I’ve written about
this title in this space recently. And, wow, what a read!
Biggest takeaways?
The pervasive
effect of Euro-centric beliefs that would equate wolves with evil, that “wild” –
in the vernacular of dog-raising – is synonymous with dangerous rather than
intelligent, discerning and noble.
That when it comes
to the question of man’s domestication of canis lupus we typically miss a
critical point of view, that of evolutionary scientists who study the
relationship history of wolves and indigenous peoples from a place that honors
both sides.
Wolves to dogs is
the first domestication, but man and wolf mark the first predator union of
mammals in North America, upon which our continent’s first peoples are blessed with enduring legends and stingy belief systems that hold the wolf as deserving of respect and that she not be treated as an enemy of cookie-cutter progress
theories that seek to eliminate those who pose a threat to a narrative of
convenient truths.
Bears too … The
First Domestication asks that we consider those animals whose evolutionary
track is of equal importance to ours and often has a benevolent effect to our mutual histories.
If we are the most
developed species on Earth, isn’t it long past the time that we should act the
part?
Next: Running for Your Life: Running Goals
