Today is a different one again, but no less false image of the wolf in circulation. For many romantic-minded contemporaries, it is the last remnant of an intact wilderness. Countless books, Movies and posters convey an image of the wolf pack as the ideal family, of the male wolf as the devoted father and the female wolf as the perfect mother.
Again, it's not about the wolf himself, but just one of the many distorted images in our heads. He is not the last hero of a lost wilderness, nor our downfall, neither devils nor fools. All these ideas are always only connected to the human situation. However, they have little to do with the wolf itself.
The future of the wolf depends on us. If we accept him that way, as he really is – not an unproblematic animal and yet capable, to live with us -, then he can come back. If we continue to fear and hate him, he has no chance. So our image of him decides his fate.
Only in the last few decades, thanks to a lot of research on the ecology and behavior of the wolf, have we gotten a realistic picture of it. After that is the wolf, like any other animal species, with his body shape, his senses, adapted to the environment as much as possible in terms of its “language” and its behavior. In fact, it is a particularly flexible omnivore and big game hunter.
Because we humans once lived similarly, he is very close to us. We tamed him and adopted him as a dog. At the same time, however, we fear him as a competitor and enemy. That's the dilemma with the wolf: its position between our culture and its nature. So that he can maintain this position in the long term, we must finally learn, to see him without prejudice. He's a fascinating animal. He can cause us problems, but we shall be much poorer, when he is no more.