When I was last in Yellowstone, I stood with my two young daughters overlooking the rendezvous site of the "Druid Pack" of wolves. We were privileged to see this pack briefly chase two bull elk, and then after the pack's unsuccessful chase, they returned to the rendezvous site and frolicked in the Lamar Valley. My children watched with wide eyes and open minds. The delicate dance of predator and prey is truly one of nature's most astounding scenes.

And now, as one of the 14 members of the Colorado Wolf Working Group, I am also privileged to serve the Colorado Division of Wildlife by helping them write a sane and responsible management plan for wolves in Colorado. Our Working Group is making extraordinary, bipartisan progress toward a plan of which I firmly believe all Coloradans - Republicans and Democrats alike - will be proud.

And so it is with a very heavy heart that I recently viewed a TV ad put out by President Bush that equates the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks against the United States with a presence of wolves across the American landscape. (This ad - unveiled across the country on Oct. 22 - can be seen at www.georgewbush.com

As the ad begins, the scene is of a natural forest, but the music is ominous and the voice-over says we live in a "dangerous world." A second later, we see a glimpse of a wolf in the forest. The ad continues with talk of the "terrorist attacks on America," while continuing the ominous music and showing another glimpse of a wolf. And then the ad shows a full picture of a wolf pack sitting in the grass at the edge of a meadow. The voice-over says, "Weakness attracts those who are waiting to do America harm," and then the wolves stand and begin stalking toward the camera.

The ad ends with President Bush saying, "I'm George W. Bush, and I approve this message."

During these last days of the election, it is one thing for these candidates to attack each other, but it is quite another to turn this disgusting wrath against the benevolent natural world around us. This land and its wildlife support our American culture in every single way. They provide the food, shelter, recreational opportunities and awe that sustains us.

I can only imagine what inspired this ad, and I can only imagine what will come next: a Democratic ad showing Sen. John Kerry symbolically shooting a hawk out of the sky? Or a Republican ad showing President Bush symbolically plucking doves off a high wire with a shotgun? How far down will this election reach?

I know about wolves. I wrote my Ph.D. on wolves and I've spent a considerable number of years studying their role on the American landscape and culture. Wolves are natural. Wolves are one of God's creatures. Wolves do what every inhabitant on this planet does: provide for themselves amid the complex world in which we all live.

I have a friend who was on the fifth floor of Tower One of the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, and he and some of the widows of his colleagues know exactly what terrorists look like. They do not look like wolves. Wolves are not terrorists. Endangered wildlife are not our nation's enemy.

I have not shown this ad to my children - and I won't. I will attempt, for the time being, to shield them from the uglier side of America. They still have wide eyes and an open mind about the world and all its inhabitants. I won't let them watch TV for the next week, for on TV dance predators and prey of a different sort.

Gary Wockner (www.garywockner.com) is a writer and wildlife ecologist in Fort Collins.

© 2004 Denver Post

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