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Running with the Real Wolves

October 25, 2010 - At least once every two years Kent Weber brings real wolves to Maine. His goal is to inspire others to action so he will no longer have to travel the country with them.

"The day we're a success, is the day we'll be obsolete," Weber of Colorado said of Mission:Wolf's traveling wolf pack.

Until that day Weber and his wife, Tracy, intend to travel with wolves, visiting schools, universities, nature centers and political arenas to teach about the need to conserve wolf habitat and the importance of keeping wolves wild.

Their visit last week to Maine Audubon in Falmouth came at a time wolves have been in the news. A man in Bristol is busy building a sanctuary for wolf-dog hybrids and in Limington a woman has passed off her hybrid-wolf sanctuary as one with pure wolves for at least 10 years.

But the 120 people who turned out for the Audubon program just wanted the thrill, not the controversy. The adults, seniors and children all wanted to see a pure wolf.

And they got it, all the way from an enclosed 50-acre sanctuary in Colorado.

The reaction was just what Weber predicted.

"When you leave, you won't remember what I've said. But I hope you remember those yellow eyes," he told the attentive audience.

Outside, connected in a human circle, the large group followed Weber's every command.

There wasn't one who pulled back when the leashed wolves walked by, not one person who flinched when the wolves went to inspect and lick them, none who shuddered.

A woman who got peed on by a wolf didn't even mind.

The crowd was charmed and after a sort of goodbye howl that came before the pack was led back to its bus, they applauded.

"It's sold out every year," said Maine Audubon naturalist Eric Hynes. "This year was more intimate, being outside, under the lights."

The happy mood and positive energy in the Maine group bolstered Weber as he packed up his belongings after two public shows and a college seminar at Audubon.

Wolves are an endangered species in every state in the continental U.S. except Minnesota.

After wolves were reintroduced, after 70 years, into Yellowstone National Park in 1995, packs have grown and now live in different parts of the park.

And while the controversial reintroduction angered ranchers, who Weber said have never embraced the wolf, park visitors now can hear packs howl.

Having wolves around -- like any majestic animal -- is good for us, Weber contends.

He told story after story of going into schools like the one in Washington, D.C., where 20 of the 350 students were gang members. And after a frustrated principal, teacher and school cop failed to hush the pandemonium, a wolf did.

Weber said for 35 minutes in that D.C. classroom, the toughest students were quiet.

He's seen it again and again, the effect of wildlife on those who never see it.

"We lose our ability to be calm," he explained.

For the 22nd straight year Weber is bringing that message across the country, making 30 stops in 30 days. But he said the greatest hope for wolf recovery is right here.

Wolf recovery through natural migration down from Canada stands the best chance in Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont, Weber said, because of the habitat, the ecosystem and the culture.

"Maine still has a lot of nature," Weber said, and he wasn't referring to the land.

Rather the love of wild things.


Staff Writer Deirdre Fleming
October 24 Portland Press Herald


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