As I write this, people in Montana who have paid $19 to kill a wolf are gunning for them, lying in wait even at the border of Yellowstone — an invisible border, which wolves can’t see but aren’t supposed to cross. 6,000 people have bought permits to kill the remaining 675 wolves. They have been told, If you see a pack, keep shooting.

Long ago, American Indians revered wolves because of their cleverness and their loyalty to pack members. The pack has the blood bond of a family. Female wolves help nurture and teach the pups of another female. When this country was settled, Indians and wolves were in the way of what the settlers wanted — domination of the land. So they were slaughtered — both the Indians and the wolves. Wolves were brought to near extinction.

After many decades they were brought back, re-introduced to Yellowstone, protected under the Endangered Species Act. All of that is now at risk. Those gunning for them now want them to no longer roam the land. They want to wipe them out. This is a war for the survival of magnificent animals who have more wisdom, more loyalty, than the people who are hunting them. Thousands and thousands of us are trying to stop them. Groups like Defenders of Wildlife, Center for Biological Diversity, National Resources Defense Council — to name a few — are working tirelessly to save wolves from mass slaughter. The hour is late. The guns are loaded. And the blood of innocent animals has already soaked into the earth.

We are supposed to be stewards of this earth. We’re failing at that. The way we’re going now, we will one day have to look our children in the eyes and try to describe to them the amazing animals who once inhabited this earth, who we killed mercilessly. And why? Because we think we’re superior? Because we think we’re smarter than God? Is this the legacy we want to leave behind? We will either be known for our compassion for God’s creatures, or we will be know for our bloodlust.