The International Wolf Center is one of the world’s leading organizations dedicated to educating people about wolves. The organization is committed to advancing the survival of wolf populations by teaching about wolves, their relationship to wild lands, and the human role in their future.
Founded in 1985 by a group of biologists led by Dr. L. David Mech world renowned wolf biologist, the Center opened in June 1993. The Center’s 17,000-square-foot (1,600 m2) state-of-the-art facility is located in Ely, Minnesota (USA) and features Gray wolves viewable through large windows that allow visitors to watch the ambassador wolves communicate, play, hunt and eat.
Visitors have the opportunity to look into a 1.25-acre (5,100 m2) enclosure and den site that is home for the resident wolves which currently features two Great Plains wolves, Maya and Grizzer, and two Northwestern wolves, Denali and Aidan. The International Wolf Center introduces two new Ambassador wolf pups every four years. In addition to the main enclosure, the International Wolf Center also has a separate enclosure that contains "retired" wolves. The Retired enclosure currently houses Shadow and Malik, two Arctic wolves.
In addition to the onsite ambassador wolves, the Center offers a variety of educational programs at its Ely interpretive facility as well as wolf hot spots in northern Minnesota and across North America. Afternoon, weekend and week-long programs include howling trips, radio tracking, snowshoe treks, family activities, dog sledding, videos, presentations, flights over wolf country, demonstrations and hikes.
The Center also houses an award-winning museum-quality Wolves and Humans exhibit, the Little Wolf den designed specifically for children ages three to nine, a theatre for watching engaging presentations on the history and behavior of wolves, and the Wolf Den Store.
The "International Wolf" magazine is published by the International Wolf Center quarterly. The publication is free to members of the International Wolf Center, and select articles from each issue are available online.
To help accomplish its mission, the International Wolf Center provides a comprehensive support program for educators, including Distance Learning opportunities that bring the Center into the classroom. The International Wolf Center has sponsored a video game called WolfQuest, which has been developed by the Minnesota Zoo. WolfQuest is an educational computer game that is meant to teach children and teens about the life of a wild wolf in Yellowstone National Park. Two episodes have been released thus far; WolfQuest: Amethyst Mountain, and WolfQuest: Slough Creek.