The Wolves
Now it's time to write that real
story with all its characters, the political/economic pressures,
jealousies, and ill will driving government and academic institutions.
My years with the wolves will evolve into a book, "Three Years with the Wolves."
I have read the thesis submitted by Barbara Scott as part of the requirement for the Master of Science degree and find it fully satisfactory for the degree....
Barbara has tackled a difficult task demanding not only technical competence and analytical skills but an unusual degree of woods wisdom and physical courage. The biological details in her study øf the wolf in the Vancouver Island forest ecosystem include significant new information. She has revealed some of the highest densities known among wolf populations. Although she makes little of it in her treatment of her data her documentation of the movements of the single nomadic individual she encountered and radio collared is truly a remarkable accomplishment. No one previously has demonstrated such a range of movement. The amount of aerial search reflected is remarkable in itself, but she would never have found the animal in its successive locations had she not exercised unusual insight of a predictive nature.
This demonstration of the nomadic propensity of some individuals throws
important light on a number of occurrences of wolves that have shown up in once inhabited range hundreds of miles from existing populations.
I have enjoyed my association with this project and send my warmest good wishes to Barbara for future success.
This is a letter of
ackowledgement from Dr. McTaggart Cowan, one of the committee members
for my thesis. Still active at the age of 96, Dr. Cowan has
devoted a lifetime to studying, teaching and conserving the natural
resources of British Columbia.
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Preparing to immobilize a captured wolf to weigh and determine sex, age, condition