The Wolf is Our Brother

A Legacy of Respect and Coexistence

Deeply respected as a guide and teacher, and revered as a sacred relative, the wolf holds cultural and spiritual significance for most American Indian communities. For thousands of years, Indigenous Americans and wolves coexisted peacefully.

The arrival of European Colonists

This harmony was disrupted in the early 1600s when European colonists arrived in America, bringing with them a culture of fear and animosity towards wolves. Stepping ashore, they encountered a New World abundant with wilderness, native tribes, and wildlife, but lacking domesticated livestock such as cattle, pigs, goats, horses, and sheep. Unlike wolves and other predators, livestock were regarded as valuable to civilized society and the European way of life. Thus, the colonies began importing domesticated animals from Europe.

The war on wolves

Colonial farmers allowed their livestock to forage free-range in the open fields and forested lands, which exposed the animals to potential predation. In response to the perceived threat of wolves and the widespread prejudice against them, colonists set out to eradicate the predators they despised. Local governments even placed bounties on the heads of wolves to accelerate the slaughter. As European-Americans, claiming manifest destiny, settled the continent, they would kill nearly every wolf in sight for the next 300 years.

John Morrison/Getty Images

Ma'iingan (pronounced Ma-en'-gun)

To the Anishinaabe Ojibwe community in the Great Lakes region of North America, the wolf is a brother. In their native language, brother wolf is Ma'iingan. The Anishinaabe people tell a creation story that traces the mutual kinship between the wolf and people back to the beginning of human existence.
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The Creation Story

In the beginning, the Creator (Gitchie Manito) made Anishinaabe (Original Man) and his brother Ma'iingan (the Wolf). Together, they walked Mother Earth naming all of the other plants, animals, and natural features. As they did, Original Man and Ma'iingan became close, like brothers, to each other and all of creation. When the journey was over, the Creator said,

From this day on, you are to separate your paths. You must go your different ways. What shall happen to one of you will also happen to the other. Each of you will be feared, respected and misunderstood by the people that will later join you on this Earth.

(Edward Benton-Banai, The Mishomis Book: The Voice of the Ojibway, 1988, p.8)

For the Wolves

Both wolves and Indigenous Americans were driven from their ancestral homelands by colonization and strife, reducing their populations to a mere fraction of what they once were. Not surprisingly, Native Americans are among the most vocal advocates for protecting wolves and opposing wolf hunts. We invite you to join us in the fight to keep our wolf brothers and sisters safe.

Agate Creek pack yearling; Jimmy Jones Photography