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