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Wolves and Wild Lands Exhibit Examines 21st Century Wolf Conservation Challenges
May 23, 2006
The International Wolf Center in Ely, Minnesota is celebrating the debut of their new exhibit, Wolves and Wild Lands in the 21st Century, with a free open house all day June 1, 10 am to 5 pm. Created in partnership with the Science Museum of Minnesota, the exhibit features mounted wolves from different areas of North America and exhibit panels that explore the uncertain future of wolves in a world increasingly dominated by humans.
The Wolves and Wild Lands exhibit is built around mounted wolf specimens that reveal the dramatic differences in coloration and size between the major North American wolf types. The exhibit includes a leaping, 100-lb, jet-black wolf from the Northern Rockies, a stocky snow-white wolf from far northern Canada, a diminutive red wolf from North Carolina tearing at a whitetail deer carcass, a squat multi-colored Mexican wolf howling into the sky, and a Great Plains wolf from the Ely area. A coyote mount allows easy comparison between these canine cousins.
The mounts are accompanied by eight interpretive panels that use maps, original drawings, rare images, and text to tell an important new story about wolves.
"The pending removal of wolves from the Endangered Species List in the Western Great Lakes and Northern Rockies signals the beginning of a new era in wolf conservation," says Andrea Lorek Strauss, National Information and Education Director for the Center and lead designer of the new exhibit. "Wolves and Wild Lands in the 21st Century introduces visitors to the major challenges of this new era including destruction of the wolf's wild land habitat, interbreeding with coyotes, reduction of wolf-human conflicts, and questions about sport hunting of wolves."
The exhibit is challenging and provocative, regardless of one's perspective on wolves. A section on human hunting of wolves presents the ethical arguments for and against hunting and explains that hunters could kill up to 30-50% of wolves in an area every year without reducing the overall population. The Mexican wolf section, including one-of-a-kind images of a wild wolf attacking cattle, challenges ranchers and environmentalists with the hard reality that neither wolves nor ranchers can thrive in the Southwest until we find a way to alleviate the problem of wolves killing of livestock. The Rocky Mountain panel looks beyond the ongoing celebration of wolf recovery in Yellowstone to the long-term consequences of rapid habitat destruction in the region.
Wolves and Wild Lands in the 21st Century will be at the International Wolf Center in Ely June 1 through Labor Day. The exhibit begins a national tour of museums, zoos, and nature centers in September.
Admission to the Center is free all day June 1. Admission includes the new traveling exhibit as well as wolf movies in the Wolves of the World Theater, the acclaimed Wolves and Humans exhibit, the Little Wolf exhibit for children and families, a variety of presentations, and viewing of four wild gray wolves in their Northwoods habitat.
CALENDAR ITEM
WHAT: Free open house to introduce new International Wolf Center exhibit, Wolves and Wild Lands in the 21st Century, exploring how wolves and humans can coexist in a modern world.
WHEN: June 1, 2006
WHERE: International Wolf Center, 1396 Hwy 169, Ely, Minnesota
COST: FREE - June 1, 2006 only. (Normal admission rates are $7.50 for adults, $6.50 for seniors, $4.00 for children 3 and older, free for children under three.)
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Founded in 1985, the International Wolf Center is a nonprofit educational organization that advances the survival of wolf populations around the world by teaching about wolves, their relationship to wild lands and the human role in their future. The Center pursues this mission through educational initiatives that include a membership program, learning vacations, an interpretive center in Northern Minnesota, international conferences, youth outreach programs, teacher education resources and workshops, a quarterly magazine and a Web site, www.wolf.org.
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