News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
Voices silent, eyes wide in awe, breath caught in their throats, Sisters Elementary School students got a rare look into the heart of the wild on Friday, April 28.
Rami, an eight-year old female gray wolf, paid a visit to the school as part of a Central Oregon tour by Mission: Wolf, a Colorado wolf refuge and education organization.
Kent Weber, director of Mission: Wolf, prepared the students for the visit with a long explanation of the difference between wolves and dogs and a bit of the history of wolves in the United States.
According to Weber, the idea is to relieve children of some of their culturally instilled fear of wolves ("Little Red Riding Hood," etc.), while at the same time explaining the problems with trying to turn wild animals into pets.
"What we're trying to get across is the concept of respect," Weber told The Nugget.
Weber's organization provides refuge for captive wolves and wolf-dog hybrids. Many of the wolves were taken out of the wild as pups, sold as pets and found their way to Weber after their owners realized that their pet remained a powerful, highly intelligent wild animal.
However, the wolves' captivity leaves them unable to return to the wild, since they missed their education in how to hunt and survive.
The students seemed to take the lesson to heart as they sat riveted in a giant circle in the school gym.
Rami, an "ambassador wolf" was led in from the Mission: Wolf custom touring bus. She circled the gym, her nails clicking as she gingerly negotiated the slick, hardwood floor.
Her head -- much larger than that of a similar-sized domestic dog -- was slung low and her lambent eyes missed nothing. Though she was confined to a stout lead and stalked through an incongruous environment, there was no mistaking that Rami is a creature of a different order, a creature truly of the wild.
Yet the wolf was calm, occasionally sprawling on the floor as the students quietly looked on.
The visit was short. Weber is careful not to overstimulate or stress the high-strung wolf. But surely, for the teachers and adult visitors as well as the children, the experience will long be remembered.
Mission: Wolf is located in Silver Cliff, Colorado. The refuge provides permanent shelter for up to 45 captive wolves and wolf-dogs.
The Ambassador Wolf program is designed as an education program to build support for wild wolf recovery in appropriate areas of the United States.
Jim Cornelius is editor in chief of The Nugget and author of “Warriors of the Wildlands: True Tales of the Frontier Partisans.” A history buff, he explores frontier history across three centuries and several continents on his podcast, The Frontier Partisans. For more information visit www.frontierpartisans.com.
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