Living well in a world with wolves: educators' perspectives

Abstract

The purpose of this qualitative, phenomenological investigation was to explore wolf-focused education from the perspective of educators who work at various wolf education centres and programs around North America. The research question was: What are the experiences of educators who work at programs that feature captive or wild wolves; in particular, what do these educators learn through both working with and teaching about wolves? The research sought: to better understand the learning that emerges from direct experiences humans have with other animals, in this case wolves; to fill a gap in the research on wolf education; and to explore and understand some of the ethical aspects of wolf education and wolf conservation from the perspective of educators. Using a phenomenological methodology that drew from critical theory, methods included 16 in-depth semi-structured interviews with 17 educators from 15 different wolf programs around North America, a brief content analysis of the programs’ websites, and observations of two wolf programs. Topics discussed with the educators included the purpose of their work, their ideas about how best to educate the public about wolves, their own ideas about wolves including what they had learned through observing and working with wolves, and their thoughts on wild wolf management and conservation. When it came to the experience of being a wolf educator certain motifs emerged that help elucidate the experience: the significance of political, regional, and cultural contexts; the key role that scientific knowledge and learning has for many wolf educators; the importance of ethics to the educators when it comes to teaching about and working with captive or wild wolves; the impact of direct experiences with wolves on how educators understand and feel about wolves; and finally, their engagement with conservation issues. This research highlights the importance of education as one strategy for wolf conservation, especially if it does not shy away from the messiness of controversial conservation issues and helps people grapple with the social, ethical, regional, and cultural aspects of knowing wolves and our relationships as humans with them.