The Wolves of Northern Spain

The animating power of the wolf is calling my attention.  Izzy alerted me, pawing at the ground and attempting to bury some of her dinner – she has always been wolf-like.  It is beginning to move through Tulku. I see the wolf as the ‘model’ for the domestic dog and not an ancestor at all, it’s a very different story.  I wrote about it here.  However, the animating power of the wolf goes far beyond dogs, reaching deep into our human essence.  I’ll write more on this later.

Meanwhile, I watched this documentary on the Iberian wolves of northern Spain.  It is from 1991, but I still recognise the place and people.  Time moves according to the seasons here, rather than calendar years. It has some great wildlife footage and captures the ingrained fear and distrust that rural people have for these creatures.  I felt the deep rejection people have of the wolves, which is also our rejection of our own wild selves.  So our future and the future of the wolves is entwined as always, in the need to accept and make space for wildness.

Every year a farmer around here loses a sheep or two to wolves, but as pointed out in the documentary, they probably lose more to stray dogs – wolves prefer wild food.  Very few of the rural folk give a moment to consider how human activity has all but destroyed the natural territory of the wild animals.  To them, the wolf is simply a predator and pest that must be eliminated.  In the past, when a farm animal died, the farmer would take the carcass to the hills for the wolves, now under EU laws, that is prohibited.  All stock must be accounted for and carcasses properly disposed of, or you don’t get paid.  Some animals to still die in the hills, but must be reported to the wardens.  Everything must be accounted for.

I’m sensing a turning point, that the wolf population here is recovering, along with the human spirit.  I’m seeing the early signs.