Kick off your week with Wolf Conservation Center’s ambassador wolf Atka via live webcam

Atka is a captive-born Arctic gray wolf (Canis lupus arctos), the northernmost occurring subspecies of gray wolf in North America. Born on May 17, 2002, he is a veteran member of the WCC's Ambassador team.

As an Ambassador wolf, Atka lives on exhibit where he can "teach" WCC visitors about the importance of his wild counterparts. Although Atka is not the only Ambassador wolf that calls the WCC home, he is by far the best “wolf teacher.”

Atka is the only wolf who enjoys traveling with WCC staff to help extend our education programming far beyond the boundaries of our facility in South Salem, NY. Atka embraces new faces and places making him a great educator and unlike most wolves. (Source)


You never know, Atka may be in your neck of the woods soon!

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Wolves howling - Wolf Mountain Sanctuary

Wolf Mountain Sanctuary is a non-profit, educational organization dedicated to the preservation, protection and proper management of wolves in the wild and in captivity.

Their purpose and ultimate goal is to save these great noble animals from extinction.(Visit Website)

Some people believe that the Arctic Wolf is a loner by nature but that isn’t true. Those that are seen alone may be away from their pack to search for food.

They can also be on their own looking to make their own pack. The size of these groups can be from just a couple of wolves to about twenty. Generally the size of the pack will depend on how much food happens to be available to them.


These wolves happen to be very territorial. However, most of them do have hundreds of miles that they can cover within their home range. As a result of this they don’t really mind so much when other packs have a territory that overlaps. They do heavily mark their territory though with urine and their own scent.

There's rumors going around in Virginia about a white wolf roaming the mountains near the small town of Chesterfield.

Last weekend, two local residents there saw a large white wolf-looking animal feasting on a deer carcass, dragging it deeper into the woods.

Word quickly spread about the white myth when CBS affiliate WTVR ran a story about the creature (see below).

But it's no wild animal.

Boise resident Robert Clanton says the wild animal seen in the video and pictures are his wolf-hybrid Dooley, who disappeared in Virginia nearly four years ago. The Treasure Valley man was on the east coast visiting his family and brought along his three dogs.


One night, however, a massive thunderstorm hit the region -- startling the pups. He was able to find two of them, but Dooley just disappeared.

"I just searched and searched for probably two or three weeks," Clanton said. "He was playful, he was a member of the family, he wanted to be with you all the time."

A year had passed and he returned to Virginia once again for another search effort. Hope dwindled with each passing day. He had his two other dogs at home in Boise, but he always felt like a piece of the puzzle was missing.

"There was an intense sense of loss," he said. "But what can you do? You're helpless -- I did all I could."

Then the phone rang. It was his brother in Virginia.


He watched the local news report about a white wolf that was spotted four or five miles from where his dog went missing. Within seconds of seeing the report, he knew it was Dooley.

"The head shape, particularly the tail, and the color, I mean I'm about 99.9 percent sure it's my animal," he said. "It was a shock to find out he was maybe still around."

Call it divine intervention, or just luck, the Boise man says he's excited to be reunited with Dooley.

He's also excited to fulfill a promise he made a long time ago. Nearly four years ago he planned to give his great-granddaughter Dooley as a gift.

"I'd like to keep a promise to that little girl," Clanton said. "I mean, I made a promise."
 SOURCE

Several wolf packs live there : European grey wolves, Arctic wolves, wolves from the Mackenzie...

I would like to share some of the moments that I have spent in this forest with the arctic wolves who have had two adorable babies this year.

They were at the age of 1 month and 3 weeks when I took these photos at the end of June.

It was such a pleasure to see the wolf pups playing, running with each other, sometimes making naps and cuddling together ... everything is a new discovery for them! Each new sound in the trees is a surprise... sometimes a little noise, and they rush back to the den, to take shelter!

The proud wolf parents take care of their babies with much tenderness.

These are some wonderful moments that will stay in my heart!

Written by Veronique Renaud (Photographer,artist) http://www.veroniquerenaud.com/ 

Arctic Pups - slideshow

A chance encounter on a lake in Northern Saskatchewan has a fisherman talking about the white wolf that swam his way.

Bob Thacker, from Vancouver, was on an annual summer fishing trip with his brother when they spotted something unusual on Shadd Lake.

"I saw what I thought was a bit fat duck," Thacker told CBC News. "And as we approached it I thought that's not a duck, it's like a polar bear or an albino bear."

As their boat motored closer, Thacker said their local guide quickly identified the animal as a rare white wolf.


"It was a white wolf that you don't see very often," Thacker said, adding it was even more unusual to see one swimming across a relatively large lake.


Thacker learned from his guide that the wolf may have been part of a pack and been kicked out for some reason. The wolf may also have been tracking prey.


"I had never seen a wolf before and was just amazed by it," he added. "We got very close to it, but we didn't want to disturb it or frighten it because it still had a ways to swim. So we just got up close, took the video and took off to let it be."
Source

Wolf Dens

In a normal den, the birthing chamber lies at the end of a tunnel that may be up to 15 feet long in soft soil. The den is often slightly elevated above the rest of the tunnel, and no den-lining material is used. The mother keeps the den clean by eating fecal mater of her pups. The birthing chamber is usually about three feet in diameter and about two feet high.

Shortly before giving birth, a pregnant female will seek out a den. Dens may be a deep riverbank hollow, a cleft between rocks, a hollow log, a space under an upturned tree or a space under a rock overhang. Sometimes wolves will use abandoned dens of other animals, such as bear dens or a beaver dam.

Dens are often reused by generations of wolves; one den in Jasper National Park was used by wolves eight times in fifteen years. One on Ellesmere Island may be even older, since bones dated at 783 years old.

The entrance to the den is about 20 to 28 inches wide and 15 to 20 inches high. Dens may have two or more entrances, both of which are usually marked by a large pile of dirt. Den sites are often near a source of water, and are often elevated so that wolves can detect approaching enemies.

The Alpha male is very protective of the den. He will often act as a decoy, leading predators (bears and even eagles may prey on a very your pup) away from the site. Although wolves will often stand their ground against wild predators at the den site, they will usually run away for the approach of humans.


Occasional cases of more than one female using the same den at a time have been reported

Wolves may change dens though the year, moving their pups a mile or more. This may occur because of parasitic infestation of the den or because of a disturbance of the den by humans or other animals. (Source)


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