when people think of wolves, they tend to think of a dramatic image of wild beasts plundering farms, hunting down children and livestock. depending who's doing the imagining, they might picture the wolf as fearsome and vile - or perhaps vermin and worthy of extermination.

but many humans both then and now understood that wolves are just another part of the natural world around us and like every other creature exists to fulfill a purpose. "but the hunter who has faced many a wolf and also killed some wolves, he does not quarrel with or curse the beast. this hunter knows the wolf acts as a wolf must, and kills no more than fate permits. this is the natural limit, as with the height of waves in the oceans." -snowchange

for the sami people, the wolf was honored as a sacred animal, man's closest relative. there is a joik reffering to the wolf called suologievra, meaning the powerful and strong of the island. the wolf is a helping spirit and able to traverse the lower, middle and upper worlds. colonization brought christian views that attacked these beliefs. to these missionaries, nature was something to tame - and certain animals like the wolf were servants of the devil. there are many cultures who hold similar views and beliefs regarding wolves.

in 1926, the last wolf pack in yellowstone was killed. this marked a time when wolves were hunted almost to extinction in north america with the population having already been in decline since the early 1900s. this had tremendous ecological impact as there was no longer any natural process in place to keep elk populations in check. coyote population had also spiked which effected the population of other prey animals in the park. wolves were re-introduced in 1995 and slowly began repairing the damages that had been done over the past decades.

with elk population now in check, the soil was able to repair itself from erosion that had been caused by over-grazing. this helped tree populations, which brought back certain species of birds that had disappeared from the park. coyote populations were now managed too allowing foxes and small prey animals to return. the effect that wolves had on the ecosystem trickled all the way down the chain, down to the microbial level.



all over the world you can find stories of werewolves. the idea of man shedding his human form to become an animal is found throughout many vastly different cultures. slavic folklore talks of the belarusian prince vseslav who was thought to be a man by day, but a wolf by night. the ancient norse had many traditions with wolf-men such as the ulfhednar, fierce wolf-warriors who dressed in wolf hides and spiritually transformed themselves into wolves during battle. they would enter into a trance or frenzied state, howling and foaming at the mouth and becoming immune to pain.

clinical psychiatrist jonathan shay writes about the berserker and ptsd: "if a soldier survives the berserk state, it imparts emotional deadness and vulnerability to explosive rage to his psychology and permanent hyperarousal to his physiology, hallmarks of post-traumatic stress disorder in combat veterans. my clinical experience with vietnam combat veterans prompts me to place the berserk state at the heart of their most severe psychological and psychophysiological injuries." as someone who has ptsd (non combat related) the idea of transforming into a wild animal that operates off of nature's pure rage fills me with great sympathy for the werewolf.

returning to sami folklore, oral traditions tell of noaidi enchanting people to let them run as wolves. there is a story about the figure stuorra-jovnna who wanted to become a wolf. he was told that if he went around a curved tree several times in the direction of the sun, he would become a wolf. stuorra-jovnna would run through the tundra hunting reindeer and was pursued by the reindeer herders. he ran as a wolf for two weeks before realizing that he was running out of time. if he didn't change back soon, he would remain as a wolf forever. stuorra-jovnna had to cross 9 valleys back to the tree where he circled again - and was man once more.

the irish fianna were warrior bands of young men who would spend their time in the wild, living close to the supernatural forces of nature. the warriors were often depicted as wild wolf-men, hunting both humans as well as animals. one of my favorite movies wolfwalkers took inspiration from the legends around the werewolves of ossory. the werewolves of ossory were decendants of the legendary figure laignech faelad who was told to be a man that used to transform into the shape of a wolf. him and his offspring would carry out raids or hunt in these forms. some irish accounts would detail the men were able to transform and leave their human bodies behind while they ran as wolves. however, their human bodies were vulnerable while they took this form and their friends or family were warned not to touch them. these stories have also been marked by christianity, often referencing this ability as a punishment or curse.




i live in north carolina, home to the critically endangered red wolf. they are almost completely gone in the wild. it's my dream to see them come back and take their rightful place back in the ecosystem in great abundance. NC wildlife federation has a page where you can learn more about them and their conservation efforts as well as watch a webcam feed of their red wolf enclosure here.

frequently, i'll have dreams of becoming a wolf or a werewolf. in these dreams i'm able to run at great speeds and distances (a lot like stuorra-jovnna did) through tall longleaf pines and over shallow desert streams. i'm the type of person who rarely has structured dreams or dreams that make any kind of sense, so these specific dreams hold a great amount of spiritual meaning to me. i'm not sure if they're memories of a past life or if maybe i've managed to travel somewhere else during these dreams. i think that it's both, but i'm not able to tell the difference between the two. these are the only dreams where i'm able to feel things in my environment or experience sensory perception such as temperature or taste/smell. the form changes- sometimes i'm a wolf-man with a more human shaped body that i'm able to run on all fours with, sort of like the werewolves in skyrim you feel? other times, i'm more animal-shaped and on all fours, a wolf but much larger with different proportions. sometimes i'll go ages without having these dreams before experiencing them in clusters. they're really important and dear to me.

i hope that like other animals that are threatened by man-induced climate change and senseless over-hunting can someday be protected and fully restored in their roles in the wild. to me, the wolf is an important symbol of how even a single species can determine the fate of an ecosystem... everyone has their place, serves their purpose and must use their gift to benefit the natural world around them.

wolf conservation center