Belleville girl is wolf enthusiast

Nine-year-old Taylor Winn sleeps on a bed with two wolf pillows and a wolf blanket. She's written a book about wolves and sends them Christmas presents.

(For a look at Taylor's "Wolf Stories" book, click here. She wrote the story and also did the artwork used for illustration.)

You might say the Belleville, Ill., fourth grader is into the subject of wolves. But, she's also interested in swift foxes and other wild canids on the nation's endangered species list.

She's found an ideal outlet for her interest. The Wild Canid Center near Valley Park, Mo., breeds wolves and foxes in captivity and then release their offspring back into the wild.

Taylor had her ninth birthday party last Mary 31 at the Center. And she lobbied her school teacher until she decided to bring her whole third-grade class for a field trip.

Although it's over 50 miles round-trip from home to the center, Taylor averages at least one visit every two months. That's in addition to summer camp time, when she comes every day.

Taylor's interest in wolves started at age 6 when she got a birthday present with a wolf theme. She wanted to thank her relatives for the gift with a postcard featuring wolves.

First, her mother called the St. Louis Zoo for suggestions. In turn, she was referred to the Wild Canid Center, which is often called the Wolf Sanctuary.

That summer, Taylor enrolled in the center's summer camp for kids 6-to-10.

This year, Taylor attended her third Camp Rendezvous session in June. She's turned out to be quite a recruiter for the summer camp.

The second summer, she got three of her friends to attend. Then, this summer, the Illinois contingent had 10, including Taylor and her younger sister. Sister Audrey turned six so she was old enough to attend.

Young kids attending the camps can't touch the animals or get too close because the wolves are wild animals. Also, Center officials don't want the baby wolves to get too close to humans. The offspring are being raised for release back into the wild.

However, the kids do learn about how the wolves survive in the wild. One predator-prey game they play pits wolves against musk ox, which wolves hope to have for dinner.

Taylor points out the wolves don't always win. If the musk ox herd is large, with adult males and females, they often withstand a wolf attack. "If there's only one wolf, the wolf oftentimes gets killed," she said.

In a recent interview at the Wild Canid Center, Taylor said she's already decided on a career. "It's going to be something to do with animals. Maybe I'll be a veterinarian or a zoo keeper or maybe I'll work here," she said.

The last couple Christmases, Taylor even brought presents for the wolves. The presents include dog food, stew meat and fruits such as oranges, bananas and apples.

Although wolves are primarily meat eaters, some breeds of wolves like fruits.

"I also brought a box of crickets for the swift foxes. They like to chase and eat crickets," she said.

Taylor and her family have "adopted" a swift fox as part of their membership at the Center. This endangered animal is the smallest wild canid in North America.

The swift foxes were primarily found in the plains states from Texas into Canada. However, reduced habitat has limited them to a small area in the Dakotas, Montana and Canada, according to Melissa Hurayt, the center's volunteer coordinator.

Taylor wrote his "Wolf Stories" book as part of a school project. It features a wolf family, with a father, mother and kids. "The main character is a teen-age wolf," Taylor said.

Her mother, Debbie, had copies of the story bound in book form. Two of copies went to Taylor's two grandmothers as Mother's Day presents. She gave another to Melissa, "my counselor at Wolf Camp."

The Wild Canid Center was started years ago by Marlon Perkins, one of the St. Louis Zoo's early directors. Perkins gained world attention as the host of a long-running TV show that stressed the need for helping endangered wildlife species.

Unlike the St. Louis Zoo, the Wild Canid Center isn't open to the public, except on a few days a year. However, it does encourage the interest of children, such as Taylor, with its summer camps. It also has public open houses from time to time.

(For more information about the Wild Canid Center, log on to www.wolfsanctuary.org).