Of Wolves and Poisons

We always had dogs in my family. The first dog I remember was a huge caucasian shepherd, whom I used to ride when I was 3 years old. She was an old calm fellow, and did not mind a kid using her as a mount. She was a guard dog, living outside, suspicious of strangers, her long fur tangling into clots on her sides and back. If you are unfamiliar with the breed, they are great herding dogs, because they are large and strong enough to take on wolves. As she became older, her bones became fragile and during her last days she was unable to walk. I was away the day she died. I cried nonetheless.

Introducing: Wolfsbane, or as it is otherwise called Aconite. Sometimes also referred to as Monkshood and “queen of all poisons”, this deadly flower is poisonous from the roots to the petals. It contains alkaloid pseudaconitine, which is a strong neurotoxin. A short chemistry lesson follows. Alkaloids are naturally occurring chemical compounds that have certain physical effects on humans and animals. Not all of them are poisonous, some, like morphine, are widely used in medicine. Neurotoxins are substances that damage the nervous system. Pseudaconitine in particular, prevents the signals sent from the brain to reach the muscles, simply put, causing paralysis, convulsions and slowing of the heart that, in most cases, leads to death. First symptoms are a burning sensation and tingling in the area of contact, leading to problems with gastrointestinal function including diarrhoea and vomiting, followed by organ paralysis.

Aconite’s origins are also related to a canid… of a sort. The original name is thought to come from the city Aconæ (a Greek city that has been destroyed, but geographically was located around Karadeniz Ereğli in Turkey). As legend goes, a cave which held one of the entrances to the underworld was near the city. It was guarded by the sweet and friendly three-headed dog Cerberus. Hey, if you were Hades I’m sure he would love you. Cerberus was probably even the first bulldog, seeing as when Heracles lured him into the sun, he drooled, and from his poisonous drool, Aconite sprouted. Ew, bad doggy.

Although commonly used throughout history, it still reminds us of its existence with some chilling murders. A recent case happened in 2014, when a careless gardener handled the flower without gloves. Wolfsbane’s poison easily enters the body through the skin and begins to act its lethal deeds within the first hour. You can read the original article for more details here http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/law-and-order/11213530/Gardener-died-after-brushing-past-poisonous-plant-in-millionaires-garden.html. Next time you decide to do some gardening, make sure to wear gloves. Just in case.

Aconite has been used for centuries as an insecticide and animal killer. Wolves were commonly its victims, perhaps another reason for the plant’s name. A recent devastating case, can be found in the following link https://www.thelocal.es/20150609/farmer-sentenced-2-years-for-poisoning-animals, where a farmer who desired to get rid of wolves that bothered his life stock, accidentally killed 24 other animals. A lesson to be learned here, my friends, don’t let idiots near poison. Better yet, don’t let anyone near poison. There is a vast variety of poisons used for decreasing or elimination wolf populations, but wolfsbane was probably one of the first for the job. Wolves have suffered from Aconite for so long it inspired legends. They were demonised and feared since the ancient times with people getting cursed to walk the earth as wolves, thus creating the werewolf/lycan myths. One of the first werewolf myths appeared in Greek Mythology with King Lycaon being turned into a wolf as a punishment for killing his son in order to deceive Zeus. The “cure” for lycanthropy, in European folklore was Wolfsbane, unfortunately, many people died due to unjustified superstition.

Wolves were not only tyrannised by poisons. They were shot, stabbed, skinned, burned, ripped to parts and more. The image of the “big bad wolf” is known to all of us since our childhood days, through stories like “Little Red Riding Hood”. In the above, the wolf is stuffed full of stone and skinned, remind me again, who said fairytales are for children?

In the end, I would like to give wolves some justice. They have also been respected by a number of cultures and are present in a few less gruesome stories. They are also an important part of food chains. They affect everything around them, even rivers. Have a look at this article to learn more about that.

http://ethology.eu/how-wolves-change-rivers/

Amanita out.