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BY ABBY FOX Last Thursday, Kent Weber and his wife Tracy came from their Mission: Wolf offices in Colorado to introduce wolves to seventh and eighth grade students at Cole Junior High. They were invited by science teacher Kelly Grennan, who wanted to bring “something they’ll never forget” as the students learn about the environment and organisms in class.
The wolves were Magpie, or “Maggie,” 6, a Canadian gray wolf and Abraham, a year-and-a-half, whom Weber said he rescued from a dog pound. “He was born in a cage,” he said. “He’s not all wolf, not all dog…he doesn’t know what he is,” Weber joked. But wolves born in captivity are less wild and, therefore, good to introduce to children, he explained. “People are so afraid of wolves,” he told the students. “You know what I’ve learned? Wolves do not attack you. Do you know what it takes to meet a wolf? Respect.” Weber, who said he’s been touring with wolves nationwide for 25 years, and takes care of hundreds of them at Mission: Wolf in Colorado, talked about the differences between wolves and dogs and warned the students that the romantic idea humans may have that it “looks like a wolf, and acts like a puppy” won’t work in reality. Wolves are faster than domestic animals, he said, more independent, and they show affection by “chewing each other’s heads” with their teeth, as the students got to see for themselves. Weber said he wanted to clear kids’ minds of the stereotype of the “Big Bad Wolf,” thanks to children’s fairy tales, and talked about how they are different. “They use teeth like you use your hands,” he said. “Everyone thinks wolves are so big and so bad,” he said, and to prove his point, asked them to guess the wolves’ weight: the kids and adults sitting cross-legged on the gym floor all over-estimated, saying they were more than 100 pounds. Wrong. Magpie is 83 pounds, he said. Weber complimented the students on being quiet and calm, while watching the wolves scamper around the gym, and said they were more relaxed than students at many schools he visits around the country. “You know what animals teach us? To be calm,” he said. Weber talked about unruly schools, often in cities he’s visited, where teachers and students and administrators bark at each other to keep order; and predictably, they were a lot more hyper and anxious around the wolves, he said. “When we lose respect for nature, we lose respect for each other,” he said, as a parting thought. Afterwards, Weber said wolves are a great way to introduce children to the wild and to nature, because a wolf stands as “the nemesis of the American cowboy,” but they also “are a symbol of the American wilderness,” so they simultaneously command “fear and admiration and respect,” holding the students’ attention. There are still attitudes that alarm wolf lovers like Weber, such as Idaho’s recent decision to hunt wolves after they were taken off the endangered species list this year. But with wolves making a comeback in several states, he said, and “It’s exciting to see there’s hope for the future.” |
