Contact: Chad Richardson
Email: chad@wolf.org
Phone: 763-233-7138
New wolf curator hired at International Wolf Center
Center’s longtime curator to remain on staff to assist with the transition
A new wolf curator in training has joined the staff at the International Wolf Center. The hire was announced by the Center’s current Wolf Curator, Lori Schmidt.
Giselle Narvaez Rivera began work at the Center on Jan. 23.
Schmidt will remain on staff, full-time, throughout the year to help with the transition and training period.
While this role is new for Narvaez Rivera, she is not new at the Center.
Schmidt and Narvaez Rivera first met in 2014 when Narvaez Rivera was a wolf ethology student at the Center.
“While graduate school opportunities led her down a different path, her passion for wolves and the Center’s educational mission remained strong,” Schmidt said. “In the short time she has been employed, we already have some positive greetings from the wolves through the fence. The process of integrating into the pack and gaining the wolves’ trust will take several months.”
From 2013-2019, Narvaez Rivera was a research assistant for the Monkey Bridge Project, conducting, analyzing and interpreting primate behavior. She was also an animal caretaker in 2013 and 2015 at the Jaguar Rescue Center in Costa Rica, where she gained diverse, hands-on experience in animal care. Narvaez Rivera has extensive teaching experience creating curricular content, advising and mentoring undergraduate students and fostering students’ commitment to lifelong learning.
Narvaez Rivera earned her Bachelor of Science degree in Animal Ecology in 2015 and her Masters of Arts in Biological Anthropology in 2017 from Iowa State University in Ames, Iowa. Her Master’s thesis involved assessing conflict resolution between residents in Gandoca, Costa Rica, and three neotropical primates.
Among many other awards, she is the recipient of the 2019 Andrews Fellowship and the Environmental Research Award from Purdue University, where she was pursuing her PhD in Anthropology. She is fluent in English and Spanish and has a strong understanding of cultural diversity.
The International Wolf Center advances the survival of wolf populations by teaching about wolves, their relationship to wildlands and the human role in their future. For more information about the Center, visit wolf.org.
GPS-tracked wolves’ lives under study in eastern Turkey
From aa.com:’
The lives of seven wolves in eastern Türkiye are being studied in the wild with GPS trackers as part of a study carried out by local environmentalists and conservation officials.
Satellite transmitters were attached to the seven canines as part of the “Large Mammals Monitoring Project” by the KuzeyDoga Society and General Directorate of Nature Conservation and National Parks in the Sarikamis district of Kars province.
Click here for the full story.
How the return of wolves is changing the relationship between humans and wild animals
From Fast Company:
From sports to pop culture, there are few themes more appealing than a good comeback. They happen in nature, too. Even with the Earth losing species at a historic rate, some animals have defied the trend toward extinction and started refilling their old ecological niches.
I’m a philosopher based in Montana and specialize in environmental ethics.
Click here for the full story.
Montana: Governor’s push for grizzly delisting helps defeat anti-wolf bills
From the Missoula Current:
The Montana House defeated some bills that would have allowed more wolf trapping and bear hunting in grizzly bear habitat. But other carnivore bills are moving forward that might affect grizzly delisting.
Late Thursday, the House defeated three bills sponsored by Rep. Paul Fielder, R-Thompson Falls, that would have possibly threatened grizzly bears in western Montana. But the bills probably would have passed had not the Governor’s Office raised objections.
Click here for the full story.
Netherlands: Wolf killed in collision with car on motorway in Brabant
From DutchNews.NL:
A wolf has died after being struck by a car in Brabant, bringing the total number killed on the roads so far this year to three. The collision happened on the A2 motorway by the Bleijendijk estate, near Vught, at around 6.45am on Friday morning. The driver, who was unhurt, stopped and alerted police.
Read more at DutchNews.nl:
Click here for the full story.
How to save Yellowstone’s wolves
From The Intercept:
IF YOU EVER plan to dart a wild wolf sprinting over a snow-covered mountain from a low-flying helicopter, there are a few things you need to know. The wolf should be running away, and you should be aiming for the back or butt. Never take a shot at a wolf that’s facing you. The risk of injuring the animal with a dart to the face is too high.
Click here for the full story.
Michigan: Don’t kill wolves – just keep them away
From The Daily Mining Gazette in Michigan:
You’re operating a farm or ranch. What do you do when wolves are killing your livestock or pet dogs? Trap them and shoot them, right? That’s what farmers and ranchers — and government agencies — have been doing for decades.
Now there are new, nonlethal alternatives. Even better, these solutions are more permanent than lethal methods. Kill a wolf, and there’s another wolf behind him, eager to attack. Keep a wolf away, and the rest of his pack will stay away too. They may even help keep other packs away.
Click here for the full story.
Washington: Wolf pack kills calf, forcing decision on lethal control
From The Lewiston Tribune in Idaho:
SPOKANE — A wolf pack in northeastern Washington state has killed another calf, forcing the state Department of Fish and Wildlife to determine whether to cull the pack, officials said.
The Togo pack of wolves has attacked three calves over the past 30 days, surpassing the threshold of livestock kills for the department to consider killing one or two wolves to curb the livestock killing, The Capital Press reported.
Click here for the full story.
Wolf restoration in Colorado shows how humans are rethinking their relationships with wild animals
From phys.org:
From sports to pop culture, there are few themes more appealing than a good comeback. They happen in nature, too. Even with the Earth losing species at a historic rate, some animals have defied the trend toward extinction and started refilling their old ecological niches.
I’m a philosopher based in Montana and specialize in environmental ethics. For my new book, “Tenacious Beasts: Wildlife Recoveries That Change How We Think About Animals,” I spent three years looking at wildlife comebacks across North America and Europe and considering the lessons they offer.
Click here for the full story.
Is the alpha wolf idea a myth?
From Scientific American:
If you’ve ever heard the term “alpha wolf,” you might imagine snapping fangs and fights to the death for dominance. The idea that wolf packs are led by a merciless dictator is pervasive, lending itself to a shorthand for a kind of dominant masculinity.
But it turns out that this is a myth, and in recent years wildlife biologists have largely dropped the term “alpha.” In the wild, researchers have found that most wolf packs are simply families, led by a breeding pair, and bloody duels for supremacy are rare.
Click here for the full story.
New wolf curator hired at International Wolf Center
Contact: Chad Richardson
Email: chad@wolf.org
Phone: 763-233-7138
New wolf curator hired at International Wolf Center
Center’s longtime curator to remain on staff to assist with the transition
A new wolf curator in training has joined the staff at the International Wolf Center. The hire was announced by the Center’s current Wolf Curator, Lori Schmidt.
Giselle Narvaez Rivera began work at the Center on Jan. 23.
Schmidt will remain on staff, full-time, throughout the year to help with the transition and training period.
While this role is new for Narvaez Rivera, she is not new at the Center.
Schmidt and Narvaez Rivera first met in 2014 when Narvaez Rivera was a wolf ethology student at the Center.
“While graduate school opportunities led her down a different path, her passion for wolves and the Center’s educational mission remained strong,” Schmidt said. “In the short time she has been employed, we already have some positive greetings from the wolves through the fence. The process of integrating into the pack and gaining the wolves’ trust will take several months.”
From 2013-2019, Narvaez Rivera was a research assistant for the Monkey Bridge Project, conducting, analyzing and interpreting primate behavior. She was also an animal caretaker in 2013 and 2015 at the Jaguar Rescue Center in Costa Rica, where she gained diverse, hands-on experience in animal care. Narvaez Rivera has extensive teaching experience creating curricular content, advising and mentoring undergraduate students and fostering students’ commitment to lifelong learning.
Narvaez Rivera earned her Bachelor of Science degree in Animal Ecology in 2015 and her Masters of Arts in Biological Anthropology in 2017 from Iowa State University in Ames, Iowa. Her Master’s thesis involved assessing conflict resolution between residents in Gandoca, Costa Rica, and three neotropical primates.
Among many other awards, she is the recipient of the 2019 Andrews Fellowship and the Environmental Research Award from Purdue University, where she was pursuing her PhD in Anthropology. She is fluent in English and Spanish and has a strong understanding of cultural diversity.
The International Wolf Center advances the survival of wolf populations by teaching about wolves, their relationship to wildlands and the human role in their future. For more information about the Center, visit wolf.org.