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“We reached the old wolf in time to watch a fierce green fire dying in her eyes.”

The haunting words written by Aldo Leopold in his 1949 essay “Thinking Like a Mountain” describe his memory of the merciless slaying of a mother wolf and her entire pack of yearling pups as they peaceably wandered up a riverbank. The killing was unprovoked and regrettably committed by Leopold himself, who at the time believed he was doing a service to ungulate populations. Leopold reflects on his inhumane actions as a young man with “trigger itch” and realizes, after a half-century-long career in wildlife conservation, that killing the wolf not only fails to protect its prey, but offsets the entire balance of the ecosystem to which both species belong.

If Aldo were still here, he might remind us that killing wolves will not save endangered caribou from extinction. Yet, wolves and other large carnivores continue to be the target, literally, for misguided and unethical government-run caribou recovery programs that cater to industry rather than commit to conservation.

 Looking back into those fierce green eyes of Aldo Leopold’s slain wolf, perhaps we can learn to extend our vision forward, shifting the way in which we view nature, and the paradigm through which we manage our last remaining wild spaces.

phantoms of the forest

This piece was created for the group exhibit “Caribou: Phantoms of the Forest” at the Bateman Foundation Gallery in Victoria in partnership with the Harmony Foundation. Planned to open on World Endangered Species Day, May 15, 2020, the show was postponed due to the first wave of the pandemic. The exhibit aims to bring awareness to the decline of caribou in BC and across Canada through visual art, highlighting that the risk is not only in losing these iconic animals, but in failing to meet BC’s commitments on climate, biodiversity and the rights of indigenous peoples.