Theory Post

In order to create a theory on my topic of the aerial shooting of wolves, I had to dig down deep to the root of the cause of people's desire or feeling of need to shoot wolves. I want to expose my thinking of why humans believe animals that are predatory and feed on other animals to sustain life are disdainful and barbarous. This comes from idealistic thinking in society and the wish to make everything relate to romanticism. By definition, romanticism is the emphasis on the imagination or emotions. This idea causes humans to feel hatred towards wolves when they prey on such animals as deer and rabbits, and it is for this reason my theory is that the reason why humans have a desire to shoot wolves both because they feel somewhat threatened by their powerful presence and because most humans tend to be romantic in their thinking of how the world should be.

The human desire to be kind to animals is a very romantic quality that dates back to the 19th century. While it is understandable to want to be kind to animals, we as humans have to understand that the predator-prey relationship is a natural part of life and should be respected. Additionally, humans are often intimidated by the powerful presence of a wolf. With an average bite strength of about 1,500 pounds of pressure per square inch and coming in at speeds of up to thirty-five miles per hour, it is understandable why one might feel the need to stay far away from wolves out of pure fear. Even the earliest settlers of America showed signs of this fear and often slaughtered wolves to keep them from coming near their homes. However, wolves, unless rabid, do not pose hardly any threat to humans at all. A CNN news reporter writes, "while humans have killed an estimated two million wolves in this century, there is not a single documented case of a human being killed by a healthy wild wolf." That says a lot for wolves.

In order to eliminate this fear of wolves and the romantic ideals of average Americans, education about wolves and other predatory animals is needed. There is no doubt that with education comes understanding and understanding would lead to better relationships between humans and animals (specifically wolves). With the elimination of ignorance on the subject of predatory animals, I believe this would eliminate people's need to slaughter wild animals out of fear, unless populations are completely out of control.