That is not the attitude at the International Wolf Center, a nonprofit educational and research facility opened in 1989. The center keeps three gray wolves, all raised at the center, on public view in a heavily wooded, 1.25-acre enclosure. Through years of tracking, the center has identified 10 wolf packs in the vicinity of Ely, including one that, Schmidt says, never strays more than 10 miles from a local garbage dump. Despite their prevalence, wolves are hard to see in the wild. Chances are, if you are walking in the woods here, there are wolves nearby, but they see you before you see them.
Wolves are here.
They have always been here. Wolves have become so prevalent in Minnesota that up to 10 percent could be killed annually without adversely affecting the population, wildlife biologists say. That is a significant change and a real positive change. In fact, the Sierra Club has been critical of the delisting, saying the government has not gone far enough in its reintroduction program. Government studies show that as many as 1,000 wolves could exist in the national forests of Colorado, where there are no plans for reintroduction, said Tina Arapkiles, a regional representative of the Sierra Club in Boulder.