Wolves are important apex predators that keep the balance by controlling the populations of grazing animals. Grey wolf packs once roamed the North American continent from coast to coast, but their range and numbers have been diminished by habitat destruction and misguided extirpation campaigns. While some subspecies have been lost forever, reintroduction and breeding programs have brought these majestic hunters back from the brink of extinction.
This shirt was inspired by the short story Thinking Like a Mountain by Aldo Leopold:
"We reached the old wolf in time to watch a fierce green fire dying in her eyes. I realized then, and have known ever since, that there was something new to me in those eyes - something known only to her and to the mountain. I was young then, and full of trigger-itch; I thought that because fewer wolves meant more deer, that no wolves would mean hunters' paradise. But after seeing the green fire die, I sensed that neither the wolf nor the mountain agreed with such a view."
Show your support for the continued rebound and expansion of these keystone canids with this mama wolf and her pup. The best part: their green eyes glow in the dark!
Artwork by Asante Riverwind, a former Sierra Club staffer, whom Jim met at a protest of the sale of lumber from old growth forests.
Design # 1608 1608t 1608p 1608r 1608y