News & Events

Scat Award

Media Releases

Financials

Wolf Related Headlines

International Wolf Center Celebrates its 25th Anniversary and Receives $193,000 for Minnesota WolfLink Project

June 7, 2010

The International Wolf Center will kick off its 25th anniversary year during the weekend of June 19-20. In honor of this milestone, guests will save $2.50 off the normal admission price at the Ely center, and dads will get in free on Father's Day, when they visit with a child.

Guests will also enjoy special programming and events throughout the weekend, including a presentation by Center Founder Dr. L. David Mech on the Arctic wolves of Ellesmere Island at 6:00 p.m. on June 18, a dissection of a beaver, a common prey animal for wolves, and drawings for prizes on June 19.

The move to establish the Center was sparked by the public's rousing response to the award-winning "Wolves and Humans" exhibit created by the Science Museum of Minnesota and exhibited across North America. It was installed at the Center's new educational facility in Ely, Minnesota in 1993. The educational building, with its live ambassador wolves, exhibits and theater has welcomed more than a half million visitors from around the world, including guests from more than 60 countries in 2009 alone.

"This weekend we want to thank our members, our guests and the community for their support over the last 25 years," said Mary Ortiz, executive director of the Center.

The Center was notified late last month that it will receive $193,000 from Minnesota's Environment and Natural Resources Trust Fund for its MN WolfLink project. The funding was part of a bill recommended by the Legislative-Citizen Commission on Minnesota Resources, passed by the Minnesota Legislature with bi-partisan support, and signed by Governor Pawlenty.

"The three-year MN WolfLink project will use our award-winning distance learning program to educate and talk in real-time with students who will virtually visit the Center from their classrooms around Minnesota. It will fund creation of foreign-language and Braille versions of wolf curricula and supply Wolf Loan Boxes that classroom teachers use to share wolf pelts, bones and other artifacts with students," Ortiz said.

"We're honored to receive this funding from the Trust Fund and the state of Minnesota," added Ortiz. "Our educators are excited to present 100 free, interactive programs to at least 2,500 students, teachers, and others from across the state. Wolf curricula in other languages and the loan boxes will help us reach out to new audiences."

###

ABOUT THE INTERNATIONAL WOLF CENTER- The International Wolf Center, founded in 1985, is known worldwide as the nation's premier source for wolf education. The mission of the Center is to advance the survival of wolf populations by teaching about the wolf's life, its relationship to wildlands and the human role in its future. The Center educates through its Web site, www.wolf.org, its ambassador wolves, museum exhibits, on-site adventure and outreach programs and International Wolf magazine. Its flagship educational facility in Ely, MN, 1396 Highway 169, Ely, MN 55731. (Phone: 218-365-4695) The Center's administrative and outreach offices are at 3410 Winnetka Ave North, Minneapolis, MN 55427.