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40 Animals that Changed History

Tim Flight November 5, 2019 26 min

Medieval Dogs - Dog — King John of England with his dogs, England, c.1307-27. British Library

20. Lobo the wolf inspired the US to protect its wildlife at the turn of the 20^th century

Depiction of Lobo from the 1908 edition of *Lobo, Rag and Vixen* by Ernest Seton Thompson. Wikimedia Commons

Lobo, ‘the King of Currumpaw’, is another conservation icon. In Wild Animals I Have Known (1898), Ernest Thompson Seton told how he tried to kill Lobo for a bounty. Deprived of their natural prey, Lobo and his pack had turned to livestock. Seton only caught the pugnacious Lobo alive after killing the rest of his pack. But, touched by Lobo’s bravery, evident grief, and sentience, Seton couldn’t kill him. Instead, Lobo died ‘of a broken heart’, looking out across his former kingdom. Lobo’s story helped change attitudes towards wolves, and influenced the founding of the US conservation movement.

Written by

Tim Flight

I am a freelance historical and literary writer based in West Yorkshire, UK. I read for a funded PhD in English at the University of Oxford (Magdalen College) and graduated in 2016. I am a former lecturer in Medieval English Literature at Royal Holloway, University of London. My publications include peer-reviewed articles in academic publications, and pieces in mainstream magazines such as History Today and Fortean Times. For more information, please see www.drflight.co.uk

40 Animals that Changed History

20. Lobo the wolf inspired the US to protect its wildlife at the turn of the 20^th century

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20. Lobo the wolf inspired the US to protect its wildlife at the turn of the 20^th century