I never asked myself – up to when I watched a certain documentary series on TV – why I was so fanatic about wolves when I was a teenager. Finding the reason was a real weird travel back in time – of course, just a mental travel. (I get weird thoughts after watching things on TV lately, maybe I’m getting old?)
When I was 10 I had a special book. This book was about animals all over the world, explained their features really nice and the pictures of the animals weren’t photos but handmade drawings. This was the first time I didn’t saw the wolf as an evil fairy tale character, but as actual a really social animal. As I kept on reading I found out that I fell for that animal and so I started to collect everything I could about wolves. Really anything: calendars, plushies, stickers, etc etc etc. (This could have been the start of my addiction for collecting things like books, figures, etc)

But why wolves and not… cats?
The addiction of gathering everything faded away with age (also because I don’t like to support several companies with buying every crap), but I still adore the animal itself. Especially their social behavior, which seems to be the point why I loved them once.
And cats are… well… normal?
I had the image of a “lone wolf” (totally misplaced saying) in school, but wolves aren’t loners – there are solitary individuals, but that’s not very common. Wolves live and hunt in packs with a well-organized command structure. There’s no Alpha or Omega – this image is only applied for wolves which live in captivity and don’t have the space and freedom of wild wolves. Usually a pack consists of a parental pair and their cubs of the last and new year, sometimes also two or three of adult pairs with their cubs. Mature cubs leave the pack and merge with other cubs to a new pack – siblings don’t mate as the male denies the act.
Also I really like calm animals (one of the reasons why I own a snake) and wolves aren’t really “speaking” animals. Except for the howling, which doesn’t seems to be really often, but on the other hand: I’m not a wolf – who am I to judge that?

But are those valuable reasons to still be fascinated? Uhm… yes.

The fascination of people who follow and film wolves kept on growing and the documentaries nowadays are way better then those I watched in my childhood when you just got “fed” with information and accepted it as fact without any proof or pictures. Fact now is: You can’t know everything, especially not for wild animals. The statements given are changing every time a team somewhere discovers a specific behavior and some might not fit what a person thought of it.
So nearly all secrets which made wolves (and other animals) so mysterious are solved or about to be solved. Still many people identify themselves with or like wolves.
Even I did until I thought it would be a bit too childish to transfer myself on something I can’t be – at least not in this life and even if I could: Would I like being a wolf?

What’s even more insane: to crossbreed wolves with dogs to have something “wild and free” at home. This is the worst an animal can experience. Dogs are totally different in behavior and reaction then wolves, so a crossbreed is always in the madness of “Should I react as a wolf or dog in this situation?”, which I feel sorry for.
Mankind shouldn’t interfere with nature and crossbreeds may look cute and adorable, but personally I think they shouldn’t get breed – not even for some egoistic human beings who want something “wild” at home. Wild belongs to nature.
If you want something wild at home: get a bunch of cats. Two will do the job of your usual wild madness at home.

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