Of Wolves and Bison

I recently came across this passage by the 19th Century painter George Catlin. It's a vivid depiction of the brutal relations among bison, wolves, and people. Catlin feared the extinction of both the bison and the Plains Indian cultures. It didn't occur to him to worry about the wolves.

The white wolves follow the herds of buffalo from one season to another, glutting themselves on the carcasses of those that fall by the deadly shafts of their enemies, or linger with disease or old age to be...