The Wolf in the Southwest: The Making of an Endangered Species

Features

• Cover Type: Paperback with 208 pages
• Published by: Johnson Books August 1, 2002
• Written in: English
• ISBN 10 Number: 0944383599
• ISBN 13 Number: 978-0944383599
• Book Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.4 x 0.6 inches
• Weighs: 9.6 ounces

Product Description
The premier predatory animal in the Southwest, and certainly the most controversial, the wolf came to grips with European settlement, particularly the livestock industry, and lost. First in Texas, Arizona, and New Mexico, and finally in Old Mexico, the southwestern wolf was driven to extirpation; ironically, the last wolves were hunted down not long before the advent of laws-and a conservation ethic-that could have saved them. Drawing on reports of the U.S. governments former Office of Predatory Animal and Rodent Control (PARC), and from accounts of wolf hunters themselves, David E. Brown has compiled the history of the wolfs elimination. Included is a complete documentation of the eradication program, fascinating stories of the last few wolves that eluded hunters, and information on wolf biology from those who best knew its habits.

Since its first publication in 1983, The Wolf in the Southwest has proven itself as the single most valuable and informative reference to Canis lupus of the Mexican borderlands. Now, the descendents of the last wolves captured in Mexico once again roam portions of wilderness in New Mexico and Arizona. With reintroduction, this second edition contains a new Preface and Epilogue by David E. Brown, and a new Foreword by author and biologist Harley Shaw. Once again there are wolves in the woods, and just as in the days of the pioneers, people are taking sides. Love him or hate him, the wolf is again making history, and The Wolf in the Southwest is back in print.

Reader Reviews
The distant howl of the wolf seems at home alongside campfires under a brilliant moon. The echoes of those cries ring with loneliness and pain. They are forever linked with the wildest of the wild, nature untouched and pure. The Southwestern U.S. to Mexico is a wild and natural area, but far from untouched and pristine wilderness areas. Moon-filled nights are no longer punctuated by the wolf's plaintive calls due to a century of persecution that eliminated all species of wolf from the South West. With the attempts to reintroduce wild packs and the subsequent controversy regarding this issue a new edition of the David E. Brown's brilliant `The Wolf in the Southwest - The Making of an Endangered Species' has been released by High Lonesome Books. Originally published in 1983, `The Wolf in the Southwest' documents the fervor to rid the wolf from the wilds of Arizona, New Mexico and Texas from the late 19th century until the late 1970's. David E. Brown has painstakingly researched his book from decades of archival records documenting the plight of the southwest cattlemen. These ranchers whose heavy losses to cattle depredation lead to a government sanctioned declaration of war on all predators. It is a grimly fascinating tale of the sad history of the wolf in the southwest. David E. Brown's `The Wolf in the Southwest' is the definitive resource on the various species of southwestern wolf, covering their biology, territory and first hand descriptive accounts of their place within their historical environment. These coincide with various trapper reports, techniques and encounters. Thorough and complete with many historical photos and documents, David E. Brown brings this shortsighted era to life. `The Wolf in the Southwest - The Making of an Endangered Species' is a bitter read for it eulogizes, not celebrates the wolf. A dramatic reminder of how destructive the world was and still is and how once we set foot in pristine natural areas we slowly begin to lose them.