I know you can't hunt them but for lack of a better forum to put it in....
ARCHIVES
Chief honors sacred wolf
By Emily Wilcox
MPG Newspapers
Plymouth (Nov 18) There was a time when you could hear them howling at night. Doubtless, the Pilgrims heard them, wondering at their numbers, securing gates and shutting doors against their entry.
When they howled, each wolf picked a different note as a way to magnify the sense of their numbers. They traveled in packs, had a leader, known as the alpha male, and ate fast, crunching up carcasses and chewing up bones like popcorn.
Those early farmers weren't wild about them. Wolves were famous for eating livestock, digging into chicken coops and dragging prey into the woods, kicking and flailing.
"The wolf is very numerous, and go in companies, sometimes ten, twenty, more or fewer and so cunning that seldome any are kill'd with Guns or Traps; but of late they have invented a way to destroy them ... " writes John Josselyn in "New-Englands Rarities Discovered."
It was 1663 when Josselyn sailed from London to New England, aiming to inventory animals and plants native to the area. He took note of bear and wolves, not to mention moose and any number of other animals.
Settlers devised a way to kill wolves with the use of "Maycril Hooks" hidden in balls of fat, according to Josselyn. It couldn't have been a pleasant death for the wolf, but they were lightning fast and gunning one down wasn't easy.
And, while settlers took pains to kill wolves, the Native Americans revered them as sacred. You didn't kill an animal whose behavior so closely matched your own, the individuals depending on the group for success.
Eventually, the wolf, like the black bear, disappeared from Plymouth and much of Massachusetts, pushed west and south by the onslaught of humanity. Coyotes, cousins of the wolf, would take over the nightly raids, and carry buckshot in their legs from angry farmers.
That's why the clump of fur at the side of the road caught Randy Joseph's eye. It was a few weeks ago and Joseph was taking the ramp onto Route 44 from the highway when he noticed the tell-tale brown and grey coat of fur in the breakdown lane. He pulled over and discovered what looked to be a "coyote-slash-wolf" of enormous size. This animal was nearly six feet long and had been hit by a car.
"It's the biggest one I ever saw," Joseph said.
Joseph, a Wompanoag and Chief of the Federation of Plimoth Indian Tribes, picked up the animal, laid it in the back of his truck and took it home. He said he could tell the wolf wasn't diseased because rigor mortis hadn't set in quickly the way it will with a rabid or otherwise diseased animal.
Johnson and other tribal members said a tobacco prayer for the animal to honor its spirit.
He then gutted the dead animal, and cleaned it with bleach, so it could be put on display and worn.
Wolves, wild brown turkeys and other animals sacred to the Wompanoags, are often preserved in this manner as an educational tool and for use in tribal dances. Joseph said he'll wear the wolf skin at the Pequot Nation Pow-Wow next September.
Johnson called his tribe, "a tribe of road kill" because tribal members will preserve the skins of sacred animals found dead on the side of the road. As development continues to bulldoze its way into animal habitat, displacing and killing these creatures, Joseph and Native Americans like him try to preserve the honor and dignity of these sacred animals.
He named the wolf, "Squanto" for the Native American guide who helped the Pilgrims.
"Squanto" and other Native American artifacts, tools and art will be on display from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. from Wednesday, Nov. 23 to Nov. 26 at the outdoor pavilion near Plymouth Rock on the Plymouth waterfront.
Joseph said wolves were and are sacred to the Native American because wolves mirror Native American culture and behavior. Like Native Americans, wolf packs are governed by one male leader. The tribal chief in this case is the alpha male dog. Wolves are also social, relying on one another for their survival, cooperation being a central theme. They protect their cubs and they entertain one another through play.
Modern day dogs descend from wolves, but there are some key differences. A wolf has a blue or a black tongue and can devour an animal carcass in a fraction of the time it would take a dog. A dog will gnaw a bone; a wolf will devour it, chopping it into pieces with massive jaws and razor sharp canines within seconds.
Squanto is, indeed, a wolf, complete with the blue tongue. How the animal found its way into Massachusetts is a mystery to Joseph. He's just glad he found it and can preserve it. Joseph will teach all who view it the importance of respecting such magnificent animals, the cousin of man's best friend.
ARCHIVES
Chief honors sacred wolf
By Emily Wilcox
MPG Newspapers
Plymouth (Nov 18) There was a time when you could hear them howling at night. Doubtless, the Pilgrims heard them, wondering at their numbers, securing gates and shutting doors against their entry.
When they howled, each wolf picked a different note as a way to magnify the sense of their numbers. They traveled in packs, had a leader, known as the alpha male, and ate fast, crunching up carcasses and chewing up bones like popcorn.
Those early farmers weren't wild about them. Wolves were famous for eating livestock, digging into chicken coops and dragging prey into the woods, kicking and flailing.
"The wolf is very numerous, and go in companies, sometimes ten, twenty, more or fewer and so cunning that seldome any are kill'd with Guns or Traps; but of late they have invented a way to destroy them ... " writes John Josselyn in "New-Englands Rarities Discovered."
It was 1663 when Josselyn sailed from London to New England, aiming to inventory animals and plants native to the area. He took note of bear and wolves, not to mention moose and any number of other animals.
Settlers devised a way to kill wolves with the use of "Maycril Hooks" hidden in balls of fat, according to Josselyn. It couldn't have been a pleasant death for the wolf, but they were lightning fast and gunning one down wasn't easy.
And, while settlers took pains to kill wolves, the Native Americans revered them as sacred. You didn't kill an animal whose behavior so closely matched your own, the individuals depending on the group for success.
Eventually, the wolf, like the black bear, disappeared from Plymouth and much of Massachusetts, pushed west and south by the onslaught of humanity. Coyotes, cousins of the wolf, would take over the nightly raids, and carry buckshot in their legs from angry farmers.
That's why the clump of fur at the side of the road caught Randy Joseph's eye. It was a few weeks ago and Joseph was taking the ramp onto Route 44 from the highway when he noticed the tell-tale brown and grey coat of fur in the breakdown lane. He pulled over and discovered what looked to be a "coyote-slash-wolf" of enormous size. This animal was nearly six feet long and had been hit by a car.
"It's the biggest one I ever saw," Joseph said.
Joseph, a Wompanoag and Chief of the Federation of Plimoth Indian Tribes, picked up the animal, laid it in the back of his truck and took it home. He said he could tell the wolf wasn't diseased because rigor mortis hadn't set in quickly the way it will with a rabid or otherwise diseased animal.
Johnson and other tribal members said a tobacco prayer for the animal to honor its spirit.
He then gutted the dead animal, and cleaned it with bleach, so it could be put on display and worn.
Wolves, wild brown turkeys and other animals sacred to the Wompanoags, are often preserved in this manner as an educational tool and for use in tribal dances. Joseph said he'll wear the wolf skin at the Pequot Nation Pow-Wow next September.
Johnson called his tribe, "a tribe of road kill" because tribal members will preserve the skins of sacred animals found dead on the side of the road. As development continues to bulldoze its way into animal habitat, displacing and killing these creatures, Joseph and Native Americans like him try to preserve the honor and dignity of these sacred animals.
He named the wolf, "Squanto" for the Native American guide who helped the Pilgrims.
"Squanto" and other Native American artifacts, tools and art will be on display from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. from Wednesday, Nov. 23 to Nov. 26 at the outdoor pavilion near Plymouth Rock on the Plymouth waterfront.
Joseph said wolves were and are sacred to the Native American because wolves mirror Native American culture and behavior. Like Native Americans, wolf packs are governed by one male leader. The tribal chief in this case is the alpha male dog. Wolves are also social, relying on one another for their survival, cooperation being a central theme. They protect their cubs and they entertain one another through play.
Modern day dogs descend from wolves, but there are some key differences. A wolf has a blue or a black tongue and can devour an animal carcass in a fraction of the time it would take a dog. A dog will gnaw a bone; a wolf will devour it, chopping it into pieces with massive jaws and razor sharp canines within seconds.
Squanto is, indeed, a wolf, complete with the blue tongue. How the animal found its way into Massachusetts is a mystery to Joseph. He's just glad he found it and can preserve it. Joseph will teach all who view it the importance of respecting such magnificent animals, the cousin of man's best friend.
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