Bridging the Gap between Humans and Wolves: Insights from the 2024 Great Lakes Wolf Symposium

October 15-17, 2024 (Published November 9, 2024)

By Joshua Janusiak

Introduction

The Great Lakes Wolf Symposium this year at Northland College (October 15-17, 2014) was a masterful amalgamation of some of the most renowned scholars, specialists, and even photographers who all share a passion for this overlooked but beautiful (and important) species. The event was not only informative, but a fun time was had by all, not to mention the stellar hors d’oeuvres, drinks, and concessions! The symposium was a multi-day event mostly consisting of students and researchers presenting their niche and very interesting findings to an audience full of activists and concerned citizens. Northland College, a high-tier environmental liberal arts college, generously hosted the event, supporting yet another environmental cause by furthering public education about this important topic. If you haven’t read my other blog articles about how incredible Ashland, Wisconsin is, take my word for it – it is a serene and distinctive place to be.

This post explores my experience of the 2024 Great Lakes Wolf Symposium at Northland College, as well as information and current perspectives on wolves themselves. I want to encourage others (anyone!) to participate not only in upcoming wolf symposiums but any opportunities for education about animals and the natural world around us, of which we are closely entwined whether we like to admit it or not. I also want to bring awareness to the perspectives of those who have genuine and intimate expertise in these areas and to those who take the time to educate themselves properly and by means of immersive learning (such as attendees at this event) even if they aren’t (yet) leading research studies. I conducted interviews with a few passionate attendees (my parents, Michelle and Steven Janusiak) and a Northland College student presenter who completed a summer internship working closely with wolves at the Wildlife Science Center in Minnesota (my youngest brother, Jayden Janusiak), in addition to talking to almost all of the student posterboard presenters.

Everyone who attended the symposium was united in the idea that group and community engagement is key to the successful preservation and management of our natural world, and therefore to our own preservation as well. While wolves may be known for being sort of sly creatures of the night who often live under the radar, during this symposium, they were for once be placed in center stage.

Why care about wolves and wolf symposiums anyway?

If wolves seem like a bit of a niche topic of debate, it’s because they are. But this is part of the problem that results in wolves being seen as nuisance animals and killed or hunted due to a lack of regulations, a desire for their pelts, or personal convictions that are often based in misinformation. When asked what brought her to this symposium, Michelle Janusiak said, “We’re verified carnivore trackers and we care about the well-being of the wolf.” She added that she wanted to know more about their status (whether they should be on endangered species lists) and to hear scientific updates about wolves instead of just reading opinion articles. She was also interested in the updates from the DNR and Canadian wildlife services about wolves in specific states and regions. Attendee Steven Janusiak said he was brought to the symposium because of his interest in the wild population and curiosity about why people want to kill wolves. Steven said he was interested in wolves because “there are too few of them in the world and [he hasn’t] seen very many in the wild.” I suspect that many people attended for similar reasons.

Posterboard presenter and Northland student Jayden Janusiak (an undergrad studying natural resources and math, who will graduate next year in 2025) worked long hours with wolves this summer at the Wildlife Science Center in Stacy, Minnesota, just 45 minutes north of the Twin Cities. The Wildlife Science Center is funded by both state funding and funding from tours and educational programs they do, and Jayden’s internship included everything from mechanical maintenance to feeding tortoises, raccoons, foxes, raptor birds, wolves, and more. Regarding the Great Lakes Wolf Symposium, Jayden said, “It was nice to be surrounded by super informed individuals who had such a wide variety of backgrounds, and to hear both opinion and fact from supporting different views.” He is a responsible and intelligent hunter and fisherman who takes pains to follow all regulations, use all parts of animals, and to educate himself on all aspects of his wildlife activities and the species he interacts with. “Wolves are important to me because they’re a keystone species and they capture a part of wildlife that no other species really can,” he said in his interview. He pointed out that wolves are a ‘keystone species’ and that they are vitally important to many ecosystems and their native environments. “A keystone species is an organism that has a disproportionate impact on its ecosystem relative to its abundance… so it’s about the long-term sustainability of the ecosystems, and ecosystems can look super different [depending on those species] and sometimes collapse [without them].” When asked why wolves are important to people, presenter Jayden Janusiak attested, “You can learn a lot from them. You can learn about camaraderie, teamwork, how adaptable wildlife can be, and so much more.” Perhaps protecting this species serves as a lesson in humility as much as it does a ‘favor’ for our global ecosystem.

Many people value wolves for one reason or another, but, at least in hegemonic American culture, they seem to be valued in mostly poetic or symbolic ways instead of as a species vital to world ecosystems and deserving of moral consideration.  Some specific cultures, however, such as that of Native American tribes from the Great Lakes region, place great importance on wolves and even consider them sacred. Unfortunately, this level of respect is not shared by many others. In the Anishinaabe (Ojibwe) creation story, wolves (Ma’iingan) were provided by the Creator to be a companion to the Original Man. Because of this and other teachings, the Anishinaabe people consider the wolf their relative. So, when emotionless population goals or harvest quotas are put on wolves, it can be seen as analogous to putting these goals and quotas on relatives. (Source)

This is a great example of a relatively recent philosophical concept called speciesism (which can be compared to racism or sexism), which assumes human superiority over animals, leading to the exploitation of animals. The moral boundaries between how humans and animals should be treated have always been blurry, but they have come under increasing scrutiny as intellectuals, scientists, and moral philosophers learn more about the intelligence and consciousness of animals and realize that animals are more deserving of our moral consideration and respect than humans have thought in the past. This is evidenced by the increasing popularity of more sustainable and species-friendly lifestyles such as vegetarianism. Perhaps the world can develop a more respectful and intelligent perspective towards wolves and their niche in the environment as well. Since large-scale change can only occur once seeds are planted in local spheres, the Great Lakes Wolf Symposium is doing a great job of starting this journey toward bridging the gap between humans and wolves.

Symposium Presentations & Scientific Insights into Wolves

The Great Lakes Wolf Symposium at Northland College (2024) was a marvelous opportunity for researchers, enthusiasts, students, and concerned citizens alike to share information, perspectives, and opinions about wolves and policies and attitudes that affect them (or a lack thereof). Topics of the presentations included: wolf and pup behavior; the use of technology to track, study, and manage wolves; locale-specific updates on wolf populations; analyses of the relationships between humans and wolves; strategies for wolf recovery; studies on the relationships between wolves and other species; international patterns and observations; the impact of the changing environment on wolves (and vice versa); diet; hunting; protections; and much more. While I was personally only able to attend the first two days of presentations (there were three days of presentations in total), I learned a lot about wolves that left me feeling surprised, enlightened, and more personally invested in the species.

While I am no expert on wolves, I believe that this symposium transformed me from “wolf illerate” to “wolf literate” in two days. I barely knew anything about wolves, except that they seemed comparable to dogs. Wolves, however, are a very unique species. Wolves can interbreed with coyotes, leading to a few blurry lines in terms of species relationships in certain areas of the world. They most often prey upon fawns (baby deer) and beavers, as well as occasional large animals such as elk, bison, and moose, or smaller animals such as rodents. As I learned from presenters at the symposium, wolves are not always carnivorous; wolves and pups also like to eat berries such as blueberries and raspberries, especially when they are lacking animal prey.

The lives of most wolves are often just as hard-core as people assume since they depend upon sufficient populations of prey animals, often venture far distances alone, and raise litters of pups with relatively low survival rates. Only about half of the wolf pups in any given litter will survive to adulthood, and changes in environmental conditions or specific situations can lead to even lower survival rates. Due to urbanization and the prevalence of humans, many wolves have also come to utilize human-made structures such as roads for long-distance travel or ‘dump sites’ for animal carcasses. Wolves also sometimes like to prey upon farmed animals such as cattle and horses (which contributes to the human frustration with wolves). Some wolves are even smart enough or agile enough to overcome fences designed specifically to keep wolves off of ranches or farms, but government services such as the DNR can often help to remove wolves from these areas using non-fatal techniques.

One presentation from the symposium that really captured my attention focused solely on the building of an enormously long fence (for a private farmer, using public funds and manpower) designed to keep wolves off a cattle ranch, and one of the wolves used her wit to find the weaknesses in the fencing by crawling under the fence or finding weak spots. Interestingly, this wolf was mainly interested in consuming the scat of the cows and teaching her pups to access this food source. This wolf’s son apparently also learned to breach the fence, but in a different way – it leapt over the 4- to 6-foot fence on multiple occasions. The devoted farmer and DNR workers on this site were able to make the wolf fence very effective (but still not perfect, due to difficult water features, etc.) due to continued work and unprecedented experimentation. Another important aspect of this controlling the wolves in this situation was the training of ‘wolf dogs’, which turned out to be a highly effective way to keep wolves and other predators off the property and away from the farm animals. Attendees Michelle and Steven were moved by these non-fatal possibilities for dealing with ‘problem’ wolves. “They literally have grants to pay for these fences and stuff. Get the dogs!” Michelle advised. This project exemplifies the extents to which the DNR will go to help farmers control wolves in a non-fatal way.

Another symposium presentation focused on pup mortality, explaining how they used tracking collars and trail cameras to study the parenting and pup-raising behaviors of wolves. It found that the parents erred on the side of self-preservation when it came to survival situations and food shortages, so many wolf pups die of starvation and only a few make it to adulthood from each litter.

Presenters discussed the fine line between wolves and coyotes, including wolf-coyote hybrids. One presenter from the Northeastern United States explained how there have been wolves in that region for decades (and he provided historical photographic evidence) even though governmental agencies, researchers, and citizens tend to overlook their population in this area. The confusion between classification criteria for wolves versus coyotes is significant, especially when there are hybrids, but this presenter emphasized the importance of studying wolves in all regions they inhabit despite their sometimes elusive classification.

Yet another symposium presentation focused on a Jersey steer wolf depredation (death by wolf) that actually occurred on that exact morning before the presentation only about 3 miles away from where the symposium was held. This presenter focused on how that situation was handled by everyone involved, including the DNR. It also focused on policies that reimbursed farmers for farm animals killed by wolves as long as the DNR was able to find sufficient evidence that the animals were killed by wolves. This evidences how helpful and supportive local, state, or federal organizations can be in dealing with wolves. Attendee Michelle Janusiak was swayed by this presentation: “They brought up how there was a wolf this morning near here that killed a farmer’s cow, so it’s not like they’re ignoring it… They’re saying that that can happen and [telling you] what you can do about it… but sometimes [people are] just too impulsive and just shoot at it, and there’s a fear factor too.”

One of the last presentations I witnessed (and one of my favorites) was by Jad Davenport, a photographer who worked for National Geographic magazine but started leading expeditions to arctic regions of Canada to observe and photograph polar bears and wolves. He found that wolves and polar bears often have a surprisingly friendly relationship with one another, which was evidenced by many photos and videos of them coexisting and playing together. He made many interesting observations and recorded many intriguing videos that were surprising even to many of the wolf specialists in the auditorium. Obviously, the photography in this presentation was stunning, and his Instagram page, “jaddavenport” exhibits his incredible photo and video skills.

Student Posterboard Presentations

Students from around the midwest delivered excellent presentations related to their own studies on wolves (in a more casual, conversational manner), which perfectly complemented the presentations in the auditorium. Some of these students were part of years-long projects, and others presented about internships or other relevant experiences. Their findings ranged from topics such as the sometimes herbivorous diets of wolves, the human influence on wolf feeding behavior, pup survival rates and tracking procedures for specific locales, dispersal patterns during pup-rearing periods, and the multi-faceted research and educational projects related to wolves of the Wildlife Science Center in Minnesota. The presentations by all were superb, and the students were very friendly and eager to share their interesting perspectives, even when the scheduled presentation times had ended and the lighting made it difficult to see the posters!

In his interview, student presenter Jayden Janusiak (who presented his poster with Andrew Linder) gave insightful feedback into his experience at the Wildlife Science Center in Minnesota. “We’d often feed out the deer to the wolf packs. They are roadkill deer and the county hires people to get the deer off the roads, and the science center is the dump spot so they use those roadkill deer to feed the wolves,” he said. “Some of my favorite parts include interacting with the wolves on the daily, because you get to learn all the wolves’ different personalities. My other favorite thing was being able to actually go in the enclosures and do everything from cleaning the enclosures to actually immobilizing some of the animals, like recent captures. I mostly immobilized wolves. I took a class on it before, so just getting reacquainted with it was fun. It was great getting to know all those people, and they were great bosses. It was a great summer. It’s definitely an extremely unique experience.” Jayden’s interview illuminated the joys of working toward the betterment of wolves and other species (and bridging the gap between those species and humans through education), but also the hard work and careful training it takes to be able to successfully work with animals in programs and organizations such as this.

Conclusion & Looking Forward

The 2024 Great Lakes Wolf Symposium at Northland College was a highly significant event for the study, protection, and furthering of wolf species everywhere, and it did a wonderful job of making the topic accessible to everyone via concise and enjoyable presentations, high-quality educational resources, and a welcoming environment. Attendees Steven and Michelle recommend that more people in general should attend events like this to become educated on important aspects of our world. They were also passionate about the idea that humans need to not only worry about themselves, but instead worry about the whole earth and ecosystem. “Try to think outside of yourself and outside of the box,” Steven said, touching on the idea that people often treat wolves with disrespect and fatal means of control. Wolves, specifically, occupy a vital niche in the ecosystem, have stunning intelligence and personalities, and are deserving of our (human) respect for various reasons.

One of Michelle’s takeaways from the symposium was that “the DNR has a lot of non-invasive ways set up to help farmers and to support the Ojibwe beliefs… If you call the DNR instead of just, like, shooting at something, then they’ll try to come help remove the nuisance animals or wolves without hurting them, or they can help support your farm for future business without just killing the wildlife. So, people need to be educated and reach out to the DNR.”  Steven Janusiak agreed, stating that people shouldn’t just react out of fear when confronted with wolves on farms, when hunting, or in the wild. He believes that people should consider entire ecosystems and other species with more respect, and not just kill animals because it’s the easiest and most reactive thing to do. He says, “But people are so old-school in their thinking. ‘My grandpa shot a wolf so I’m gonna do it too.’” Steven has got a point; it is difficult to change people’s learned behavior, even when there really are better ways of going about the situation. Hence the importance of an open mind and educating oneself (by attending symposiums, for example).

A focus on the ‘bigger picture’ and continued learning will not only help wolves, but will help us to be better, happier people who live in a higher-quality world that is more informed and involved. Impressed by the symposium and with a renewed sense of hopefulness in wolf-oriented activism, Michelle said, “It was well-attended. There were a lot of businesses and professionals, and I feel like they tried to present all sides of the data.” The event was inarguably well-organized. “I look forward to hopefully being able to go to the international [symposium] in two years,” she added, already charting her course for further activism and involvement.

While the focus of this symposium seemed to be the wolf, perhaps it was just as much a symposium about ourselves. Regarding human cooperation, presenter Jayden Janusiak said, “People need to get less hostile towards opposing views and try to meet in the middle… one extreme or the other is not the answer,” explaining that this balance can look like “ideal practices backed with science and proper execution.” Cultivating concern among others when there is already a lack of awareness is challenging but vital. “Being willing to listen to new ideas is a huge part of changing someone’s mind… [Wolves] aren’t as much something to be afraid of as something that should be given their due respect.” The Great Lakes Wolf Symposium may have been comprised of only a few hundred individuals, but I am certain that at least some of those individuals gained an important awareness about wolves that they could not have foreseen, and I am very fortunate to be included in that group.

For more information, visit:

Great Lakes Wolf Symposium

Ojibwe Perspectives Toward Proper Wolf Stewardship: https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/ecology-and-evolution/articles/10.3389/fevo.2022.782840/full

Voyageurs Wolf Project: https://www.voyageurswolfproject.org

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