School Appearance Is Howling Success

It was obvious as Koani entered the Harbor Day School gymnasium that she had her reservations.

Head down low and tail between her legs, the 99-pound gray wolf circled the room. And when she was certain nothing threatening lurked in any corner, she perched on a table before dozens of cooing children.

Koani visited the school on Thursday along with her owners, Bruce Weide and Patricia Tucker, and her good friend Indy the dog.

The visit was the highlight of a yearlong study of the wolf coordinated by Anne Polkingharn, the school librarian.

Each year, Polkingharn chooses a subject for the students to study during their time in the library. Wolf behavior, she said, holds good lessons for the children.

“They are pack animals,” she said, “so the children learn about cooperation and working together.”

The focus of Thursday’s lesson, however, was on the gentle side of the animal that has been demonized in many parts of the country for its predatory behavior.

Indeed, once Koani felt secure in her surroundings, she displayed affection with her owners and the school staff.

She rose up on her hind legs, gingerly retrieving dog biscuits from her owner’s fingertips, nuzzled and licked Polkingharn’s face and laid puppylike on her back, begging for a tummy rub.

Some children said they were surprised that she was nothing like the evil creatures they had heard about that eat small pigs and little girls in red hoods.

“Now that I see one, I like them better,” said Michelle Beckerman, 10. “I’m kind of glad they’re smaller than I thought.”

But don’t be fooled, warned Weide and Tucker. Though not as dangerous as they have been portrayed in movies and books, wolves do not make good pets.

At home in Montana, where Weide and Tucker run Wild Sentry, an environmental group devoted to debunking myths about wolves, Koani shredded pillows, broke plates and destroyed furniture.

Commands like “sit” and “down,” explained Weide, are lost on wolves because they do not take orders from humans.

The couple accepted the chaos that Koani brought to their lives because she is integral to their mission of making people less fearful of wolves and their reintroduction to the wild.

“For the most part,” Weide said, “people just don’t understand them.”