Notorious

By: Brianna Lee Hubler

Copyright © 2022 Brianna Lee Hubler. All rights reserved.

__________“Grandpa! Grandpa!” five-year-old Beth shouted.

__________She stormed into her grandparents’ farmhouse in muddy boots. The door to the farmhouse was rickety and ancient with gaps to the outside along the frame, making an easy entrance for flies, and the chilling breeze of early Spring. The house shook as Beth slammed the door shut.

__________“I’ve told you a mill’on times not to slam that there door,” her grandpa, Arnold, scolded from another room, “and you bett’r not be trudgin’ in ‘ere with them dirty boots still on y’ur feet!”

__________Beth blushed and her eyes dropped to her feet. She sat down on the welcome mat, in front of the door, and struggled to pull her too-snug rubber boots off. Once they were off, she discarded them haphazardly and ran into the farmhouse dining room.

__________“What you scramblin’ ‘bout?” Grandpa Arnold asked.

__________“Grandpa, you won’t believe it! The forest rangers are in our yard!” Beth announced.

__________Arnold muttered curses to himself. Beth frowned.

__________“What them tree-huggers want now?” he growled.

__________Rangers meant trouble. Whenever the county officials came onto his property, it was to tell him how he ought to use it, and how he ought not to. Arnold hated being told what to do with his land. He peered out the window to assess the situation.

__________Following her grandpa’s line of sight, Beth moved to the window. She clutched the windowsill with her fingertips and stood on her toes. She stretched herself just tall enough to see out.

* * *

__________Outside, two, uniformed forest rangers stalked a pair of silver-coated predators, who slipped through Arnold’s fence after his sheep.

__________The first ranger half-whispered, “Now!”

__________The second ranger, slightly shorter and older than the first, peered through the scope of his gun. With his free hand, he touched the tip of his index finger to the tip of his thumb. The remaining fingers on that hand fanned out from his palm, towards the sky. His partner recognized the signal and stood by.

__________The stout ranger aimed and fired. A dart whizzed out the barrel of his gun and pierced the hide of the first predator. The muscular, male wolf yowled and shook violently. He bolted towards the fence but toppled over a few feet from where he was darted.

__________The stout ranger reloaded and repositioned his weapon. He aimed at the wolf’s frightened mate and darted her before she could escape. Her slender, sleeker body fell in a not-so-graceful heap.

__________“Give it a few minutes,” the first ranger said.

__________“Right,” the stout ranger acknowledged.

__________The two watched carefully for signs of consciousness. The wolves did not stir, even after several minutes.

__________The stout ranger slung his gun over his back by its shoulder strap. Both rangers hiked over to the wolves. They tied the wolves’ legs, muzzled the wolves’ noses, and loaded them both into the back of a truck. They shut and locked the doors to the back of the truck, got in the cab, and started the engine.

* * *

__________Wide-eyed and teary, Beth turned to her grandpa.

__________“What did they do to the funny dogs, Grandpa?” Beth cried.

__________Arnold did not answer. He grumbled, “Good riddance.”

__________He returned to the newspaper he skimmed before Beth ran in.

__________Beth turned back to the window and watched somberly as the rangers drove off.

* * *

__________Wind roared through an open window and poured into the cab of the forest service truck.

__________“What are we doing with them, Greg?” the younger ranger asked the older.

__________“Taking them to Yellowstone,” Greg replied.

__________“What for?”

__________“What do you think would happen, Sam, if all the wolves disappeared?”

__________“You’re talking about what happened to Yellowstone before,” Sam replied. “When the wolves were removed, the elk overpopulated the area. They ate too many of the plants that held the river at bay and drove away the animals that lived along the riverbank. Might as well call it an eco-collapse.”

__________“Right,” Greg answered, “We’re taking these two there to fix it.”

* * *

__________Ten years later, Beth tapped a pencil against her desk. Her biology teacher, Ms. Grady, wandered over to Beth’s desk mid-lecture. She pressed the pencil against the table to silence it.

__________Beth let go of the pencil and looked up at her teacher.

__________“Ms. Grady?” Beth asked.

__________“Raise your hand when you have a question, please,” Ms. Grady reminded.

__________Beth raised her hand.

__________“Yes, Beth?”

__________“What happens if people kill off all the predators?”

__________“Predators are a necessary component in the ecosystem. When a natural predator becomes extinct, prey animals can overpopulate an area,” Ms. Grady explained.

__________Noticing an opportunity for expanded learning, Ms. Grady continued, “Class, turn to Page 198 in your textbooks. There is an artist’s rendition there, which compares Yellowstone National Park as it was before the reintroduction of wolves and as it is now.”

__________Beth opened her textbook and examined the drawings. The before drawing looked nearly desolate, showing only a large herd of elk, a few scattered shrubs, and a dusty plain along a wide river. The after drawing was lush and teaming with life. Notes ran along the margins explaining how an overpopulation of elk had eaten away at the plants that held one of Yellowstone’s riverbanks in place. Lack of food, and a crumbling riverbank had driven many other animals away from Yellowstone. The reintroduction of wolves to Yellowstone had reduced the elk population, and the area was able to recover.

__________Beth thought of the wolves that the forest rangers had taken from her grandfather’s property so many years ago. Were the notorious livestock hunters her grandfather despised as important to the world as the rangers who stole them away?

* * *

__________Saturday afternoon, Beth wandered the woods with a single companion. Her boyfriend, Dirk, led her through the woods with a shotgun in his hand. He chatted about his many escapades in the same forest—about tracking, killing, skinning, and gutting his prey. Beth rolled her eyes. She had no interest in hunting. She had come along simply to catch a moment alone with Dirk, under the trees, and away from the rest of the world.

__________“Do we really have to do this?” Beth asked, “It seems so mean.”

__________“Hush,” Dirk whispered. “I see one.”

__________Dirk aimed and fired with a trained eye. A short, desperate yelp rose in the distance, followed by a crude thump.

__________“I got him, Baby!” Dirk exclaimed. “Follow me!”

__________Dirk ran after his kill, and Beth reluctantly trailed after him. When Beth caught up, Dirk lifted the head of a grey wolf for her to see. Its yellow eyes were half-closed, and its limp body dragged along with the head. A bullet wound stained the white fur on its chest an ominous crimson.

__________Beth’s stomach dropped and her face went pale.

__________Dirk missed Beth’s reaction. “Baby, take a picture of me and him,” he urged.

__________Beth pulled the camera from the pocket of her coat.

__________“I—” Beth stuttered. “I can’t.”

__________Her hand fell open and the camera slipped through her fingertips. It fell to the ground with a clunk.

__________“What did you do that for?” Dirk growled.

__________Beth crossed her arms and dropped her gaze. She looked at the muddy boots on her feet. The too-snug rubber had been replaced with comfortable, sturdy leather, but the same feet occupied the boots.

__________She whispered, “It… isn’t right.”

__________“First you drop my camera and now you’re mumbling to yourself…” Dirk groaned.

__________“I’m going home,” Beth answered. “I’ll see you at school on Monday.”

__________“Going home? What did I bother dragging you out here for then?”

__________“You know what? You’re right. You don’t have to drag me along anymore.”

__________“What?”

__________“We’re not compatible.”

__________Dirk grabbed Beth’s arm. He tried to reason with her, tried to coerce her to stay in the woods with him, to think it over, to try again, but Beth shook her head and pulled away.

__________She turned and looked at the wolf.

__________“Goodbye,” she said somberly, and left Dirk alone with his kill.

Works Cited

Johns, Chris, editor. “Wolf Wars: Once Protected Now Hunted.” National Geographic,

__________Mar. 2010.