Donalyn Welton, age 16, of Hobart, Indiana, for her question:

Is civilization causing the extinction of the wolf

The wild wolf may have been doomed to extinction when his path crossed man's. He was a threat to our caveman ancestors and their children. Later, he menaced the flocks and homes of the first settled farmers. In those far off times, no doubt it was decided that the wild wolf must go. As civilization advanced, mankind became more expert at reducing his numbers. Somehow he has managed to hang on here and there, but he may not survive the encroachments of our present human population explosion.

A few thousand years ago, fierce pony sized wolves left their bones to fossilize in the La Brea tar pits of California. A few centuries ago, various smaller wolf species roamed freely over most of North America. Modern civilization arrived with the pioneers who set about taming the continent to suit themselves. To raise their cattle, they claimed the prairies where the buffalo roamed and almost exterminated the last of them. They drove coyotes, prairie dogs and dozens of other native species from their ancient ranges.

The wild wolves were a mayor target because they were a real threat to domestic sheep and cattle. Without a doubt, these hungry predators were fast and ferocious, strong and cunning. They would not be allowed to share the range with domesticated flocks and herds. Nobody knows how many wolves were killed by the early settlers. But in a generation or so they no longer threatened most of the settled territory.

But the wily wolves were not totally exterminated. As man's civilization advanced, they retreated. Their numbers are reduced, but they still survive in many small secluded regions where people seldom visit. Most of their strongholds are rugged territories which people are not likely to transform into farms or habitations. Other wild wolves survive unmolested in national parks and other wild life sancturaries where all nature's creatures are protected by law.

The large grey wolf still survives in rugged regions among our western mountains. The white or pearly grey Arctic wolf survives on the northern tundra. The black wolf still survives in remote parts of Florida and in Mexico. In our country, almost all the remaining wolves are in the north central regions.

Civilization drove the wolves from most of Europe ages ago. But several species still live in the rugged regions of Scandanavia, in remote forested mountains of France, Germany and Spain. Others still live in parts of China and Japan, India and the Middle East. Perhaps the wily wolf will survive the present threat of extinction, as he has done so often in the past.