A wolf often kills without purpose. We believe that when the world was created God gave grass to the cow, insects to the birds and to the wolf he said, you may eat one sheep out of 1,000. According statistics gathered in the 1980s, wolves are blamed for killing around 15,000 head of livestock a year. The bloodiest year recorded was 1952 when wolves slaughtered 50,000 head of livestock and hunters claimed the pelts of 19,000 wolves. Sometimes, though, the wolf's random attacks are not motiveless.
Wolves mate for life are intensely loyal to their kind.
Another hunter, Baatartsogt, recalled how in 1993, a border guard spotted cubs playing outside a wolf lair and then killed them all. That same night, the she-wolf took revenge on the border post's flock of sheep, slaughtering all 200. At this time of year steppe wolves are already roaming in pairs and in the afternoon, we surprised one couple. When we gave chase, they split up turning into different directions. We followed the male, gunning the engine as the wolf raced ahead, its powerful shoulders heaving as it desperately searched for cover.