Such is the mythology surrounding wolves that it’s very hard to think of one without hearing their eerie howling in your head or thinking of the words ‘big bad’.
Despite the fact that, statistically, those living in wolf country are more likely to be killed by a meteorite than a lupine encounter, the dread of wolves runs too deep in the human psyche to make a rapprochement very likely any time soon. But there was one wolf who broke through that barrier of fear and came to be loved. His name was Romeo and his story is a remarkable one.
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It starts in the summer of 2003 in the Mendenhall Glacier Recreation Area, near Juneau in southern Alaska. Reports started to come in of a lone wolf on the hiking trails. Naturally, no one knew for certain how he had come to be on his own there. He may have left his pack to look for a mate, or perhaps the rest of his pack had met with some disaster. Whatever the reason, it became clear as summer turned to winter that Romeo wanted to interact with hikers and skiers and, particularly, their dogs.
The years passed and, though Romeo would head off to higher ground in springtime, he would return each autumn and spend the winter in the recreation area. He met certain local dogs so often that he began to build friendships with them. Even more remarkably, he appeared to enjoy the company of their owners, despite the fact that there was no physical interaction with them and, as far as is known, no one tried to feed him.
Romeo was an Alexander Archipelago wolf, a subspecies of grey wolf that feeds almost exclusively on Sitka black-tailed deer. Smaller than the average grey wolf, an adult is roughly the same height as a German Shepherd dog. However, despite the fact that Romeo had never acted aggressively towards those he came across, some Juneau residents simply did not want a wolf living so close by. Frightened that someone would take it into their own hands to get rid of him, Romeo’s fans tried to scare him away, but to no avail.
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Tragically, in September 2009, two well known poachers illegally shot and skinned Romeo to have him as a trophy. The pair bragged about their actions, which led to their arrest and trial. Found guilty, they were handed a small fine.
But many locals found they could not forget the wolf who had become a part of lives over six winters. And so an exhibit telling his story has been installed in the visitor centre. Two streets have been named after him and a plaque has been put up in his honour. There’s even a bar and lounge at the airport called Romeo’s Tap Room where folk can have a snack and, so to speak, keep the wolf from the door.
For a deeper dive into the world of Romeo, you can read A Wolf Called Romeo by Nick Jans, whose wife Sherrie named the wolf the couple came to love.
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