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.
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
