Face to face with wolves
By Jennifer Hagan
York County Coast Star
BIDDEFORD – There’s no such thing as the Big Bad Wolf.
That’s what a full audience who visited University of New England Oct. 15 learned when they met three real wolves.
An intimate gathering of several hundred people sat on the floor in the Campus Center last week to listen to a presentation by the Colorado non-profit group “Mission: Wolf” brought to the school by the student group Earth ECO. Director Kent Weber presented a captivating slide show about their preserve in Colorado, the audience waited with baited breath to come face to face with a real wolf. The group brought three gray or timber wolves named Rami, Raven, and Magpie, who walked circuits around the room sniffing and charming audience members with their beautiful yellow eyes.
Those who were expecting large dogs were mistaken. The wolves long wedge-shaped bodies were little bigger then a dog’s, but they moved with reserved grace. While they surveyed the audience with curiosity, there was no exuberant tail wagging that one would expect from a dog.
Weber said the typical response to bringing the wolves into the room are usually gasps and questions like “does it bite?” or “how long before it kills you?” Weber pointedly explains at each presentation that wolves, although wild, will not eat them. Most agree that seeing a wolf is a special experience, he said. Part of the experience is the hope that one of the wolves will approach you and allow you to touch them.
“They somehow pick out the kids that are more confident, comfortable, or strong,” Weber said. Or people who have genuine interest in wolves, he said. Freshman Nicholas Methany received special attention from Raven, who, after walking past several people, stopped and enthusiastically licked his face in greeting.
“I’m pretty excited about the experience,” he said. Methany said he came to the event specifically hoping to be greeted by a wolf. “I wanted it to happen,” Methany said, grinning. Although he said he has not been involved in efforts to bring wolves back to Maine, Methany said the experience had sparked his interest in the topic.
Elena Lippolis, who works at UNE, said this was the second year she’s seen the presentation and thought wolves had a mystique. “There is a lore wrapped around them,” she said. Lippolis recalled the stories of a wolf’s “hypnotic” eyes. “There aren’t many opportunities to get up-close and personal with a wolf,” she said.
“They’re just amazing animals.”
“There is a primal chord that will string when you look them in the eye,” Weber said. He said one of the reasons they conduct the Ambassador Wolf Program is to turn “fear into respect and admiration.”
Heather Joaquin, co-president of Earth ECO, said she has enjoyed the program all three years she’s seen it. “Some people think they’re just horrible creatures,” Joaquin said. “I hope this will help [dispel] the fear about them.”
Freshman Angela Thibault said she was in favor of trying to reintroduce wolves to Maine, and was hoping that the program would answers questions about ways to “take the extra steps” to accomplish this. “We’re the ones that pushed them out,” she said.
Mission: Wolf has been presenting at the University of New England since 1989, about one year after they began the Ambassador Wolf Program. Weber began the refuge for captive born gray wolves and wolf-dog crosses in 1986. Weber said the average life span for a captive wolf is only a few years long. However, wolves born in captivity cannot be released into the wild because of the human imprint on them, which necessitates the refuge.
“Basically I grew up in the mountains and I dislike animals in cages,” he said. The refuge is now home to 41 wolves and wolf dogs. They come from a variety of sources, from zoos to movie sets to people keeping them as pets, which is illegal, Weber said.
Once the refuge was established, Weber said it was only a short time before schools and universities were asking for presentations. Rami, who is now 10 years old, started participating in presentations when she was only a pup. Weber recalled that when she was very young, the wolf loved to travel but shied away from audiences. Weber said the wolves usually let him know if they wish to participate in the program, and he respects their wishes by not forcing them into a room or to travel. At UNE, Rami made one pass around the circle of spectators, sniffing people who had interesting scents, such as one man who worked with seals, and flopped down on the floor, the picture of relaxation. Magpie and Raven, two of Rami’s adopted pups, were more restless and paced the floor. They leapt for pieces of beef jerky Weber held out, stretching their lithe bodies and showing they could have easily placed their paws on Weber’s shoulders.
Weber said he may be more sensitive to it, but said felt many people were still prejudiced against wolves. In his presentation he explains that wolves will not kill spectators, but said he usually finds one little boy or girl in a class terrified that the wolves will eat them.
Weber also discussed the reintroduction of wolves to Maine. Wolves generally hunt large game animals, thinning their populations of the weak and the sick, which makes them an important link in the ecological chain. “The fact is that wolves would help the environment in Maine,” Weber said. One way to reintroduce them is simply to wait for wolves to travel across the Canadian border, he said. A wolf is generally spotted in northern Maine once every three to five years, but reintroduction could take from five to 50 years. The US Fish and Wildlife Service or the Maine Inland Fisheries and Wildlife Department could transplant wolves from Canada as they were transplanted to Yellowstone National Park.