“Oh Brother” we need folks to go comment on this one
Wednesday, April 16, 2008
Getting nose to snout with wolves
Sphere: Related ContentLocal residents learn about the gray wolf by getting up close and personal
By JASON KAUFFMAN
Express Staff Writer
With his wife Patti Ribi sitting beside him, a smiling Sun Valley City Councilman Nils Ribi gets a smooch from another female while attending a wolf informational meeting at The Community School Monday night. Photo by Willy Cook
Delight evident in his nearly ear-to-ear grin, Sun Valley City Councilman Nils Ribi was greeted in a most uncharacteristic way on Monday evening while attending a public event at The Community School gymnasium in Sun Valley.
Seated on the hard gymnasium floor, Ribi sat motionless as a full-blooded adult female gray wolf approached, sniffed and then began to lick his face for several seconds.
Apparently satisfied, the striking gray-colored wolf named Magpie turned away and then moved on to the next person in a large circle of local residents who came to the school to learn about wolves.
Magpie, an 85-pound, 5-year-old captive wolf from a facility in southern Colorado, was in the Wood River Valley this week with a wolf-hybrid named Abraham as part of a traveling educational road show about wolves. The duo are ambassadors for Mission: Wolf, an educational organization that seeks to help people understand the positive role wild wolves can have in keeping nature healthy and balanced. The organization also seeks to convince people that captive wolves and hybrid wolf-dogs do not make good pets.
Mission: Wolf maintains a nearly 50-acre fenced sanctuary for captive wolves and hybrid wolf-dogs abandoned by their former owners. The facility is in the San Isabel National Forest in Colorado near the massive Sangre de Cristo Mountains.
Kent Weber and Tracy Brooks, co-founders of Mission: Wolf, were in the valley to discuss wolf-related issues. They also sought to debunk many of the common myths about wolves during several free programs for local children and adults held at local schools and the Community Library on Monday and Tuesday.
For nearly two decades, Weber has traveled the country in support of wolf conservation with wolf ambassadors. This year, Weber and Brooks are traveling in the “Wolf Bus” with Magpie and Abraham.
Weber said one of their primary missions is to teach people to not be afraid of wolves, because people destroy what they are afraid of.
“You don’t have to be afraid,” he told the enthusiastic 100-plus crowd at the beginning of the several-hour event.
Though there’s little difference between the DNA of wolves and domestic dogs, that does not mean the gray wolf will make a good pet, he said.
“They’re not supposed to be with people,” he said.
Faced with one of the organization’s captive wolves, even the most avid wolf lover will hyperventilate a bit, Weber said. People are most often startled by the sheer size of a full-blooded wolf’s head and feet and its startlingly yellow eyes, he said.
And sure enough, when Magpie entered the school gymnasium a low gasp and series of “oohs” and “aahs” from the mixed-age crowd indicated astonishment.
Prior to parading the inquisitive wolf inside the circle of hushed spectators, Weber explained how wolves use their teeth and mouths to interact with fellow members of their pack, much like people do with their hands. He said the greeting rituals can be a bit harsh for those unprepared.
“Wolves are not mean and bad, but they are too strong to be with people,” he said.
Weber said while a domestic dog attacks and kills a person in the United States on average every two weeks, wolves “do not attack for anything else than food.”
A native of Idaho, Weber expressed pleasure with the remarkable comeback wolves have staged in the state. He said research done in Idaho and the Northern Rockies states of Wyoming and Montana have added immeasurably to our knowledge of wild wolves.
“We have learned more in the past five years than we have in the last 100,” he said.
Perhaps the most pleased smiles came from the youngest members of the crowd. Magpie repeatedly approached children in the crowd and gave the delighted participants a thorough face cleaning.
The Mission: Wolf facility has space for up to 40 captive-born wolves and wolf-dog crosses, the organization’s Web site states. The refuge supports a primitive visitor center that provides visitors and volunteers with a hands-on working experience.
For more information, visit missionwolf.com.
April 28th, 2008 at 4:47 pm
““You don’t have to be afraid,†he told the enthusiastic 100-plus crowd at the beginning of the several-hour event.”
What!? about 15 years ago a kid in a similar we love wolves school event had her face bitten off by the gentle adorable wolf. What the heck is going on in our school system?
April 28th, 2008 at 5:13 pm
I would love to comment but Mt Express will not accept any comments from me. We need a concern parent to get a copy of Undue Burden and demand equal time. Otherwise this is just brainwashing.
April 28th, 2008 at 8:01 pm
The community where this took place is where I live, LA LA land, other wise known as Ketchum Idaho. Just more John Dewey Commy indoctrination in the “public” mind control system for dummies. Now I must confess I got a soft spot for wolves, especially tamed ones, even was raised with one, for 14 years, This goof ball did say they can never be a pet, well I disagree, I had one for a pet, raised correctly they are very managable and predictable. Wolves are just dogs, and in this time in history wild wolves must be managed or it shall be a train wreck, which we all are wittnessing right now. I have observed wild dogs also do the same kinds of things wolves are doing. The problem we face is the fascination and love for the dog, Ketchum is a dog community. Being a historical, political, truth seeker for 30 years I have noticed people reject the truth and cling to lies, it is no different with the wolves program. The media is in on the cover-up of the truth of wolves, the damage will continue, in fact In idaho with some 7-9 years old elk tag changes allowing to many cow tags in several units to be taken, thus over kill recently by hunting now the wolfers are admitting the game is depleted BUT the hunters did it, not their precious wolf God, or as I like to call them the Egyptian False Idol and dog star SIRIUS. Other wise known as Satans Dog. I like wolves, but come on people, this wolf worship bullshit is just stupid.
April 29th, 2008 at 11:32 am
If Mission:Wolf wanted to provide useful education, they would explain how to do a DNA test to determine the percentage of wolf genes, since people are now required to perform such tests before they shoot predators attacking their livestock. See previous post.
Next up, Mission:Pit Bulls will be educating children about the perils of dogs bred to fight. Michael Vick will be the guest presenter.
Mission:Rabid Coyotes and Mission:Rocky Mtn. Fever Ticks are scheduled for next month.
April 29th, 2008 at 4:17 pm
During our travels about five years back, Judy and I happened into Haily Id. A little mountian town, taken over by the likes of Dimwit, uh, Dimi Moore and other Hollywood types. There was a mall there. Judy can sniff out a mall at sixty miles an hour, and a hundred miles distant thru an open motor home window and take you there without any more deviation than the best of GPS units.
So, I went along. I was drivin’.
There was some kind of “Green fest” goin’ on and all the various groups had a booth. There was some guy there with a wolf on a leash, encouraging kids to pet it!! He asked Miss Judy and I if we would care to pet the big furball. Judy declined politly. Judy is very polite. I on the other hand am not afflicted with that particular flaw of character. I told that short pants, berkendorfer wearin’ idiot that the only way I would pet his wolf was to part his hair with a two hundred and fourty grain Keith wadcutter! and that I had five of em handy!
I went on to tell him he was at the very least a idiot. To bring a wolf into a crowded, noisey shopping mall full of kids was a fools arrand. “Can you say, law suit?”
I thought it to be brainwashing then. I am sure of it now.
A copy of “Undue Burden” along with a plane ticket for Laura and a demand for equal time would be the right medicine I think, just as Bruce suggested.
April 29th, 2008 at 7:04 pm
Weber said … wolves “do not attack for anything else than food.â€
Pure, unadulterated lie.
With this kind of prevaracation, how can you believe anything else he says? Photos don’t lie and wolves do kill for sport leaving whole carcasses to scavengers or to rot.