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Email: timberwolfinfonetwork@gmail.com
Email: timberwolfinfonetwork@gmail.com

MO: The Endangered Wolf Center: St. Louis’ best-kept secret?

AMY PATTERSON

Nestled among 63 acres on the approximately 2,000 acres owned by the Washington University Tyson Research Center in Eureka, the Endangered Wolf Center may be one of the St. Louis area’s best-kept secrets.

Undoubtedly a controversial animal, the wolf has been vilified and hunted by humans to the very brink of extinction; yet every ecosystem depends on a variety of predator and prey species to survive. Scientists argue, in fact, that no ecosystem can thrive without its top predators in place.

Based on this principle, the Endangered Wolf Center’s mission is to change the fate of endangered canids through carefully managed breeding programs, inspirational educational programs, and innovative methods for introducing releasable wolves into their native habitats to help restore harmony and balance to their ecosystems.

In the safety of the center’s isolated wooded habitats, wolves and other canids have the opportunity to become candidates for reintroduction into the wild.

Although the center works in partnership with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, it is funded primarily through donations and visitor fees. It does not receive state or federal governmental funding. In addition to a small group of paid staff, the center relies heavily on a dedicated team of volunteers and financial supporters.

The nonprofit organization is considered the cornerstone of wolf conservation in the United States. According to its official website, every Mexican Gray Wolf in the American wild can trace its roots back to the Endangered Wolf Center.

Through its tours and other events, including camp fire “wolf howls,” wine and cheese events, scout programs and “wolf camps,” the center raises funds while promoting education and understanding about wild canids.

Canids are part of the biological family Canidae and include carnivorous animals such as wolves, jackals, foxes, coyote and the domestic dog.

Contrary to the center’s name, there are more than just wolves living there. In addition to Mexican Gray wolves and Red wolves, the center houses four other types of canids: Maned wolves, Swift foxes, African Painted dogs and Fennec foxes, who are its newest residents.

Maned wolves are not actually wolves; nor are they foxes, although many would describe them as looking like foxes on stilts.  Maned wolves are native to South America.

As its name implies, African Painted Dogs, also known as African Wild Dogs, are native to Africa. Like other canids, their numbers are in decline due to habitat fragmentation, hunting by humans, and disease outbreaks.

There are currently about 35 canids at the center, but according to Director of Animal Care and Conservation Regina Mossotti, the number is in flux due to the upcoming breeding season.

The center’s newest event, “Foxy Friday,” was created in conjunction with its new Fennec Fox Program. The center recently acquired two Fennec foxes, Daisy and Fezz. Daisy came from the St. Louis Zoo when she was about 8 weeks old and Fezz came from Busch Gardens in Tampa, Florida.

The Fennec fox is the smallest of all the world’s foxes and are native to North Africa. The first thing people notice about them are their large ears.

“(Their) ears are very important,” said Karen Zelle, one of the center’s docents (a voluntary guide), “and they can be up to about six inches long.

“Fennec foxes are native to the Sahara Desert, so one reason they have such large ears is to dissipate heat. Secondly, their large ears are also very sensitive and they can hear their prey moving under the sand.

“They’re very tiny and are actually the smallest canid in the world.”

Fennec foxes typically weigh between one-and-a-half to a little over three pounds. Daisy, who is about nine months old and fully grown, weighs a little over two pounds.

Like other foxes, Fennecs live in burrows and are gregarious animals.

“They live in communities up to about 10 animals,” said Zelle, “so they’re very social with each other.”

They are nocturnal animals so they hunt at night and have an omnivorous diet. They eat small birds and reptiles, eggs, insects, plants and roots.

Fennec foxes are hunted by birds of prey, jackals and humans.

Mossotti and Daisy the Fennec fox greeted the guests at the center’s first-ever Foxy Friday on Jan. 8.

The event was Daisy’s first time around a large group of people, although she had been receiving a lot of attention and training from the center’s animal care staff.

“Daisy is here tonight because she’s what’s called an ‘ambassador animal,’” said Mossotti. “It’s the first time the center’s done this where we actually bring animals to programs and it’s really exciting because there’s a lot of research out there that says conservation messages are so much stronger and people are more likely to really care about an animal if they get to meet it.”

Animal care staff at the center feed the Fennecs a specially-formulated kibble supplemented with fresh fruits and vegetables. Mossotti said that Daisy’s favorite treats are broccoli, bananas and blueberries.

In the wild, plants are very important to their diet because they help provide water. Being desert dwellers, Fennec foxes must go for long periods without direct access to water, so eating plant matter helps to keep them hydrated.

Although Fennec foxes are not currently considered an endangered species, conservationists and researchers are keeping a close watch on their populations.

Mossotti said, “They’re really watching them because some big things that are affecting their population are oil exploration and drilling, which destroys habitat and fragments their population so their genetics can’t be shared.

“The fur trade and the pet trade — they’re adorable — is also having a negative impact.”

Mossotti emphasized that they do not make good pets. “They poop and pee everywhere and you can’t litter train them no matter how much you try,” she said.

During the second part of the Foxy Friday event visitors were treated to a “wolf howl.” The group of visitors, led by center volunteers, walked a short distance to an area near the wolf enclosures. Two of the volunteers began to howl in an attempt to get the wolves to howl.

Although center staff and volunteers emphasize that there is no guarantee the wolves will howl, on this night it took less than a minute before the wolves began to sing their hauntingly beautiful songs and continued to howl back and forth among each other for several minutes.

Just prior to heading out for the howl, Zelle took a few minutes to educate visitors about the different ways wolves communicate with each other.

“Wolves have some of the most sophisticated social bonds and social communication of any non-primate species,” she said.

One way they communicate is through tactile means. “For example, when they are courting each other they’ll rub muzzles together,” said Zelle.

Dominant males will often side-swipe another male or will pin one to the ground. Wolves also display obvious dominant and submissive posturing when communicating with each other.

Like domestic dogs, wolves use scent and smell to communicate by urinating or defecating to mark their territory, or scratching the ground to release scent glands.

Wolves also engage in a variety of vocal communications. Growling, whining and squeaking are all used by wolves, but howling is the most notable form of communication.

Howling is used for a variety of reasons, including calling the pack into action or alerting other members to prey or threats, to claim territory or call for potential mates.

“They will also howl to mourn the loss of one of their pack members,” said Zelle.

She told the story of a wolf at the center who had howled so much after the loss of a pack member that he nearly lost his voice. “He had a very coarse-sounding howl” as a result.

Although the Endangered Wolf Center has a large number of devoted supporters and financial donors, many in the Parkland may have never heard about it. A fact that may surprise some people is how long the center has been in operation.

The Endangered Wolf Center was founded in 1971 by a group of conservationists that included Marlin and Carol Perkins. Marlin is perhaps best known for his role as host of the popular television show “Mutual of Omaha’s Wild Kingdom.”

Perkins was a Missouri native, born in Carthage on March 28, 1905 and showed a keen interest in animals throughout his life.

He enrolled in the zoology program at the University of Missouri-Columbia, but at the age of 21 he dropped out to apply for work at the Saint Louis Zoo. He was hired on the spot as a member of the grounds crew for a salary of $3.75 a week.

After just two years at the zoo, Perkins was named curator of Reptiles. During his career he also served as director of the New York Zoological Gardens in Buffalo and the Lincoln Park Zoo.

In 1962, Perkins returned to the Saint Louis Zoo as its second full-time director and soon after also began working as host of Mutual of Omaha’s Wild Kingdom, which won four Emmy Awards. He retired as director of the zoo in 1970.

Perkins was the host of Wild Kingdom from 1963 to 1985. During its run on television the program was shown on 200 stations in North America and in more than 40 countries worldwide.

The beloved zoologist was the original celebrity wildlife expert, connecting kids and adults to rare, endangered and exotic animals in their native habitats, at zoos and through the programs at the Endangered Wolf Center throughout his lifetime.

He died on June 14, 1986.

Reservations are required for all tours and events at the Endangered Wolf Center. Call 636-938-5900 for details or visit endangeredwolfcenter.org. The center also has a Facebook page.

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