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.