Fifty years ago..........................

 ........The opening paragraphs to Louis L'Amour's Galloway:

      The old elk walked up the knoll where the long wind blew.  The wolves followed.

     The elk realized what was happening, but he didn't know it was only part of something that had been going on since life began.

      He didn't know that it was because of these wolves or their kindred that he had been strong, brave, and free-running all his past years.  For it was the wolves who kept the elk herds in shape by weeding out the weak, the old, and the inept.

      Now his time had come, and the wolves were there.