The Center is home for eleven wolves that live in three different packs. The wolves were born in captivity and are unable to live in the wild. The facilities where they were born did not have room to keep them and the GWDC was able to provide them a home. Here, the wolves give visitors an up-close look at their normally secretive lives. The wolves eat, play, reinforce their dominance hierarchy and howl right in front of the viewing areas.
The Gallatin Pack chorus howls
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Naya shows submission to Lakuna and Hayden
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Features such as tall grass, logs, trees and a pond with a waterfall give the wolves a very comfortable and natural home. The keepers provide plenty of stimulation by hiding bones or sprinkling spices and other unusual scents. Live trout are added to the pond during the summer. A natural diet of elk and deer meat, hides and bones is provided by local hunters and meat processors.
Hayden naps in the shade
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Granite nuzzles Naya's ear
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Currently the Gallatin Pack (Hayden, Lakuna, Granite and Naya) occupies the main habitat. The other two packs currently live off-exhibit. One off-exhibit pack consists of Alyeska and four yearlings while the other is composed of two brothers, McKinley and Leopold. Both of these packs are scheduled to come on exhibit when the new wolf habitat is completed in 2008.
Hayden | Lakuna | Granite | Naya | Alyeska | McKinley | Leopold | Young Wolves