The gray wolf has not roamed the Green Mountains for centuries. But its cinematic avatar will pay a visit to Vermont this week for an unusual event that combines arts and conservation.
On Sunday, April 10, the Stowe-based advocacy group Protect Our Wildlife will host a Wildlife Social at Norwich’s Montshire Museum of Science. Designed as a networking opportunity for conservationists, the free event features a screening of the award-winning 2015 documentary Medicine of the Wolf.
Brenna Galdenzi, executive director of POW, called the volunteer-staffed nonprofit a “watchdog group” that advocates for “compassionate conservation”: treating wild animals not as nuisances or hunting trophies but as cohabitants of our environment.
A similar principle guides Medicine of the Wolf. To make the film, director Julia Huffman studied the gray wolf population in Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness, a massive area that spans the Minnesota-Ontario border. There she connected with noted wolf ecologist and author Jim Brandenburg, who became her guide into the world of wolves. The film’s thesis is that misunderstanding and fear have driven the animal to near-extirpation.
By phone from Los Angeles, Huffman explained that “medicine” in her title refers to the wolf’s prominent role in the spiritual traditions of several North American indigenous peoples. But it has a broader significance, too. “When wolves are in an ecosystem, they actually create a healthier system,” said Huffman. After gray wolves were reintroduced to Yellowstone National Park in 1995, she said, “The aspens grew back. The grass grew taller because wolves kept the ungulate herds on the move. All these other species were affected in a positive way because the wolf was put back into this ecosystem.”
In that sense, Huffman said, the wolf is “the great healer.”
“The movie certainly ties into POW’s theme and mission of protecting wildlife and of education and outreach,” said Galdenzi in a phone interview. The event, she noted, is an opportunity to forge connections among biologists, ecologists and anyone with an interest in conservation — for those “with similar compassions to come together and energize and to think about what we can do here in Vermont for our wildlife.”
Said Huffman, “I’m honored that my film would be selected to be one of the conversation points [at the event] … It makes me feel like I did my job.”
The gathering will also showcase brief presentations by several wildlife experts, such as Tré Nichols of Colchester, an outspoken advocate for wolves; and Chris Schadler, a New Hampshire ecologist with the nonprofit Project Coyote.
John Aberth, one of the few certified wildlife rehabilitators in Vermont, will discuss his treatment and release of injured wild animals. He takes a strong position against leg-hold trapping: “To intentionally inflict suffering like that on an animal is just inexcusable in my mind and is something that should be outlawed,” Aberth said by phone from his home in Roxbury. “It’s not really acceptable, in a society in the 21st century, to allow, essentially, animal torture for sport.”
On the current list of Vermont’s endangered and threatened animals are six fish, 13 birds and seven mammals, among other creatures. The gray wolf is not among them, having had no Vermont presence in recorded memory. Though its range once spanned the lower 48 states, the canid has been hunted so thoroughly that it is now found only in a few isolated forests in 13 states, mostly west of the Mississippi.
Yet, like the fabled catamount, the gray wolf still inspires reports of Vermont sightings. In a 2014 Seven Days story, Chris Bernier of the Vermont Fish & Wildlife Department said his office receives 50 to 75 “catamount sightings” every year. Officially, the big cats haven’t prowled the state since at least the 1930s. Vermonters have also filed a few “wolf sightings” in recent years, notably in Stowe in 2012. That one was never confirmed, but it did spur fears that the animals had returned, according to Bernier.
Such fears are precisely what Galdenzi intends to address by convening the wildlife social. “We have done such a disservice to our predators,” she said. “A lot of it is based in fear and tradition and in the competition for game species. I’ve heard hunters refer to coyote as ‘deer poachers,’ when the coyotes are just out there trying to survive.”
That viewpoint reverberates throughout Medicine of the Wolf. “When we think about the wolf,” said Huffman, “we think about this age-old folklore, [like] werewolves and Little Red Riding Hood. It’s so ingrained in us that they’re the ultimate animal of destruction. My goal is to have people understand where those old ideas come from, and how inaccurate they really are.”
This article appears in The Money Issue April 2016 (Theme Issue).
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It is refreshing to read an article that holds a balanced position with regard to predators. For far too long the prevailing perspective is that they are either evil, a nuisance, or both. The only reason this is so is because humans decided they could co-opt whatever we want for any purpose we want and any species that gets in our way is out of bounds and, therefore, out of luck. So thank you for the much-needed reality check. And thanks to POW, for its efforts at educating us all.
Exposure to scientific data, research and ultimately the truth about predators is what is largely missing from the conservation debate. Such a social and film screening goes a long way in clearing up some major misconceptions and prejudices about the ecological role of predators, be they coyotes, catamounts or wolves.
And, for the record, to call a coyote ‘deer poacher’ is pretty rich coming from a hunter. I often wish they could hear themselves talk.
Protect our Wildlife conducts significant work with integrity and accuracy, in the face of cherished cultural beliefs. We couldn’t recommend this event more, as the timely issue of smartly planning for our significant State resources, for our beloved working and wild-lands using the best ecological information with the highest benefit to all–this is our work and our privilege now.
What a wonderful event to attend and to learn about our wildlife. I hope to make it but it’s a hike from the southern end of Vermont. We must reassess our laws and our relationship with the wild, and respect our fellow travelers on planet Earth in their desire to live in peace and to flourish. Mankind has been carving away their habitats, killing off top-tier creatures, holding unsubstantiated beliefs that man’s mission must be to control other species by killing them, destroying their habitat and/or destroying their food sources. What a relief if we could just all get along, and respect one another’s desires to live out our lives, human and non-human animals alike.
The event is being held from 5:30-8pm — details here: http://www.protectourwildlifevt.org/#!special-events/kilw8
It looks like a great event and engaging movie that will bring science and compassion to the discussion of conservation.
I can’t wait to attend and learn more about the biology, history and spirituality of our predators. It’s going to be fun, engaging and best of all wild! Thanks 7 Days for bringing attention to this important event.
Recent public protest from the majority of NH residents spoken loudly against the proposed bobcat trapping/hunting and also the publicized concern from residents of Shoreham, VT because of reckless and cruel coyote killings makes this event necessary and timely! What a marvelous opportunity for the Vermont and New Hampshire /Dartmouth community to have a chance to learn not only how essential predators and wildlife are to the ecosystem but also to gain awareness how we as citizens can do more as animal stewards, learn about sustainable and non-lethal methods ,and how to become advocates against animal and wildlife cruelty or the barbaric-savagery of trapping. Looking forward to an incredible panel of presenters and the feature film; Medicine of the Wolf and meeting the Protect Our Wildlife representatives.
For far too long conservation has been a euphemism co-opted by the hunting- and trapping community to justify their cruel actions. Trapping/hunting is neither conservation nor sport. It is torture, as Mr. Aberth rightly states in the article above. Kudos to Protect Our Wildlife for their work, and for spreading the message of compassionate conservation. Fish and Wildlife could take a lesson or two from them, learn to rely on scientific knowledge, and actually start to live up to its stated mission.
The leg-hold trap as essentially torture for animals. When the jaws of the trap slam shut, they inflict excruciating pain. To that pain, add fear, bleeding , freezing temperatures, snow, rain, the danger of prey animals eating the trapped animal alive, the inability to go care for her young if the trapped animal happens to be a mother, and more. In many cases, the trapped animal may chew off his/her own paws to escape. The trappers call this “wring off.” How cute!
Trappers like to purport their sport is “highly” regulated. Vermont law says traps must be checked every 24 hours, but it is a self-policed, self-regulated, self-enforced law. It is impossible for Fish & Wildlife to enforce. In addition, the trappers do not have to report what animals they torture/trap/kill. Since a steel jaw leg-hold trap captures any unfortunate creature who steps into it, endangered animals, protected species, dogs, cats, birds, and all species are caught, but never reported to F&W. Hence, F&W suffers a dearth of statistics. So much for “highly” regulated! (Just wondering…how does this self-reporting work with the IRS?)
“Tradition” gets added to “conservation” as the excuses trappers use for continuing to abuse animals in traps for sport. Hello! The year is 2016. I’m a grandparent and a third-generation Vermonter. I say it is time to stop this horrid, inhumane activity and stop hiding behind “conservation” and “tradition” to justify it. We know better!
The tides are turning on the 100+ year old paradigm of so-called “Wildlife Management” by government agencies. While necessary to curb mass species extinction across the continent in the 1920s, the infiltration of monied interests to “manage” the public’s wildlife for narrow interests must change again lest it do unto itself what it set out to rectify.