California Wolf Center: Volunteering for the day.
Standing in front of one of the wolf cages at the California Wolf Center.
“The California Wolf Center is a 501(c)(3) non-profit education center committed to increasing public awareness and understanding of the importance of all wildlife by focusing on the history, biology, behavior, and ecology of the gray wolf.”
My new friend, Nicole volunteers at the nearby California Wolf Center near Julian, California. She says I could feed live wolves and they always need help, so we take a visit for the day.
Wolf Facts (from the California Wolf Center Website):
*Wolves are much shyer than imagined and will avoid humans as much as possible.
*Wolves live about 7 years in the wild and 12 years in captivity.
*Wolves trot at about 5 miles per hour and can run up to 35 miles per hour for short periods of time.
*Wolves mainly die because of human activity. Starvation & wounds from territorial aggression cause some deaths. Parvo and mange also kill a significant number of wolves.
*Wolves are pack animals. Usually there is an alpha male and alpha female that lead the pack. They are the most likely to breed. There is a ranking system on down from the beta wolf to omega wolf.
*Packs can range from 2 to 36 wolves.
Helen chops up the frozen chicken.
Feeding the Wolves.
Nicole and I show up with about 5 or 6 other volunteers. I stick my hand up to volunteer for feeding the wolves and I am paired with Helen. Helen has volunteered at the Center for a few years and knows what she is doing. She shows me the ropes as we get out 80lbs of frozen chicken and 60lbs of frozen bison. We have to chop up the meat so that we can spread it around the large cages. This helps avoid any fighting over the food.
Wolves want nothing to do with humans and avoid me when I am in the cages.
Swinging the axe brings me back to my days of living outdoors, except this time frozen bison meat or chicken legs are flying as opposed to wood chips.
In the cages the wolves, keep their distance from Helen and I and there is no danger of us being harmed. The Center has never had a wolf injure a human nor a wolf escape in what I believe is 20 years that the Center has existed.
Nicole scrubs a wheelbarrow.
Scrubbing Cages.
After we are finished feeding the wolves, we have other less interesting tasks like scrubbing out some cages that were used to house some wolves temporarily, scrubbing wheelbarrows, and washing some tarps.
All in all it was an interesting day. It was enjoyable to learn about the wolves and be as close to them as I was. There are also caring volunteers and workers at the Center that were very welcoming.
If you live in the San Diego area and would like to volunteer, click here to contact the Center for details.
After the Wolf Center, Nicole and I stop by the scenic town of Julian, famous for their pies. This post is coming soon, after my HOW TO post tomorrow. How to be the best House guest ever.
Create Our World.
Ben
“It is not the years in your life that count but the life in your years.” – Adlai Stevenson
Tags: adventure travel blog, Benjamin Jenks, california wolf center, create our world, hitchhiking, julian california, roadtrip around the USA, wolf information
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