| Old Codger 2008-03-30, 9:25 am |
| A man, a wolf and a whole new world
http://tinyurl.com/2mch55
Steve Gooder tells the tale of a British-born hunter and his mighty
foe - and how their duel in the dying days of the Wild West led to the
birth of America's conservation movement
It was the moment Ernest Thompson Seton had been waiting for. After
months of frustration, the professional wolf hunter finally had his
quarry in his sights.
He raised his Winchester rifle and prepared to put a bullet between
the eyes of "Old Lobo", a notorious wolf that had killed hundreds of
cattle.
But, face to face with his adversary for the first time, something
deep within the hunter changed. He slowly lowered his gun and decided
to take Lobo back alive.
The year was 1894 and it was a moment that would prove a crucial
turning point, not just for Seton, but also for the fate of America's
wilderness and its wild creatures.
British-born Seton had grown up with wolves on the Canadian frontier
and written the definitive manual on how to catch them. More than two
centuries earlier, his Scottish ancestors had helped wipe out the last
of Britain's wild wolves.
Yet there was another, less bloodthirsty, side to Seton. His backwoods
childhood had left him with a real love and fascination for nature and
he would eventually go on to become both a leading light in America's
emerging conservation movement and a tireless advocate for the
protection of wolves.
It all began in October 1893, when Seton travelled to a remote corner
of New Mexico "to catch vermin". What had once been the land of the
Apache and the buffalo had now become the domain of cattle ranchers,
and the last remaining wolves were being picked off as fast as the
bounty hunters could trap and shoot them. But a few "outlaw wolves"
still eluded capture.
Among these elite survivors was a reputedly giant beast, known as Old
Lobo, who had thwarted every attempt to kill him. Seton was merely the
latest in a string of would-be assassins who had come and gone.
What followed - over the autumn and winter of 1893/4 - was an epic
duel between hunter and hunted. No matter how clever Seton's devices
were, Lobo outwitted him at every turn. Traps were deliberately
"disarmed" and poisoned baits were left uneaten. It was as if the wolf
knew Seton was after him.
"Wolves are intelligent and very observant of their environment," says
Doug Smith, a leading wolf biologist. "When you trap and catch wolves
a lot, they get educated. You teach them how to avoid getting caught."
Lobo even appeared to ridicule Seton's efforts, on one occasion
gathering several baits into a pile and then defecating on them. A job
that was meant to take a couple of weeks was now running into months.
Seton faced total humiliation.
But eventually he got lucky. By sheer chance, he discovered that Lobo
had a mate and saw that she might be his weakness. The female was a
white wolf known as Blanca and Seton devised a cynical plan to use her
to catch Lobo.
The first part of his ploy worked a treat. Seton caught and killed
Blanca and took her body back to his cabin. Now he could use her scent
to lead Lobo into a trap. But what happened next took Seton by
surprise.
"There is an emotional attachment between wolves in a pack," says
Smith, who studies wolves in Yellowstone National Park. He recounts
the case of a pack leader who also lost his mate. "The male wolf
seemed to mourn. He howled for two days, more than anyone had heard
him howl before… he wailed and he wailed and he wailed."
To Seton's astonishment, Lobo began a strange and plaintive howl that
night. "There was an unmistakable note of sorrow in his voice," Seton
later wrote. "It was sadder than I could possibly have imagined."
Seton's work helped change the way wolves were seen by the world
When Seton rode out the next day, January 31, 1894, he found Lobo
caught in four of his massive, close-grouped steel traps, one on each
leg. Even for a seasoned wolf hunter, it was a staggering sight. Seton
recorded the scene with his camera and the remarkable photograph
survives to this day.
It should have been the end, but Seton was unable to finish the job.
Before him lay a calm and dignified creature that had shown qualities
of grief, loyalty and courage. To kill him like a piece of vermin was
impossible.
Although Lobo died later that night, Seton had undergone a profound
personal change. He returned to New York and wrote a book - Wild
Animals I Have Known - that begins with the tragic story of Lobo. It
was the first popular account of wolves that portrayed them in a
realistic and sympathetic way and it was an instant worldwide hit.
"As a boy of 10 I was given the book," says David Attenborough, who
presents and narrates a BBC2 programme on Lobo next week. "It had a
huge effect on me."
The book's enormous success gave Seton plenty of clout. He became a
powerful advocate for the protection of wild animals and helped create
a system of national parks across North America.
"Seton took a leading role in what became the conservation movement,"
says historian David L Witt. "He was certainly one of the first
ecologists."
Alongside his conservation work, Seton was also the inspiration behind
the Boy Scouts, a movement that was built on values of respect for
nature and which, to this day, encourages children to experience the
wilderness for themselves.
Until his death in 1946, Seton was a dedicated champion of the wolf, a
creature that had always been demonised before he helped the world to
regard it in a new light.
"Ever since Lobo," Seton later wrote, "my sincerest wish has been to
impress upon people that each of our native wild creatures is in
itself a precious heritage that we have no right to destroy or put
beyond the reach of our children."
Steve Gooder is the director of Lobo: The Wolf that Changed America
(Brian Leith Productions), BBC2, Wednesday, 8pm, and Sunday April 6.
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