to Wolf Haven International, a sanctuary near Seattle. “Writing about wolves means writing about death,” Wild acknowledges, both because humans kill wolves for a variety of reasons, and because the animals attack livestock and, albeit rarely, humans. With stunning color photography to accompany vivid prose descriptions, Wild ably delivers her message for “humans and wolves... to see each other occasionally from far away and then go about their lives without disturbing each other.” [em](Mar.) [/em]