Wolves
by Anri
As many people know, wolves are my favorite animal. I am totally obsessed with them. During the summer I helped raise money to send to the Endangered Wolf Center.
Sometimes people question the hard work I put in to save wolves. Well, not many people know that wolves are actually really important to wildlife. Wolves help balance the amount of the species they hunt. You might be thinking, Why is it important for there to be not too many animals? The thing is, if wolves (and other predators) didn’t exist, and the population of their prey went up, all those animals would be overeating grass and other plants.
Imagine everywhere you look, there would be no flowers, grass, and all the hard work people put into gardening would be ruined.
Wolves are not very successful hunters, so they usually only hunt weak or sick animals (they hunt herds of moose most of the time). This helps the moose because when they hunt the sick, they are preventing the sick animal from getting the other moose sick.
Another reason wolves are important is because animals like eagles and ravens scavenge a lot. Leftover meat from a wolf’s kill becomes a meal for scavengers. Not to mention any meat that does not get consumed at all becomes fertilizer, and enriches the soil.
So as you can see, wolves are very important to wildlife and should be protected.
You probably have heard of the classic fairytale, Little Red Riding Hood, or maybe The Big Bad Wolf. These stories give you bad impressions of wolves. First of all, wolves are not a threat to humans.
Wolves are really loving, caring animals. They will do anything for their adorable pups. Wolves are extremely loyal to their pack. They show lots of respect toward their leader. Did you know wolves lick their leader’s muzzle (or snout) to show respect? How cute is that?
Some people don’t like wolves because of their so called “creepy” howl. They only howl to communicate. It’s just like how we humans talk.
Not all people think wolves are gross, vicious animals though. I interviewed some people from Mrs. Hau’s fifth grade class and asked them three simple questions: Why do you love wolves? Do you think it is important to save wolves? Why do ou think it is/isn’t important to save the wolves?
Chloe said, “They are cool animals” when I asked her why she liked wolves. I asked Evelyn why if she liked wolves and she said, “Yeah.”
Natalia said she thought wolves were important because “they control the population of their prey.” When I asked Zella why she thought wolves were important, she said, “They are an important part of our ecosystem.” This goes to show some people actually really like wolves.
Wolves aren’t just super cute, but they are also super smart. They come up with brilliant ideas on how to hunt. They figured that by traveling in packs, they can be more successful in hunting, and raising pups.
Some species of wolf (yes, there is more than just one type of wolf) are nearly extinct! Humans are partially responsible for the decline in the wolf population, so it is also our job to help them. This goes for many other predators too.
If this article doesn’t convince you to help wolves, I don’t know what will.