Take just a moment and imagine what would happen to an ecosystem if you removed its apex predator from the mix.
We don’t have wolves here in New Zealand and never have, but I imagine that in true Victorian fashion they would have been hunted into extinction. This is exactly what happened in Scotland and so nearly in North America and Norway. The last wolf in Scotland was killed in 1743. But since then grazing animals like deer have multiplied in the highlands. Destroying vegetation on which many other wildlife and insects depend. Gradually it has become clear the entire eco-system has been thrown out of balance by the elimination of a top predator.
Crumley explores the wolf and shows us that true wolf behaviour is inconsistent with myths we have been told for millennia. He Illustrates the successes of reintroduction programmes in Norway and Yellowstone Crumley points out how Native American culture view this wild animal through a totally different lens.
While dispelling many of the myths that surround this apex predator, he calls for its return to the Scottish Highlands.
As I’m reading this thoroughly researched and beautifully written book, I find myself firmly on the side of the wolf. Crumley takes us on a journey along side a loan female wolf as she is searching out a new pack. It invokes a lost feeling that the wolf, some how, is a missing part of us all.
The Last Wolf by Jim Crumley
