song of the wolf

I made this a few years ago by combining an image I'd purchased from CanStock and our own farm when it was snowing. Google added the falling snow. To me, the image symbolizes so much in terms of nature and beauty. I like looking at it.

Oregon has recently delisted the wolf because their numbers have supposedly increased enough. With the arrival of the first wolf, the environmentalists and those who raise livestock or live close to wolf habitats have been at odds. One man was charged for killing a wolf when he turned himself in after claiming he had thought it was a coyote. Another was not charged as the wolf was trying to get his pet. Packs have been killed after they killed cattle in northeastern Oregon. Wolves do not kill quickly and they can leave behind hamstrung animals that they might as well have killed. In Oregon, there will be lawsuits before the whole thing is settled whether it should be protected or whether it cannot live close to humans. 

The only thing I can say about the imbroglio is one of my most memorable moments was one early morning on a ridge in Yellowstone. We were watching part of the pack across the valley. Then we heard the song of the wolf from the hills behind them. The ones below threw their heads up and answered. There is nothing quite as beautiful as the sounds of the wolves like that. 

In nature, wolves provide a balance that is not quite covered by the bear, cougar or coyote. Raising livestock myself, I have mixed emotions about their arrival in Oregon. I mean what's a cow to them-- just a slow moving elk. Still, to hear them in nature...