Students at West-Mont school had a hands-on, close up look at a wolf Thursday as part of an ongoing conservation effort to protect the animal.

Gary Allan, known as the Wolfman, brought his wolf Tundra to the school to help teach kids the value of wolves in the ecosystem, and to rehabilitate their image. Just because itB次元官网网址檚 a wolf, B次元官网网址渄oesnB次元官网网址檛 mean itB次元官网网址檚 the big, bad wolf,B次元官网网址� he said.

Allan toured the four-year-old, 85-pound wolf though the gym. Students had a change to pet the 85-per-cent wolf (15 per cent malamute) and a few were even lucky enough to get a kiss.

Allan raised Tundra from a pup and has toured the animal though different schools for three years. A wild wolf will kill prey such as a deer. Tundra eats a grainless kibble and chicken.

B次元官网网址淚 want to show them that this is not the big bad wolf,B次元官网网址� he said. B次元官网网址淚t gives them an appreciation of what this animal is about, and that itB次元官网网址檚 not being demonized as it has been.B次元官网网址�

Allan, who also has an eight-year-old male wolf named Meshach, lives with his wife and wolves on Malcom Island near Port McNeill. He was in Victoria with Montana-based wolf biologist Cristina Eisenberg to give a talk at the Royal B.C. Museum for wolf awareness week.

Eisenberg told the students about her work studying and tracking wolves in Canada and the U.S., and shared some wolf history. For decades wolves were hunted for pelts and shot as a threat to livestock. As wolves disappeared, forest ecosystems changed.

B次元官网网址淚n the early 20th century we all believed the only good predator was a dead one,B次元官网网址� Eisenberg said.

Without wolves, animals such as elk and deer can flourish and consume an enormous volume of plant vegetation, she explained. When wolves either return or are reintroduced to areas, trees, shrubs and other plants begin to reclaim the landscape as elk and deer population are reduced and are forced to stay on the move.

B次元官网网址淲olves are a keystone predator and they affect how things grow and the changes that happen,B次元官网网址� Eisenberg said.

Wolves and prey tend to find a balance, she continued. Wolves wonB次元官网网址檛 wipe out other animal populations.

B次元官网网址淓lk can always outrun a wolf,B次元官网网址� Eisenberg said, explaining a wolf can run about 38 miles per hour and elk can run 45 miles per hour. B次元官网网址淭he elk has to make a dumb choice (to get caught).B次元官网网址�

reporter@goldstreamgazette.com