I only used the museum and viewing area with family and friends. The person who greeted us behind the counter was named Mike and he was very kind and attentive. There were two families and they gave both of ours the "Family" rate, which was $25. Mike actually used an 125+ year old cash register who was very, very cool. He had to wind it up and everything. I loved it and snapped a photo of it because I knew my significant other would have LOVED to see that.
When you head into the place, it's essentially a museum. There's green carpeting and to the left is the small wolf museum and to the right are windows to see the wolves. (They are two way so the wolves will not see you.) If you keep walking straight ahead, you'll come to the main viewing area with 3 large windows, a bench, and tons of displays. The left showcased stuffed wolves and a skeleton of one of their Alpha males (Alpha from 1996-2003). They show other wolves, too, to basically give you an idea of the group you'll be viewing. There's books and other stuffed wildlife (like ravens, beavers, deer and Moose), to give you an idea of the wolve's habitat. There's also wolf furs hanging on the wall, wolf masks, and wolfs photographs and paintings all over the place. They even have Inuit artwork like a totem.
There's a 15 minute movie which plays and details the lifecycle of the wolves, it was interesting.
The viewing windows to the right of the entrance also have wolf products showcased throughout the years. In another room, there's more furs and paintings of wolves.
The main viewing area is where you can view most of the wolves. There's also pieces of bone you can touch and look at to observe the bones the wolves leave behind after devouring their prey. In the middle of the room, there was a preserved worm to show you the parasites that these wolves deal with natural. IT WAS HUGE and fascinating.
They have pictures on the wall showing you the current members of the wolf pack and old pictures of the former members who have passed.
Mike followed us into the room and introduced us to all of the wolves who were laying around. The big white one was the Alpha, he lunged around in the Sun. There was a grey/brownish one just laying underneath the shade and playfully snapping at the bugs.
But here is where things take a bit of a dark turn and turn somewhat very real:
Leila, a grey wolf, laid down under a tree. On her side, there was a HUGE gash which she would lick periodically. She looked hurt and it wasn't a pleasant or expected site.
It was from Mike that we learned the cause: Leila's Mother had been the one to gash her. Leila is a timid wolf, she keeps her ears down and her tail between her legs. She's the wolf that the other wolves pick on and unfortunately, THAT is nature. The wolf pack need someone to pick on, the Mother needs to lash out and that is what happens. Mike went on to explain that they won't be able to help her; the wound will heal on it's own in time. If the wound looks or gets infected, then they may act. But they don't normally interfere. This may disturb some children, but it's a good learning process.
She wasn't the only member of the pack to be hurt. Another grey wolf had even worse red and sore looking wounds on her side. Mike told us that the Mother had to attack the younger females to keep them stressed so that they won't go into heat and mate. There can only be two wolves mating; The Alpha Female and Male.
There was also holes in the ground where the wolves would vomit up food (not in front of us), to save which they do in the wild and do feed the Mother when she's confound to the den after birthing.
The cool thing about wolves as Mike explained, was that they care deeply for their pups and that they WANT their pups to live. When a pup is born, all of the wolves participate in giving them food.
Honestly, they were lovely to see. I think people need to know that nature is cruel but this is reality. The reality is the survival of the fittest. It's amazing how...
Ā Ā Ā
Read more
Learn more insights from Wanderboat AI.
