Welcome to the Wolf Conservation Center! As you move throughout our visitor viewing area, you'll notice QR codes on signs. Scan the codes to receive additional information about the wolves that live in that enclosure - audio recordings are available as well!
Questions? Email contact@nywolf.org
Ambassador Wolf Enclosure
This enclosure is currently the home of two ambassador wolves: Nikai and Silas. Nikai was born on April 13th, 2014, and Silas was born on April 21st, 2023. As ambassadors, Nikai and Silas are here to represent wild wolves during educational programs.
In the wild, this sub-species of gray wolf is common to the Rocky Mountain region and is currently not listed as an endangered species. Because of that status, Nikai & Silas can assist the Wolf Conservation Center’s education team acting as teachers and representatives to their species.
In order to make sure they have the right temperament for the job, WCC staff socialize our ambassador wolves starting from their first day on site within their first 4 weeks of life. This way our ambassadors can develop a closer relationship with our staff, thus helping them lose the natural fear wolves typically have of humans in the wild. Their presence in programs helps to forge an emotional connection with people and the wild animals that many have never seen up close before!
To thank them for their incredible work as educators and representatives to their species, WCC staff try our best to keep Nikai and Silas as enriched and spoiled as possible! We offer a small snack during every program, while also providing larger meals supplemented throughout the week to meet their nutritional needs. This allows us to keep a balance of well-fed wolves yet still motivated program participants! Another great benefit is 100% of the food fed to WCC wolves is all donated from grocery chains, local butchers, hunters, and road kill!
If you’re lucky, you may have the opportunity to hear howls from our ambassador wolves or other resident wolves. In the wild, wolves use howls to communicate with their pack over long distances (up to 10 miles) and can convey many different things, including pack location, size, danger, or even to reaffirm social bonds with one another.
Each wolf has a unique howl and when every member of the pack joins, their harmonies give listeners the impression that the pack is larger than it actually is. You can even ask your educator to howl, and hope for some potential responses!
Mexican Gray Wolf Enclosure
This enclosure is the home to a trio of endangered Mexican gray wolf sisters! Sisters Diane, Hélène, and Bria have called the Wolf Conservation Center home since their birth on May 8th, 2018. To this day, their litter remains the largest litter in WCC’s history, when 9 pups were born. They are the daughters of the WCC’s first Mexican gray wolf born on site, mother Rosa, and her mate Alléno.
As they grew older, the six brothers were selected for transfer to the Stone Zoo in Massachusetts, where you can still visit them to this day. Diane, Hélène, & Bria remained at WCC with their parents. Now, the three sisters have a new home all to themselves!
As an endangered species, Mexican gray wolves born in captivity will have the opportunity to enter the SAFE breeding program. SAFE, which stands for Saving Animals from Extinction, is a framework of plans developed by the Association of Zoo’s & Aquariums in order to protect, breed, and recover threatened animal species.
At birth, each wolf is assigned a Federal Studbook Identification Number. These alphanumeric IDs help to identify individuals easily. Individuals are assigned a letter (M or F) in regards to their birth sex, and the succeeding numbers will reflect the overall number birth of the species within the captive breeding program. However, here at the WCC each wolf also receives a “nickname” too. Each pup in this litter was nicknamed in honor of a female conservationist who works tirelessly to protect and preserve wildlife!
The eldest sister, Diane, has the alphanumeric name F1752. She was named after Diane Bentivegna, a former public school teacher and advisor to the WCC. Diane also assisted in the founding of the National Wolfwatcher Coalition and the Northeast Wolf Coalition and she has dedicated her life to preserving our nation’s wildlife for future generations.
Hélène, with the alphanumeric name F1753, is the namesake of acclaimed classical pianist and founder of the Wolf Conservation Center, Hélène Grimaud. Through her continued work with the WCC, Hélène has influenced generations of individuals and has helped people realize that rather than fearing wolves, we should work to learn about and protect them.
The third sister, Bria (with the alphanumeric name F1754) is named after youth artist Bria Shay Neff. Starting at 8 years old, Bria has worked with numerous nonprofits and charities by painting over 300 species of animals and has helped to raise over $75,000 for wildlife conservation.
Red Wolf Enclosure
This enclosure is home to a pair of critically endangered red wolves. While neither of their journeys began here, fate (as well as the US Fish & Wildlife Service, Association of Zoos & Aquarium, and Saving Animals From Extinction recovery advisors) decided that the lives of these two red wolves would intertwine at the Wolf Conservation Center, as they enter the SAFE breeding program together!
On April 26th, 2022 at the Woodlands Nature Station in Kentucky, a female red wolf Ginger was born before being transferred here to the Wolf Conservation Center on November 28th, 2023. Our long-time followers may remember her grandfather, former WCC resident red wolf Jack!
Our male, Mac tíre, was born on May 3, 2018 at Washington’s Point Defiance Zoo and Aquarium where the red wolf breeding program first began. He arrived at the WCC on December 8th, 2023.
The pair were introduced to one another in late December of 2023, and will have the opportunity to enter the SAFE breeding program together based on their complementary genetics! After a brief introduction period, the pair now share an enclosure together where they will have the opportunity to add to the captive red wolf population.
Maybe someday their family will even be chosen for release into the wild, where they can add to the population of the most endangered species of canid in the world! Breeding pairs and release candidates are all determined by the USFWS, AZA, and other advisory groups, whose decisions are primarily based on genetics and age. The Wolf Conservation Center spend every day preparing our SAFE wolves for their release, until those decisions are made!
If they are selected for release into the wild, the Red Wolf Non-Essential Experimental Population Area resides in the eastern outer banks of North Carolina. As of 2024, this is the currently only region left in the world with populations of wild red wolves.
