This is historical revisionism, plain and simple. In Mech's book, it clearly explains that "[t]he original alpha animals in a pack would be the mated pair that produced the young of which the pack is composed." L. David Mech, The Wolf: The Ecology and Behavior of an Endangered Species 69 (2003 ed. Univ. Minn. Press).

"Alpha" has not implied dominance through cruelty for at least the past couple of decades, if it ever did.

I suspect, though have no evidence, that this revisionism is due to political pressure over perceived "toxic masculinity" adopting "alpha" as a trope. If so, it is extremely distasteful, even dangerous; reinforcing the idea that science should bend to politics is authoritarian, naive, and threatens the survival of any nation where such is done.