All right, good morning, and
welcome to STL history alive. My
name is Aaron Felker, and I'm a
community engagement coordinator
at the Missouri History Museum.
I want to thank you for spending
part of your Tuesday morning
with us. Before we get started,
I do have a couple of brief
remarks. The first That this
morning's presentation will last
roughly about 30 minutes with
another 10 minutes at the
conclusion for Audience Question
and Answer. To submit a
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chat feature on zoom URL link to
our membership page. So thanks
again for joining us this
morning. And with that, I'd like
to turn it over to our
presenters. David Lowe, big
curator of environmental life at
the Missouri Historical Society,
and Regina massada, Director of
animal care and conservation at
the endangered wolves to talk
about the spread of Anna,
historical wolf matriarch.
Thanks for finding yourself
here. Enjoy and take it away
David and Regina.
Hi, everyone. I'm quite grateful
to be here. Glad you're all
tuning in. I'm going to share my
screen now. And tell us a little
bit about Anna. Is everybody
seeing that? Okay. Okay, so Anna
was Mexican Wolf, formerly
referred to as Mexican gray
wolf, Regina corrected me.
Terminology does change From
time to time so Mexican wolves
are something that Regina can
tell us more about, but I'm
really delighted that we were
able to bring Anna into the
collection as a taxidermy mount.
She was,
of course living at
the endangered wolf center for
many years and we were able to
acquire the taxidermy mount for
later in. In her life has her
life concluded. I'm trying to
share my Vance my There we are.
So these are photographs over
while she was alive out at the
Tyson endangered wolf center.
And she was the mom of many many
ups. She was also being so
photogenic and and important as
she was to helping the gray wolf
crop the Mexican wolf
population. She was photographed
by Joel Sartori, who did a
project with the National
Geographic to share information
about endangered animals
worldwide and was projected on
two buildings in Europe in the
United States to bring attention
to, to the plight of animals
that are being are endangered.
So she became sort of the poster
child for for wolves in that
effort. Now, after Anna passed
away, we she went to Schwarz
videos, which is here in St.
Louis. It's the longest running
studio studio taxidermy in the
United States. It was founded in
1882 by Frank Schwartz tours and
he as a German immigrant to St.
Louis instilled such love of
this work. His family that for
generations have been
participated in it. We have
other taxidermy mounts in the
Missouri Historical Society
collection that were made by the
Swartz family. But it is a
really remarkable thing that it
continues today. It was
purchased by another fella after
the last family member about out
and it continues at shores
Studios here in St. Louis. So
there she is, in the left hand
of that photograph at schwert
Studios with a whole bunch of
other animals that she probably
would have wanted to get very
close to when she was alive. A
lot of prey there and that
photograph now she had some we
had some concerns about her
base. It was a little over the
top doesn't look like it in this
photograph. But we took it to
Dale different studios here in
St. Louis and had it modified so
it it helped her become more
important in this text Derby
mountain. Not, not the set Hang
on what she was sitting,
standing. So eventually we we
brought her into the collection
in 2013. And that's now part of
she is now part of this legacy
that Marlon Perkins leaves us
with here in St. Louis and in
the world. He was a is a world
renowned ecologist and very,
very important in bringing
nature into the lives into the
living rooms of hundreds of
Americans, thousands of
Americans every Sunday, for many
years, from 1963 until 1985. He
was the director of the St.
Louis zoo, as well as Lincoln
Park Zoo. And before that, and
he really popularized the plight
of habitat destruction,
biodiversity, the need to
preserve it. And it was sort of
people are familiar with Sir
David Attenborough. He was a
predecessor to him actually
their contemporaries, but Marlon
is 20 years 21 years older, I
think. So this is a photograph
of him at the St. Louis Zoo with
a chimpanzee and some of the
kids. He liked helping kids
learn and appreciate,
learn about and appreciate
animals. He also traveled
extensively. He was seen visit
all the continents on the globe,
and his work and bringing
wildlife into people's lives
through wild Mutual of Omaha's
wild kingdom that broadcast
television program. He was all
over the world and especially
Africa, Asia and and South
America, South and Central
America. Here he is with Carol.
So Carol is is a second wife,
wife for many years and They had
a lot in common. They loved
nature together and they had a
passion that took them together
on safaris and conducting on
hunting, surprise, surprise,
safaris for appreciating animals
and helping other people learn
about them. So they went all
over the world and Africa was a
special place for them. These
are all photographs of them and
where they were in our
collection. We have thousands of
photographs in our collection
through the family. And also, we
have numerous artifacts hundreds
of artifacts, principally from
Marlins collecting efforts here
he is picking up a lizard he got
his start as a herpetologist at
the St. Louis zoo, he was
basically trained on the job he
quit university to work in the
zoo with animals he'd been with
at a deep, abiding interest in
animals all of his life. He grew
up in Missouri and Kansas. was
born in Carthage, Missouri in
1905. So here he is in a dugout,
picking up the crocodile. We
have this
the snake skin in our collection
that's
a mangrove snake skin from him
and this Impala hide. Here he
is. He is also very interested
in artifacts of people who live
close to nature. So he's
appreciating some spirits here.
And also clothing. So all these
things are very fascinating
objects about the people that
live close to nature came into
our collection. And he was also
interested in prehistoric
objects. So we have numerous
lithics and fossils in the
collection, hundreds of them
that came out of his collecting
efforts in Missouri and Illinois
and nearby places. His picture
of some shark teeth, Sam shark
teeth that he collected. So
there is miles Jenks One of our
she was an intern at the time
and she cataloged all the ethics
and fossils for us. She's still
with us today as a full time
employee, so he has a he had a
passion for photography here is
with Carol on top of a Land
Rover photographing African
elephants. This is a photograph
of his of his cameras. We have
numerous cameras on our
collection from them. And with
the canid a little red fox, who
is trying to pull his camera
away by the strap. I'm
fascinated with his interest in
photography. This is inside of a
10th see the profile person on
the right another person on the
left and as I said we have
several of its cameras in the
collection like Pentax and
Minolta. And there is a great
photograph of him
enjoying himself he loved to
swim.
You also published some books,
Zoo parade, which is about the
First effort to broadcast about
animals. When he was in Chicago
that started and he published
some books with Carol, his wife,
I saw you from afar. And this is
her book the shattered skull.
Examine man's past, they knew
lots of people who were related
to this rather small world at
the time of environmental
conservation. They knew also
anthropologists like the likies
in Africa who were looking into
man's origins, human origins.
This is a sign that I that is in
one of the slides from its
collection. I think that's
really poignant. There's their
bulldozers and earthmoving
equipment in the background that
are destroying a part of Africa.
I don't know where that is. But
this is a this is saying that
you see sometimes in the late 19
early 1900s in In Europe,
especially in Britain, in parks
and places like that, basically
an admonition to take care of
the place. That's a beauty and
natural, natural beauty. So for
people that he knew he knew joy
Adamson, from Born Free fame,
there's a famous movie that joy
wrote, she and her husband
George. Well, they've been
Africa for a very long time and
brought up Elsa lion cub and,
and it's a very poignant story
if you haven't heard it, or seen
it. So it was joy that
encouraged the Perkins is to
save another kind of apex
predator, the wolves and she
said, Why Why don't you know
you're concerned about this
work? Why don't you do it in the
United States in North America,
there's an apex predator there
that's having a very difficult
time. survival. So they started
the wild Canaan survival and
Research Center through her
encouragement and Owen Sexton
who is the biologist in
Washington University at the
time and who caused the
university to acquire Tyson
Valley Research Center from the
US government, which they
maintained today and is where
the endangered book center is
today on Sexton help them out,
as did Richard Nichols, who went
on to be become the, the second
head of the Tyson Research
Center. Fascinating people I got
got to know not joy Adamson. But
the other two, endangered wolf
center as is this is the outcome
of the first iteration of the
research center. And it's truly
a gentleman in this community
and I and I want to learn more
about it through Virginia. So
we'll say goodbye to Anna here.
That's her taxidermy mount as it
is in the Missouri Historical
Society collection. And there's
her piercing stare
Thank you, Regina.
Yeah, you hit the nail on the
head with Marlin and Carol's
history, I mean that their
effort to start the danger wolf
center with their partners
literally helped save two
species from extinction. And I
can share my screen if you would
like to see a little bit about
our Mexican wolf.
We'll do that real quick.
And hello to everybody out
there. Thank you for joining us
today. Actually a nice day
outside. Wonderful.
There we go. So
Anna, I feel like is is the
culmination of everything that
Marlin and Carol and their
partners started with data
center with this dream to help
save the species and joy put it
in a great context for them.
It's We often focus on
endangered species and other
countries yet here in our own
backyard, we have some of the
most endangered species in the
world in the United States. And
at our center at the endangered
will center. It we have
literally the two most
endangered wolf wolves in the
world, the American Red Wolf and
the Mexican wolf. And I work on
the conservation for both of
those species on the management
species survival plan. And for
the Mexican wolf. I'm also the
pup foster advisor, which is a
really cool program that we are
working on to save the Mexican
wolf but a little bit about the
history of what Marlin and Carol
have been able to do at the
center. Three of the species
that we work with, we've
actually helped with releases
back out into the wild. And they
founded the center as a
conservation and Science Center
with a focus on education. So
those are our main goals and our
mission. And when you have
endangered species, things like
making sure genetic diversity is
good, so that the population
stays healthy so that you can
save that making sure that the
animals that we have at our
center, we can raise them in a
way that they succeed out in the
wild. And they helped develop
these innovative techniques on
husbandry, which basically means
animal care, so that we could do
just that with our species. And
we wouldn't have the Mexican
wolf or the red wolf today
without their foresight. And
that is an incredible legacy to
leave. And one of the reasons
that people ask me all the time,
if there's somebody in history
that you could meet, who would
you want to meet, and Marlin is
definitely one of my top. I
would love to be able to go back
and just learn from him and
somebody who had that foresight.
I mean, he created the naval
center before the Endangered
Species Act was even a thing you
know, and and to be able to see
that Need for a center like this
was out there was just
incredible. And as I said Our
mission is to help save
endangered species through
reintroduction and research and
education. We breed the animals
at our center and work with US
Fish and Wildlife Service to
release them. A lot of people
ask us why we're even needed.
And you know, back in. If you go
back long enough people used to
revere and coexist with
wildlife. Incredible, including
wolves and mountain lions and
bears. They looked at the
wolves, especially as this PCs
to emulate their strong family
bond and how they work together
to keep the pack strong. But
unfortunately, we went from that
to this. And it you know, having
worked with Wolves out in the
wild how people could think I'm
a big bad wolf. Always perplexed
me but if you look back at
History. You can kind of see how
we got to that point. You know,
we went from a hunter gatherer
culture and society to sedentary
working on agriculture starting
to raise livestock. And we
started to view nature as
competition, whether it's
insects or large carnivores are
birds. We started to
detach ourselves from nature in
a way. And especially wolves,
they got the brunt of it. And
unfortunately, things like
Little Red Riding Hood, little
pigs, you think what you've
grown up with, and you don't
even realize that from the time
of being a small child, you're
inundated with this image of
this big bad wolf. And what that
does to our mindset, really
hinders conservation efforts
because if you fear something,
you're not going to want to save
it. And it still happens today.
Frozen, beating the beast, the
gray that removed V's that are
constantly coming out books are
constantly coming out that have
the wolf portray his big bad
wolf. And I took my daughter to
see frozen not knowing there was
a scene in it. And most people I
talked to they're like, Oh, I
don't remember wolves and
frozen. But they're sure enough,
there was a scene in it where
they were chasing the main
character, Ana, and soon as that
ominous music started, and I was
in the middle of the woods,
we're sitting there and like,
Oh, no, not this. And sure
enough, it was wolves. And I
wanted to leave every ounce of
my body wanted to leave, but I
use it in the experiment. And I
watched my daughter, she was
four at the time. And she was
scared. You know, she was
scared. We talked about after
the movie, and she said, I said,
How do you feel about the wolf,
the wolf, and she was I didn't
know that they were so dangerous
and so scary. And you know, I
explained that they were just
actors, and they're just
pretending that roles aren't
like that and she got it. But
you know, most people don't have
a will file just as a mom
sitting there explaining that to
them and that can really hurt
our conservation. efforts of
people are. And so this led to a
government led program to
eliminate all large carnivores
onlines, bears, wolves, coyotes,
foxes, you name it. And the idea
back then was that less wolves
met hunters paradise for us more
deer more out for my family. And
what they didn't know back then
was how connected everything was
to nature. We almost lost the
red wolf in the Mexican wolf
because of this. And so today,
we're battling those myths to
try and help bring these animals
back. Wolves are scary. They're
going to eat my grandma, they're
going to decimate livestock or
my prey that I like to hunt. All
these things aren't true. And
that's one of the amazing things
that Marlin and Carol set up
with engageable Center is to
have these innovative, fun
programs to teach about how
wolves are actually the opposite
of what most people think they
are. And I joke that if
everybody could come work At the
center for just one day, they
never be scared of wills again,
because they're just one of the
most amazing animals out there.
And specifically with the
Mexican Wolf, and I'll run
through this pretty fast, just
so you guys understand the
importance of what Marlin and
Carol did and and his legacy.
The center was part of the
Mexican wolf recovery program
since the very beginning. And
the wolf, the Mexican wolf was
so endangered that the fish
Wildlife Service went out and
tried to capture as many as they
could to bring them into the
captive program into human care
to start a breeding recovery
effort so that they could
release them back into the wild
and and help save that species.
They looked for years and they
in the end, they could only find
seven founders to help save this
species spot as close to
extinction as you can get. And
so a very thoughtful, careful
breeding program to help keep as
many genetics as possible and
keep the population as healthy
as possible with starting with
that few animals was started and
We were able to release Mexican
wolves and the first wolves back
in the landscape since 1980 was
a 1998. And since then we've
released and actually this is
think more now 146 wolves since
then, and Mexico joined the
program and started doing
releases in 2011. And right now,
today, we have about 200 left in
the wild, most of them found in
the United States, in Arizona,
in New Mexico, and the rest in
in the country of Mexico. And
while 200 sounds really low, it
is better than zero. It means
that we have a lot of work left
to do, but there is hope. And
animals like Anna have helped
provide that hope and helps that
population grow to what it is
today. Really quickly because a
lot of people ask me why put all
this effort and energy into
saving wolves. One of my
favorite examples of how
carnivores help keep ecosystems
healthy and why they're
important is Yellowstone. They
released the gray wolf there in
1995. And it had the gray wolf
had been hunted out of that park
and lost for over 70 years and
the park changed without it. And
when you think of Yellowstone
you think of
a wildlife. But now people
really associate Ellison with
the wolf recovery program. This
is a pack that I researched when
I worked out there called the
silver pack and you see the
alpha female there, who's all
white, which is why it's called
the silver pack, hauling and
talking to her family and
everybody that's around her. But
without wolves, it was actually
a plant biologist that noticed
once they were returned after a
few years that the parks are to
change. And you can see in the
picture on the left that without
wolves, the landscape has been
denuded, a lot of there weren't
very many trees, there weren't a
lot of shrubs and bushes. And
that's incredibly efficient.
habitat for songbirds and
waterfowl and insects and a lot
of diverse array of species. And
without. Without wolves, that
diversity was lost, and the
ecosystem suffered for it. The
elk population skyrocketed and
basically ate everything down to
the dirt trees have fallen on
the trees and replaced them.
shrubs couldn't survive the
amount that they were being
browsed. And it just changed the
habitat dramatically, having
those elk overpopulated and you
can see in this picture how
shrubs are starting to come back
in 2001, which is just six years
after the wolves were released.
My favorite animals that
returned to the park were
beavers. Without those trees,
beavers left the park because
obviously they have to make
their homes out of dams and
trees and to make the dams out
of trees. When they came back.
They create this beautiful
riparian habitat which is a
river habitat, they would dam up
those areas and create these
beautiful pools that were
habitat for different species of
endangered fish and amphibians.
And on the shoreline, you'd see
shrubs coming back and songbirds
coming back. And just a really
quick example of how
everything's connected while the
wolf is important, but they also
benefit us. They help reduce
disease that can get to our
livestock in the US. They help
reduce our farm farms being
eaten by overpopulated
livestock, they help reduce non
native destructive prey, like
feral hogs and, and so many
other reasons. So that's one of
the reasons that we've put so
much effort into saving wolves
and why Anna's legacy was just
amazing. Here's this wolf who
almost didn't survive. She was
born I think danger wolf center
and her dad was the most
genetically viable Wolf and the
population which means that he
had not had offspring. And so
his genetics would have been
lost if you passed away. He had
had several mates and just did
not click with any of them. And
actually, it was in his I
believe he was about 1213 years
old. They had put him with a
young female wolf named Tana
Mara. And it was more of a
companion. I didn't think you
breed at that point, but was she
persistent, and she was able to
get him to breed and they have
three puppies. And
unfortunately, she was a first
time mom, she was young, and she
lost to the three puppies. And
so the endanger will center in
collaboration with the fish
while service decided to pull
that remaining puppy and rear
it, which we don't. When we take
care of our roles, we're very
hands off with them. We don't
pet them, talk to them habituate
them, don't hand rear any of our
animals. But this was a unique
situation did to say those
genetics and so the team hand
raised her just enough to where
she was weaned and didn't need a
bottle anymore and they actually
introduced her back To a wolf
pair. They didn't introduce her
back to her parents for two
reasons. One is her mom wasn't
doing a great job. She was an
experienced mom and she had
already lost those two puppies.
And two, as shortly after Anna
was born, her dad passed away.
And so she literally was the
savior of those genetics. And
they introduced Anna back to an
older pair of wolves, who had
had lots of litters and knew how
to care for them and they raised
her as a wolf. And as their own
just one reason they level so
much they have such an amazing
family unit. And she went on,
they obviously as soon as she
was able to pair her with a mate
to breed. And this is her mate
dude.
One of her mates and just an
amazing father and they just did
an awesome job raising their
puppies, and she was often
exhausted. Her this face is as a
mom, I just have so much empathy
for this face. Right there,
she's trying to nurse like eight
puppies. her very first litter,
she had eight puppies, which
average is about five pups per
litter. So you litter. Everybody
celebrate, like, Oh my gosh,
those genetics they're going to
move on. That's amazing. It's
going to help populations so
much. But because of how
genetically valuable she was a
letter breed for several years,
the next year, she had 10
puppies, which was a world
record, and all 10 survive,
which is just incredible. The
next year, she had 12 puppies,
because she's just that kind of
girl, she needed to break her
own record. And after that, you
know, they gave her a break from
breeding because she needed it.
But several of her puppies went
out to the wild and for other
reasons for genetics were still
very important. So we let her
breathe one more time. And she
had 11 puppies. So she had 41
puppies in total, which is just
it's a record. It's amazing. And
it's a legacy that which is why
we call her the matriarch is it
That legacy helps save this
piece. And this is one of her
pups that was being released
into the wild. Her name was
Ernesto. And several of our
staff members got to go down and
help with ernestus release. And
her nessa had puppies and the
puppy survived and lived in the
wild and those genetics and as
grandkids are running green
puppies are running free in
Mexico and Arizona in the wild
today, literally howling and
that song is, is going to be
hurt for more generations
because of of Anna's just
amazing mothering instincts, and
it's she's just I can't talk
enough about how amazing she is.
And as David pointed out, not
only did she literally help
physically save the endangered
species, you know, the Mexican
Wolf by having puppies and
raising them in a way that they
could succeed out in the wild
when they're released. But she's
also a rock star. Joel Sartori
came to photograph her and she
Was, she's been put up as
Davidson on buildings and in our
exhibits all across the world,
Empire State Building, the
Vatican. I mean, if she was
alive today, I would totally ask
her for her autograph. I mean,
she is just an amazing wolf. And
why this is so special. And so
important is we have had so many
people that have found the
center, who heard about it, who
heard about Mexican rules and
how in danger they are and
wanting to save them through
these photographs through Joel's
work. And seeing her beauty and
having that connection. makes
all the difference. It's one of
the reasons art is so important
when when you're talking about
conservation, and photography is
art and being able to share that
image of Anna that she's just
you know that it's powerful.
She's beautiful. It connects you
to nature. One of my favorite
things I don't know. Shop, stop
sharing my screen. Just for a
second that Anna has been
portrayed on his I just got the
coolest thing ever. If you guys
are interested in bands just
partnered with National
Geographic to make shoes to help
save endangered species, and
look who's on the side of it.
And David if you don't don't
feel bad Mexican natgeo so
called Mexican gray walls too.
So it's a new name change, but
they might be the coolest shoes
that have ever existed. And I
can't wait to wear him around.
But um, you know, that is a
little bit about her history and
how important Mexican wolves are
to the ecosystem. And that
legacy that Marlin Carroll left
is as a St. Louis and one of the
reasons I'm so proud to work
here is right here in St. Louis.
We help save two species from
extinction. And that is
something from Missourians and
St. Louis wants to be so proud
of. And the center is very
unique and what we do, there are
Many centers out in the world
that are like this. And I've had
this big of an impact and
wolves. You know, we don't just
say wolves. Wolves are an
umbrella species, as we said, By
saving them, we're helping save
the ecosystem and all of those
different animals that are
underneath of them. They are
truly an umbrella species a
keystone species.
And one of the reasons that I
love I love working with them is
because of that.
My screen is frozen. I'm not
sure why.
But I don't know if you guys
have any. Now's the time to stop
and ask questions or
I have a question. So So how is
how's the endangered wolf center
functioning now that school
groups can't come out? And, you
know, it's it's a hard thing to
manage during the pandemic. Tell
us a little bit how you function
and how you get support in the
community.
Yeah, that's a great question.
So even though we're working
with federally protected
critically endangered species.
We don't get funding from the
Fish and Wildlife Service to do
our yearly day to day
operations. It is a function
that we are giving to the fish
wildlife service by caring for
these animals and raising them
away, to be able to release
them. We rely solely on
donations and people visiting
and so the pandemic has
definitely heard that, to be
honest and blunt. We are a small
center strong, small but mighty
is what I always like to say.
But even through a pandemic, we
have you know, we've had to
layoff some staff we've had to
make some major budget cuts, but
conservation is our priority.
And a great example is this
spring even though the pandemic
was flaring, we helped to send
20 Mexican wolf puppies out into
the wild in our foster program,
which was a world record. We've
never to foster that many from
the capital program and nine
came directly from the Dental
Center from st And to be able to
continue that conservation,
despite the pandemic to make
sure that we didn't lose ground
was definitely a heroic effort.
And it took every fiber of what
we could do at that time to make
sure it kept going. And it's
something that I'm very proud
of, from the center's
perspective of being able to
keep that going and, and just
summary of a lot of people ask
what's pet fostering, we used to
release adults for the Mexican
program and still can. But we
have helped develop a unique,
innovative technique where we
take pups born in the captive
program, and we actually sneak
them into wild litters. And it's
a sneaky way to get new genetics
into those areas because the
captive populations more
genetically diverse and what's
in the wild and those parents
that are out there that have the
skill set to stay away from
people and hunt deer, get to
raise those puppies as their own
and help increase their success
and survival. And then those
puppies grow and they have
puppies of their own and they
get the genetics out there and
keep the population how And it
was actually Anna's daughter's
litter. That was the very first
Mexican wolf pop. Part of the
Mexican first Mexican will pop
foster program. So she has so
many things that she's been able
to do that have helped with this
program. But we need help. You
know if anybody that's watching
wants to support the center, you
can check out our website, and
danger wolf center.org. You can
we have some limited tours and
we also have virtual programs
that you can come join are a lot
of fun.
Thanks again to Regina and
David, we do have a couple of
questions that I'll read off
here for you guys to answer. And
remember that you can still
submit those questions through
the q&a dialog box on zoom. So
the first question, it's a
common and a question from Jean
Ponzi. She says wonderful
program, David and Regina. As
you're speaking I have a photo
of Anna's taxidermy mount on my
screen taken when my husband was
making improvements. The Mount
base It was great honor to have
her here, wrote about her for
the healthy planet. So glad to
be able to hear your program
today. And jeans. Question is
what, if any difference? Do you
think it is made to have in the
endangered wolf Center here in
St. Louis, versus in a part of
the continent closer to the
natural habitat of wolves being
bred?
Well, that's a great question
Jean. Actually, one of the
species that we are working on,
which is the most dangerous in
the world is the American Red
Wolf, and they were native to
Missouri. But actually, I think
Marlins, having the center focus
in the center of the country has
actually been really amazing
because we've been able to work
with all three recovery programs
from the gray walls and North
Mexican walls in the southwest,
and the rebels in the southeast
and have been able to have
people from all over the country
visit and learn from us. We
teach workshops on how to help
them grow and safely work with
and raise endangered species for
zoological and wildlife managers
and government officials for
many years now, which is award
winning program, we do, do do
outreaches and virtual programs
and have visited both the
southwest and the southeast and
do long distance programs. So
we're able to work in those
areas. But a lot of our partners
that we work with in those areas
have been able to help and and
being able to support them and
work with them has been really
important too. So we kind of
have our ability to reach a wide
audience where we're located.
And again, another reason I'm so
proud of the center and being a
saint loosen, and I have to say
geonet is so cool that you have
her on your computer and what an
amazing legacy I just like that
even now, after all of this she
gets to help inspire people at
the Miss Missouri History Museum
even further. It's just not it's
just ama
looks like we have a another
question here from Sarah. She
asks, what species Do you have
at the center? How do wolves and
dogs interact with wolves and
coyotes?
Sure, we actually have eight
species of painted and can it
just means anything in the dog
families from wolves, coyotes,
foxes, even domestic dogs are in
the canid family. And so we have
Fox, several Fox species like
this with Fox, which is one that
we've helped with reproduction
and we have African painted
dogs, main bulls, then a classes
so it's it's a really neat
program. And we also have some
native Missouri species like
possums and snakes and turtles
that were able to take the
schools and help inspire
children to become stewards of
their ecosystem and learn how
they can even start their own
backyard. So we have a really
amazing group of animals that we
work with and we're very lucky
for that. In terms of how to
wolves and dogs interact, I am
assuming you mean domestic dogs
like your dogs. Well, just like
out in the wild wolves are very
territorial, territorial,
whether it's a coyote or a
mountain lion. And they would be
the same way with a domestic
dog. They want to protect their
home and make sure their
families stay safe.
Hey, it looks like we have
another question from Michael.
He asks, Where can I buy a pair
of those shoes? Do you have any
info on this year's foster pups?
Yes, so the shoes, National
Geographic, I should be one of
their spokespeople. But if you
just Google van's National
Geographic and they have a
program and they sell through a
lot of different outlets, and I
just got them like last month,
so they should still be
available for you. And in terms
of a serious sponsor program, we
have gotten to see some trail
cameras unofficially. were
filming Service parts trail
cameras out on trees near elk
that have passed away or have
been hunted or that they will
put out to see they can get
snapshots of wolf packs. And
let's say we'll pack three
puppies and we put two in it and
the trail camera gets a glimpse
of four or five puppies. We know
our pups have survived. And
we've been able to see that
that's the case for a few of the
packs. But we probably won't
know until next year how many
pups have survived because the
fish oil service and the state
agencies who are working really
hard on Mexico conservation, try
and stay as hands off as
possible. They don't want to
disturb the packs after we do
fostering. So when they do their
annual count and the winner from
the helicopter planes and they
get a bird's eye view of the
wolf packs, they'll know they'll
have a better number.
It looks like we have time for
two more questions.
One attendee asks How did the
reintroduction of wolves in
Yellowstone help restore
planning And Trump's
great question. And I know I
kind of went a little over that
when I was talking about it.
But, um, without wolves in
Yellowstone, they are natural.
They help keep the prey, the elk
and the deer population at a
healthy level that the ecosystem
can handle, meaning the
ecosystem has enough food source
for those that are the ultimate
year without wolves keeping it
that level, the elk and the deer
population skyrocketed. And
disease started to spread
because they were overpopulated.
And they started to starve
because they were eating
everything down to the dirt. The
elk and the deer were eating
things they wouldn't even
normally eat because they just
couldn't find enough green food
to sustain them. And so without
those plants, they're
butterflies that rely on them
songbirds that use them for food
sources and for nesting
disappeared, the beaver
disappeared or enough trees for
them. And so that's a great
example of how everything's
connected. And so, you know, a
lot of people think well, how
edibles affects you problems. I
mean, it's not they're
carnivores, they don't eat that
stuff, but they affect the
things that do eat them. So all
connected.
And our final question here from
an attendee asks, so
conservation management
practices include protocols to
maintain animal populations
through hunting. Missouri
Department of Conservation
recently sought public comment
on proposed measures to quote,
harvest black bears as this
species proliferates around
Missouri. What do you think
about this part of the spectrum
of conservation thinking and
practice? And how do you talk
about hunting of species that
have been scarce in your public
education work?
I think that's a great question
and a very complicated one.
You know, when you work so hard
to save an endangered species
and then to hear that hunting is
opened up for it, it's a tough
pill to swallow. And there are
some situations where animals
that you have tried to save have
flourished American Alligator,
Canada geese are great examples.
Those were endangered species at
one point, hard to believe when
you're battling the Canadian
goose that won't let you get
into your car because it's got
an S nearby. That happened once.
And so it is tough. And I think
that conservation agencies have
a responsibility to really look
at the ecosystem and what it can
handle and what that species
needs to be considered fully
recovered. Putting a species on
a in a situation where they can
start to open up hunting, when
they are not fully recovered yet
is like taking somebody who just
got into a horrible accident and
instead of having that time in
the ICU to recover, they just go
straight to the hospital better
sent home. And I think that that
is a tough call. For a lot of
agencies. There's a lot of
political pressure. And there's
a lot of issues with Habitat
don't have a lot of habitat left
and that's something that we can
help with is trying to restore
as much as possible. So that the
the ecosystems we have in our
current history can support more
we can truly recover species. So
not sure if I truly, fully
answered that, because it's a
pretty tough question to ask.
And it's one that takes a lot of
thought reflection and by those
agencies and I do have to say
Missouri Department conservation
has a tough call to make, but
they are one of the best
Conservation Department in the
country. In my opinion, I'm not
biased at all the missourian.
But, you know, I think if you
are concerned about it, you
should reach out to them and
talk to them about
that question or did did say
FYI, public response to the
conservation department's call
for input into bear hunting
parameters was overwhelmingly
not in favor at this time.
And I can I also mentioned that,
you know, if you look at the
Perkins legacy and perspective a
little bit, they're good
examples but and leaders for us,
but we all have Have a role and
they they realize that we all
have a role to play in advocacy.
And one of the things that Carol
did was she helped found the
first symposia on endangered and
threatened species back in the
1970s. And it's that getting the
word out, especially about
things that we don't know much
about, you know, wolves we
feared and other canine
candidates we fear sometimes
because we don't understand
them. So part of the equation, I
think is is people taking a role
in educating themselves but
educating others and advocating
and as as the Carolyn Marlon
Perkins did, and that can
sometimes change an equation or
at least Move, move it forward,
some without the endangered wolf
center, you know, we wouldn't be
here today having this
conversation with many other
people. So little things make a
difference in changing public.
Hey, to add to that, that's such
a elegant way of putting it and
eloquent way of putting it in I
think everybody that's gotten to
learn about the species today.
You're all ambassadors now,
you've been able to share the
information that you've learned,
you can make a difference,
whether it's in social media
with your family, whether you
support centers like ours,
whether you help restore habitat
in your backyard, all of that
makes a huge difference. And
you're part of that you're part
of the pack now.
All right, well, I want to
thanks again to Regina and David
for sharing their work and
research with us. And thank you
all, of course, for tuning in. I
want to remind you that all
three locations of the Missouri
Historical Society, the Missouri
History Museum, our library and
Research Center and soldiers
Memorial Military Museum, are
open again to the public. So if
you're comfortable coming to
visit us, we'd love to see you.
You can make reservations to
visit us at mo history. That's
mo history.org backslash welcome
dash back. Also, please join us
this there The evening at 630
for our next STL history live,
urban agricultural impact on
local food. So thanks again and
have a great rest of your day.
Thanks, everyone. Thank you,
Aaron.
I thank you
