SAN DIEGO — It doesn’t take long for Poppy the Northwestern gray wolf to smell that it’s time to eat.
Ciera MacIsaac is the wolf care and reintroduction coordinator at California Wolf Center. She tosses bits of venison over a fence so Poppy and her mother, Yana, can sniff it out on the terrain and have a treat. MacIsaac said this kind of enrichment helps keep their minds sharp and is a big part of caring for their packs.
“It’s something new, it’s something interesting, it smells a little different, it tastes a little different,” MacIsaac said. “All very exciting things for these guys that we can do as much as possible.”
Wolves were hunted to extinction in California a century ago. Now they’re protected under the Endangered Species Act. MacIsaac said wolves like Poppy and Yana often get a bad reputation as vicious and bold thanks to their portrayal in movies, but most are actually shy and reclusive.
“They are the biggest scaredy cats of the animal kingdom,” she laughed. “You step on a twig wrong, you scare wolves. They stay as far away from us as possible.”
Wolves are a critical keystone species in a healthy ecosystem. By regulating prey populations, wolves enable many other species of plants and animals to flourish. Without them, the entire ecosystem collapses.
“[The wolf is] not doing it on purpose. It doesn’t know that it’s helping, but they do it because that’s who they are, that’s the wolf,” MacIsaac said. “They’re going to be controlling populations just by being themselves.”
The California Wolf Center is dedicated to the return of wild wolves to their natural habitat and to the people who share the landscape with them.
Executive Director Theresa Kosen said the California Wolf Center joined the Mexican Wolf Species Survival Plan, a captive breeding program that aims to increase the genetic diversity of the critically endangered Mexican gray wolf for reintroduction to the wild. There are only about 200 Mexican gray wolves left in the wild.
“In our facility, we have 25 Mexican gray wolves and we are one of the largest holding and breeding facilities for that species,” Kosen said. “And they are critically endangered, so we’re working to breed more critically endangered Mexican gray wolves.”
Their program has become so successful that they are currently supporting every wild Mexican gray wolf pack in the United States. Thor, Durango and Emma, all Mexican gray wolves, are part of their ambassador program to educate people on the challenges they face while making their comeback.
“I must say, it’s incredibly rewarding to be a part of helping a species survive today,” Kosen said. “So many species are extinct, and we don’t want that to happen to our Mexican gray wolves. So the fact that we’re here in Julian and that throughout Southern California you can come and visit a nearly extinct species is pretty rich.”
Their beauty is something that still strikes MacIsaac every day and she hopes everyone will care for the creatures she’s come to love.
“Actually seeing them, seeing what they’re really like, seeing them nervous, seeing them excited, playing with their family, you really make a connection with them and realize, you know what, this is an animal that should be on the landscape,” she said. “It is an animal that we should protect.”
Despite their reputations as the “big bad wolf” most Mexican gray wolves only weigh about 50 to 80 pounds. You can schedule a visit to the California Wolf Center by booking on their website.