A History of Attitudes Toward Wolves
Content Footnotes
(1)
In Vanishing Lobo, James C. Burbank (1990)
presents the notion that werewolves increased in
historical accounts at just about the time of the
scientific revolution and the definitive rise of the
mechanistic world view. The organicist view sees the
world as completely interconnected, a whole greater than
the sum of the parts, containing context-dependent
knowledge, and consisting of a unity between human and
non-human nature. Mechanism refers to a world view that
encompasses an understanding that matter is composed of
atomistic parts, the whole is equal only to the sum of
the parts, knowledge exists independently of context, and
there are dualistic separations between mind and body,
spirit and matter. For more information about this shift
in world view, see Merchant 1980
and 1992
and, Leiss 1972.
(2)
See Eisler 1987
for a discussion of goddess religion and how these
ancient people were able to live in harmony for literally
thousands of years before the advent of Christianity and
the spread of warring cultures. She examines
civilizations such as Crete, Old Europe, and Sumer. These
civilizations existed from about 15,000 BCE to
approximately 1500 BCE. See also Gadon 1989.
(3)
See Ernst 1952.
This text gives an excellent and detailed overview of the
wolf ritual as it was performed on the Northwest Coast.
For detail on wolf ritual as practiced by other tribes,
see Burbank
1990. This book focuses mainly on the Mexican Wolf,
but addresses many Native American beliefs and rituals
regarding wolves in general.
(4)
Archeologists are unable to find any evidence of male
dominant societies under the goddess religions.
Importantly, they did not discover any evidence of a
matriarchal social arrangement, either. Instead, all
evidence uncovered so far in sites like Catal Huyuk, Old
Europe, Malta, Avebury, Sumer, and Crete indicate that
these civilizations existed without stark social
hierarchies, and in fact lived in a general state of
equality and harmony. See also Eisler 1987,
and Gadon 1989.
(5)
Carolyn Merchant gives an excellent discussion of the
European transition to a mechanistic world view in The
Death of Nature (1980). For a
shorter more concise explanation, see her second and
third chapters in Radical Ecology (1992).
(6)
Merchant 1980
considers the scientific revolution to begin during the
late 1400s.
(7)
See Cronon 1983
for an excellent and unbiased look at why and how
Europeans modified America. See also Nash 1982 for a
discussion of changes in the European conceptualizations
about wilderness.
(8)
Many authors attest to the significance of bounties in
drastically reducing wolf populations. See Lopez 1978:153-199,
Young
1946:60-146, and Young and
Goldman 1944:337-368.
(9)
For discussions on the importance of bounties to the
decimation of wolf populations, see Lopez 1978:153-199,
Young
1946:60-146, and Young and
Goldman 1944:337-368.
(10)
Farley Mowat’s book and movie Never Cry Wolf
set out to dispel the ‘evil’ notion of the
wolf. Biologists doubt many of his claims about wolf
reality. Mowat did succeed in recreating the wolf’s
image, but he replaced that image not with a real wolf,
but with a romanticized version. Wolves cannot survive on
mice alone, although they are known to eat them
occasionally. L. David Mech, the world’s premiere
wolf biologist, suggests that wolves eat mice more for
the fun of catching them than for a meal.
(11)
When a wolf tests an animal, it approaches the prey with
the intent of attack. If the animal stands up to the
wolf, it will generally be left alone. Only fit
individuals attempt this strategy. If the animal flees
during testing, the wolf senses that the animal is less
fit, and therefore easier to catch.
(12)
L. David Mech relates information about some experiments
that were done with wolves regarding this window of
acceptance. For more information, see Mech 1970:9-11.
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