Winter 2023
Features
How One Wolf Impacted an Entire Ecosystem
By Sarah Hoy
Wolves of Isle Royale frequently figure in articles about one species’ impact on the environment. But here, the topic is a single wolf—M93, “The Old Gray Guy,”—whose decision to cross an ice bridge (and bring his genes with him) changed the fate of wolves and the entire island ecosystem for decades. Download Now.
Wolves and Gods in Ancient Greek Mythology
By Debra Mitts-Smith
Wolves in Ancient Greek legends were sacred to the gods. They could be fierce and dangerous, nurturing, protective and sometimes, humans transfigured to wolves. Apollo was the god most closely associated with wolves, but each myth and legend about him and other gods served a purpose in Ancient Greek culture.
New Hope for Red Wolf Recovery
By Cornelia Hutt and Kim Wheeler
North Carolina is home to the only expanding wild red wolf population in the world—one that suddenly began to decline in 2015. This is the story of the partnership of people determined to bring them back, their three years of disappointment, and the reason for the cautious optimism they feel today.
Departments
From the Executive Director
Teaching the World
by Grant Spickelmier
Visitors to our website (www.wolf.org) find the phrase “Teaching the world about wolves” emboldened across the top of the page. This tagline describes our wolf education work more succinctly than our mission statement. It’s an inspirational phrase that’s backed up by statistics. We currently have members representing 38 countries, and our organization commonly highlights “Wolves of the World” and the scientists who study them—especially at our International Wolf Symposium held every four years. (The next one is coming in 2026!)
Tracking the Pack
One Year of Training in Wolf Care – with Axel as a Teacher
by Giselle M. Narváez Rivera, wolf curator, International Wolf Center
Before I started at the International Wolf Center in January 2023, Lori Schmidt, the curator emeritus, had created a curator succession plan. This timeline of milestones for the curator-in-training was composed of individual phases to foster a smooth transition for both staff and wolves. My first year of training included important lessons to help me prepare for my responsibilities as wolf curator. Some were planned; others were unexpected.
Wolves of the World
Creative New Efforts to Deal with Predation Draw Support and Criticism
by Tracy O’connell
SWITZERLAND
The effectiveness of a new collar is being tested; worn by livestock, it is meant to deter wolves from attacking.The product was developed by researchers from the University of Lucerne and by Tibio, a Swiss company founded in 2009 that seeks solutions to environmental problems. The collar emits a pheromone mixture made from plant extracts that produces an odor lasting three to four months designed to mimic the scent left by wolves. “Wolves tend to avoid territory marked by other wolves to avoid conflict,” LeNews, an online, English-language media outlet based in Switzerland, explains.
ROMANIA
Home to the largest wolf population on the continent, major steps are being taken in the Southern Carpathian Mountains to preserve the wild lands wolves and many other species call home, according to National Geographic magazine. The non-profit Foundation Conservation Carpathia (FCC) has worked for nearly 15 years to protect more than 100 square miles (nearly 258 square kilometers) as a proposed national park, while hunting is banned in another 200 square miles (nearly 518 square kilometers.)
HUNGARY
A two-year-old wolf that traveled a record-breaking 1,000 miles across four countries was shot by poachers. Three months later, police have two suspects in custody on suspicion of harming nature and abusing firearms, according to Newsweek. Known as M237, the wolf was born in Graubünden, Switzerland and fitted with a GPS collar by the local wildlife agency. In June 2022 he began his “mammoth migration,” the longest recorded in Europe, the article states. The conservation nonprofit Wolf Switzerland narrated the journey in a Facebook post: the young wolf “crossed the border into Italy and then into Austria, hiked up to the Danube, changed his mind and moved away to the southeast. In mid-February he crossed the Hungarian border and headed toward Budapest.”
JAPAN
As previously noted in these pages, threats to crops and over-grazing of wildlands by wild pigs and deer are being curtailed with the use of robot wolves. The decision to deploy these mechanical creatures came after efforts to rewild areas using live wolves have not, despite years of public relations measures by the Japan Wolf Association, resulted in public approval.
Personal Encounter
Managing the Wolf Helpline: Focus, Function and Personal Encounters
by Lori Schmidt
In 2006, the International Wolf Center envisioned a collaborative concept: a “field-based” approach to wolf education. Representatives from the International Wolf Center, Vermilion Community College, USDA Wildlife Services, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife, and the Enforcement Divisions of the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR) met to develop guidelines and training protocols for a Wolf Helpline.
A Look Beyond
Wolves of Europe are, as Ever, a Political Issue
By Luigi Boitani
The winds may be changing for the wolves living in the 27 member states of the European Union (EU). In September 2023, Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European
