Social engineering with wolves The gray wolf appears to be the most popular candidate for such social engineering. One of the excuses given is that the species is endangered or threatened. In any deliberations concerning the status of wildlife species, it must be remembered that technically speaking endangered means threatened with extinction from the planet Earth. Unfortunately, there are those who delight in twisting definitions to their own liking. The release of wolves imported from Canada into Yellowstone Park has attracted much media attention and apparently has great public appeal.
Tourists delight in observing packs hunting in broad daylight.
But this certainly does not suggest normal behavior for a truly wild species. And so questions arise as to behavioral changes resulting from handling by humans, being held in captivity, artificial feeding, and over-protection. Most wild animals are readily conditioned to such treatment. The denning of gray wolves in peoples' backyards in Italy illustrates the point. Such encouragement of domestic traits is highly undesirable.