Wolves: majestic symbol or bloodthirsty predator? Debate divides Oregonians

Jack London probably never expected "The Call of the Wild," the title of his classic novel and his term for a wolf's mournful howl, to become a fracture zone in the urban-rural divide. But now Oregon and the West have two kinds of people: those who see wolves as symbols of the wilderness and enjoy hearing their cries echo through the mountains -- and those who regard them as bloodthirsty predators that need to be kept away from livestock, with guns if necessary. Hearing wolves "just raises the hair on the back of your neck," says retired schoolteacher Mary McCracken, 66, of La Grande, who loves listening to them tune up. "It is just a real top-of-the-the-food chain creature." Ed Bangs, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's wolf recovery coordinator for the northern Rockies, agrees. In the backcountry, "having big predators around is what makes it wild," he says of wolves, cougars and bears. "Otherwise, it's just scenery." But La Grande area rancher Sharon Beck says wolves are a threat to cattle, her family's livelihood. "The only way we are going to make these wolves afraid to come around human beings and livestock," says Beck, 71, "is (for wolves) to be shot at." The issue has come to a head in three states...Oregonian