Mexican gray wolf on loose in Forest Lake

One of only 150 such animals globally, it is ill-equipped to fend for itself after being sprung in break-in.

By MARY LYNN SMITH, Star Tribune
Last update: February 16, 2010 - 11:36 PM

A Forest Lake science center hopes that the beckoning howls of 41 wolves and a waiting meal of venison will entice a missing Mexican gray wolf back to the cage it escaped after a break-in over the weekend.

The biggest risk, said Bob Ebsen, education director for the Wildlife Science Center, isn't to people or pets but to the missing female wolf itself. The shy 55- to 60-pound wolf has never been in the wild and has had no hunting experience. It could be shot by someone who thought it was a coyote, harassed to the point of injury or wind up as roadkill, he said.

Ebsen doesn't know who broke open the pen holding three female wolves Sunday night. "There are people out there who do things because they think it's the right thing to do, but the animal isn't benefiting now," he said. "You have a wolf that's been in a cage its whole life. It's a critically endangered species. ... They need housing facilities to recover this population."

There are fewer than 150 Mexican gray wolves on the planet, he said.

By the time Ebsen arrived at the center on Monday morning, one wolf apparently decided the cage was better than being on the run. The second wolf was found roaming within the center's fenced perimeter and was coaxed back into its pen by staff members, tranquilizer gun at the ready. The missing wolf appears to have escaped by getting over a 6-foot-high fence that now requires only a 5-foot jump or climb because of snow cover, Ebsen said. The wolf also could have found an unknown -- or newly created -- hole in the fence.

Checking on a tip Monday, Ebsen "got lucky" and caught a glimpse of the missing wolf as it ran from the sound of snowmobiles on the south end of Coon Lake. But blowing snow covered its tracks.

If you have seen the wolf or have information about it, call the Wildlife Science Center at 651-464-3993.

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(Submitted by D.R. Shoop)