EEDN: "Howling for moderation: living with wolves in the American West"

Wolves are caught up in a wide range of human phenomena: love of the wild; hate of the wild; divisions between rural and urban worlds, and between liberals and conservatives; government power versus local liberty. Given this baggage, it’s natural that their reintroduction across much of the northern hemisphere should stoke controversy and dispute. But after weeks of interviewing American hunters, ranchers and conservationists, Dr Rogelio Luque-Lora had encountered only moderation. There were significant differences in views, but participants preached middle of the road approaches and resented that a minority of radicals on both sides of the debate maintained an image of polarisation and hostility. It is through compromise and collaboration, participants maintained, that we can heal relationships between people and wolves and, as importantly, between the different human groups.