In December of 2011, a Rocky Mountain gray wolf wandered into California from Oregon looking for a mate. It was OR7 (or Journey). A lone wolf at the time, he was the first wild wolf in California in 90 years. He went back into Oregon, found a mate and they had three pups. Other than that, there are no documented wolves living in the wild in this state. But the California Wolf Center in Julian is working diligently to help preserve the nearly eradicated species through awareness, research and breeding.
In December of 2011, a Rocky Mountain gray wolf wandered into California from Oregon looking for a mate. It was OR7 (or Journey). A lone wolf at the time, he was the first wild wolf in California in 90 years. He went back into Oregon, found a mate and they had three pups. Other than that, there are no documented wolves living in the wild in this state. But the California Wolf Center in Julian is working diligently to help preserve the nearly eradicated species through awareness, research and breeding.
Wolves play an important role in the ecosystem. Being a top predator they help control the hoof stock population like elk, deer and bison. They also affect many other things in the ecosystem by providing food and habitat for other animals. Scavengers like eagles and bears benefit by the ability to feed on carcasses that wolves leave. In Yellowstone National Park, the beaver population came back because the introduction of wolves kept the elk on the move, stopped overgrazing on the streambeds and stopped the prevention of grass and trees growing in the area.
The California Wolf Center is in high expectation of its annual fundraiser that coincides with Wolf Awareness Week on Oct. 25. It is a national awareness week focusing on wolf recovery efforts and raising the awareness of wolves in the wild. For the fundraiser there is an afternoon and evening program. Both programs include speaker Jennifer Fearing, the California Senior State Director for the Humane Society of the U.S. Drinks, food, silent auction in the afternoon and a live auction in the evening, wolf tours are all part of the fundraising effort.
“It is our largest event of the year and if we can get more awareness out there, it is a great thing for the wolves,” said Heidi Pankratz, California Wolf Center conservation associate. “It does require reservations, because our facility is small and with each program of the day our max is around 60 people.”
California Wolf Center had its beginnings in the early 70s as the Julian Center. It began with a retired couple who built the house and wanted to educate children on how important the surrounding environment is in the food chain with everything from predators to prey. In the mid 90s, it was approached by Californian Department of Fish and Wildlife to be a part of the Mexican gray wolf species revival program and prepared to become part of that program. It then became the California Wolf Center.
“Our mission is wolf recovery in the wild,” Pankratz said. “That’s why we are here and we do this in many different ways. We educate the public, we do research with our wolves and we are also in the captive breeding program and helping to try and bring back the wolf in California.”
Pankratz said she did not know about the Center until she was told that she should do an internship there. Through the internship, she said she learned all about the wolves and fell in love with them. After her internship she kept volunteering until hired on as an employee.
Pankratz said they do the captive breeding program with the Mexican gray wolf, part of the species survival program.
“We are the second largest center for Mexican gray wolf breeding in the country,” she said. “This year we had a litter of six pups and the only center in the program to have a successful litter in the program. It is both sad and happy. It’s sad because so many places were not successful but at the same time we are proud of our success, because it is a tough time for that sub-species. Those six pups raised the Mexican gray wolf population by two percent. Its population is really struggling. In the wild there are only around 85 and in captivity there is a little less than 300. That means in total there are less than 400 Mexican gray wolves.”
In the breeding program, they keep the wolves and pups away from human interaction as much as possible, as Fish and Wildlife comes and request a pup from the litter to be chosen for release into the wild. Last year it sent a wolf to a release district in New Mexico.
“We are really proud to have wolves released back into the wild and we will have another one going again this year,” she said.
Pankratz said that wolves will enter California before too long because of the initial program releasing them into the wild in Yellowstone National Park. The population has already grown out into Washington and Oregon and should trickle down, eventually coming back to California.
Pankratz said it is important to know that the Center is the only facility in the state that works in placing wolves back into the wild. She said support for the Center comes through memberships, donations and tour admissions.
“Come out on a tour,” she said. “Educating the public is part of fulfilling our mission. If we can get more people in here to see our wolves, educate them about the true nature of wolves, not like the big, bad scary wolf you always hear about, you will find that they are highly intelligent creatures and important to the ecosystem.
“Wolves affect so many animals in the wild that most wouldn’t even think of in our ecosystem,” said Pankratz. “That is why we call them a keystone species. If you take that keystone out of the ecosystem, the whole thing can fall apart. Everything is connected to the wolf.”
To reserve a seat for Wolf Awareness Week at the California Wolf Center on Oct. 25, RSVP at (760) 765-0030. It is located at Hwy 79, in Julian and for more information visit www.califroniawolfcenter.org.
The California Wolf Center is home to several packs of gray wolves, with multiple pack of Mexican gray wolves and a large pack of Rocky Mountain gray wolves. Most reside in spacious, off exhibit enclosures that will help them in survival if chosen for release into the wild. Resident wolves are featured for education and enlightening the public on the need for the conservation of one of the rarest land mammals in the world.
