El Lobo: Readings on the Mexican Gray Wolf

In many
ways the opponents of wolves seem so much like the wolves themselves that it
is wildly ironic: though their numbers are small, they seem to retain a core
fierceness that cannot be ignored-nor would you want to, for fear is one of
the most primal emotions of any place. It’s never going to go entirely
away-not in a wild, healthy ecosystem.‘ -from 'The Feds’ by Rick Bass After roaming the desert Southwest for thousands of years, the Mexican gray
wolf was, almost in the blink of an eye, driven to the brink of extinction.
El Lobo collects writings that explore how this subspecies of wolf was
brought so close to the edge of annihilation. The first section, ‘To the Brink,’ includes essays that describe wolf
biology, the campaign to exterminate wolves from the Southwest, and the
wolf’s role in Native American cultures and in Mexican folklore. The second
section, ‘And Back,’ illustrates a turnaround in attitudes and policy and
includes Aldo Leopold’s famous essay ‘Thinking Like a Mountain,’ Rick Bass’s
astute analysis of the political divide, and Sharman Apt Russell’s carefully
woven plea in which she shares her experience with Pueblo Indian children
meeting a wolf in their school auditorium. These essays, from both sides of
the contested issue, resonate with passion, conviction, and the desire to
save a world that is mightily at risk.