‘Thinking like a wolf’ invites intimate look at the controversial species

The new book, “Thinking Like A Wolf: Lessons From the Yellowstone Pack,” allows you to follow the master wolf observer, Rick McIntyre, just like you are in the middle of the action. McIntyre, who has studied Yellowstone National Park wolves for some 30 years, follows the lives of wolves in a personal and exciting way, opening a window into wolves’ lives that leaves a lasting mark. 

In the book, you find yourself immersed in stories about bravery, sacrifice, love, compassion, betrayal and hope — all of the ingredients and emotions you might find in a popular engaging novel with human characters. Each step on the journey shows why the lives of wolves matter and are similar to the lives of human families, friends and groupings. 

You are there to witness the story of male Wolf 911, whose unwavering bravery McIntyre compares to that of the 9/11 firefighters who braved fear and selflessly risked their lives to save others. Then there is Wolf 926 who was a strong pack leader, a dedicated mother and the definition of persistence through adversity. Wolf 926, a legendary wolf in Yellowstone, was “an undersized female wolf” with a “big personality.” 

Wolf 1048 is a large, strong male wolf that never battles for dominance, but takes his caretaker role seriously through chasing off invading wolves to protect a den shared by two mothers with large hungry litters. 1048 also regularly brings food to the mothers and their young to ensure their survival. You learn that one of the mothers protected by 1048, makes a life-affirming comeback after the shock of losing all of her previous litter to mange, a contagious skin disease that kills wolves.

To warm the reader’s heart, there is a tiny wolf pup who wanders out of the den while 1048 is away. The pup touches noses with a 1,000-pound bison then returns unharmed, leaving an unnerved and startled bison in its wake. 

Also, it is inspiring to learn that if a mother dies while caring for her litter, the entire wolf pack often works together to raise her babies. Further, another female wolf may help a harried mother by acting as a nanny.

Perhaps one of McIntyre’s most remarkable observations is that social and leadership skills ultimately hold more sway with wolf packs than physical battles to determine who is alpha. This thread is embedded throughout the book in fascinating ways. Wolf packs can function like a human democracy in which wolves literally “vote with their feet” by following the leader of their choosing.

Along the journey, McIntyre gives you some difficult statistics about Yellowstone wolves, showing that their existence is still very precarious, even though wolves are protected within the Yellowstone National Park boundaries. Some 75% of Yellowstone wolves die a violent death through attacks from other wolf packs, hunting elk, or being killed by hunters. The average Yellowstone wolf lives only about 3 years, even though the possible lifespan is much longer, to over 17 years for captive wolves.

If you are wondering how Yellowstone wolves can die from hunters, the reason is that the far-ranging canines periodically cross out of the park boundaries into the surrounding states, Wyoming, Montana and Idaho. These states permit wolf hunting. The beloved and celebrated Yellowstone wolf, 926 was lawfully killed outside the park by a hunter at a time when she was entering her best years. In 2022, 25 Yellowstone wolves were lawfully killed outside the park by hunters. According to McIntyre, this was about one-fourth of the total number of wolves in the eight Yellowstone packs. The Phantom pack lost all of its members to legal hunting. This number of wolf deaths caused outspoken concern among those who depend on wolf-related tourism for their livelihoods in the Yellowstone region. 

Protecting wolves in Yellowstone National Park and the states around the park makes sense. Thousands of tourists visit the Yellowstone and Grand Teton national parks each year. The financial impact of these tourists is significant. Education and awareness, like that provided by Rick McIntyre in his books, makes a difference. According to McIntyre, 8,700 jobs in the Yellowstone region are affected by visitors to the national park. Many of these jobs are affected because park visitors come for wolf-watching. McIntyre says that viewing Yellowstone National Park wolves contributed $82 million to the regional economies in 2022. 

Wolves, as McIntyre shows, are not only important to Yellowstone’s economics, but also important to the wild areas outside the park in the surrounding states, because they help bring a natural balance of nature. Wolves help strengthen elk and bison herds by culling out the weak. The average age of elk cows taken by wolves is 14 years — thus wolves are taking those that are older and weaker. Contrary to what some speculate, McIntyre’s years of gathering wolf pack data show that wolves don’t kill their prey for fun or waste any of what they kill. In reading his new book, you see this too. Taking down a 600–1,000-pound elk or a 700–2,000-pound bison that is far larger than a 70–130-pound wolf is too life-threatening and causes too many serious wolf injuries to be done for reasons other than for meat for the survival of the pack members. Plus, many other animals, such as grizzly bears, birds and other meat-eating animals benefit from sharing kills by wolves. As McIntyre shows, it is common for wolves and grizzlies to partake at a wolf kill, eating only a few yards apart from one another.

In McIntyre’s words, “Those of us who live in the Yellowstone area believe in sharing the experience of watching wolves with newcomers. That means we welcome them to the park and let them look at the wolves through our high-powered spotting scopes. I feel that every new person we help will be one more person on the side of wolves. I also hope that my books make a difference. Recently, a woman came up to me and said she had bought seven copies of my book on wolf 8 and given them to men she knew who were anti-wolf. All of them read the book and told her that the stories of 8 and 21 had changed their attitudes towards wolves. My mission is to reach as many people as possible and bring them to the side of the wolves.”

Wolves are often perceived as a costly threat to livestock. However, McIntyre emphasizes in this and other books, that when wolves encounter livestock, as with other prey, they target weak or vulnerable members, such as those that are sick, injured or are very young. As the data show from sources such as the “Wyoming Gray Wolf Monitoring and Management: 2023 Annual Report” and the Wyoming Game and Fish Department, livestock losses from wolf depredation are relatively low. Livestock are much more likely to be killed by weather, disease, predators other than wolves, digestive problems and complications from giving birth. To manage wolf and livestock confrontations, McIntyre advocates non-lethal wolf mitigation alternatives, such as range riders, building electric fences with bright cloth flags and livestock guardian dogs. This is because McIntyre’s reporting shows that wolf pack populations are already self-managed through inter-pack conflicts and by wolf deaths or serious injuries while attempting to take down large animals, like elk. 

We need to reconsider how we view wolves and come to understand their value in nature, as well as their close characteristics to humans. In the words of the highly regarded animal observer, Frans De Waal, “Our species must find ways to coexist with wolves since their overall effect on ecosystems is highly favorable. The danger to human life is minimal.”