10/08/2026
I told you about the nine wolves killed in Wisconsin and why the Great Lakes Indian Fish & Wildlife Commission was angry that tribal nations weren't consulted before the decision was made.
But there's an important piece of that story that needs to be told
Why the wolf?
Why does Ma'iingan hold such an important place among the Anishinaabe?
For that, we have to go back to their creation story.
According to Anishinaabe teachings, after the Creator placed Original Man, Anishinaabe, on the Earth. He was given responsibility for the land, naming the animals, and learning about creation.
But he was alone. The Creator sent Ma'iingan, the wolf, to travel with him.
Together they walked, learned the land, and experienced creation together. They became more than companions. They became brothers.
Eventually, the Creator told them that they would have to go their separate ways. But their paths would forever remain connected.
What happened to Ma'iingan would also happen to the Anishinaabe.
They would be feared. Misunderstood. Driven from their lands. Their families would be disrupted. And their survival would become intertwined.
That's why Ma'iingan isn't simply wildlife in this story.
He is a brother. A relative.
And for some Ojibwe, Ma'iingan is also associated with clan identity and responsibilities.
Now think again about those nine wolves in Wisconsin.
Four pups. Three yearlings. Two adults.
Wildlife officials decided the pack had become too habituated to humans and represented a growing safety concern. Federal wildlife personnel killed them.
There is a legitimate wildlife-management discussion to have about whether that decision was necessary.
But that's not what I'm asking you to think about here.
I'm asking you to understand why tribal leaders reacted so strongly to being told afterward.
Imagine someone making a decision about something you don't regard simply as a wildlife resource, but as a relative whose history and fate have been tied to your people's own for generations.
And then imagine discovering the decision after that relative was already dead.
You don't have to share another culture's beliefs to understand why that hurts. You only have to understand that they do.
This is something wolf management sometimes struggles with.
We talk about population numbers, predation, livestock, hunting, and habitat.
But wolves don't exist only in ecology. They exist in human culture too. And nowhere is that clearer than in the relationship between the Anishinaabe and Ma'iingan.
So when tribal nations say they need to be included in decisions about wolves, consultation isn't simply another box for an agency to check.
There is a relationship here that goes back much farther than Wisconsin's wolf management plan. Much farther than the Endangered Species Act and Wisconsin itself.
Anishinaabe and Ma'iingan have been walking together for a very long time. And according to the old teaching:
What happens to one will happen to the other.
