The wolf has appeared in many forms in the annals of human history and defies simple categorisation. Confronted with increasing opportunities for contact as human populations spread, wolf conservation efforts grow, and wild wolf populations recover, we must ask how we want to think of this animal, and further, what that means for how we think of ourselves. Practically, the stories of relationship through which we understand and construct the wolf – as, for example, fearsome, savage, wild, or ‘free’ – themselves frame the conservation problems we identify, and which solutions are deemed desirable or viable.
This poster presents analysis of a case-study of an educational wolf-sanctuary and nature centre in Colorado, USA. Qualitative interviews were conducted with visitors and volunteers at the sanctuary, along with participant observation of the educational tours and wolf-human interactions. Research questions focused on the philosophy, design and implementation of the education program; the role of the animals themselves in delivering the educational experience; and the philosophical processes of negotiation and integration that participants engaged in throughout their time at the sanctuary, whether volunteering or visiting.
Results/Conclusions
The results of this qualitative study demonstrated the importance of three key factors. First, asking visitors to consider how the wolf was perceiving them immediately framed the experience as one of participation rather than observation. Second, encouraging people to actively negotiate how they were categorising the animals, e.g. as wolf or as dog, encouraged an openness to the possibility of relating to the animal in a different way. This included expectations of how the animals would behave, especially when interacting with people. Finally, the role of story in engaging people with the possible subjective experience of the wolf, and thus questions of moral concern, was an important component of exploring alternative modes of wolf-human coexistence. How we think of the wolf is relevant to how we live with the wolf. And how we are able to live with the wolf has implications for long-term success of wolf conservation activities.