Most people think of wolves as shy, elusive carnivores that will largely avoid humans. But prior to persecution, wolves were more curious and bold. People don't expect to see wolves acting this way, especially not in broad daylight. Several wolves have been shot because people mistook them for coyotes or dogs. And there are certainly undocumented instances where people have recognized a wolf and shot it anyway, misinterpreting its casual behavior as a threat.
Wolves can learn to live with humans on human terms.
In areas like Italy, Spain, and Romania, where wolves were never extirpated but where there is a lot of human pressure, wolves have learned to become nocturnal, moving through towns to scavenge for food at night, and no one knows they are there. And we must work on increasing wolf survival outside of the protected areas if we want to recover wolves fully. Some of these wolves would be Mexican wolves, a very similar subspecies, which are now being reintroduced to Arizona and New Mexico. If we do our job right, we might even see the two subspecies merge in a few decades. I think there are also opportunities for wolf recovery in Oregon, and maybe Washington and northern California.