The Bird [Article in Kane Republican]

Description

This article reports that Jack Lynch has moved the wolf park from Gardiner, WA to Livingston, MT. Lynch stopped soliciting visitors to "Loboland" a couple of years ago, having never gotten many in the first place, and that an "adopt a wolf" program was started to help fund the wolves. The Gardiner preserve is reported to have been a poor choice for the animals, due to the climate, poor drainage at the site, and difficulty obtaining food. Most people in Gardiner do not miss the wolves, having feared escapes or pitying the animals' poor conditions.

An excerpt from the article is quoted below.

Date

September 10, 1981

Page Numbers

10

Access

The Kane Republican is available on microfilm. Additionally, this document is currently owned by the Kane Depot and is available for viewing.

Partial Text

Helen Robison wrote the Gardiner, Wash. column in the Port Townsend Leader newspaper and said, "I enjoyed hearing the wolves howl." She said she rarely had anything to do with Loboland than to mention in her column when a wolf had a pup.

But, a woman employee at the Gardiner Store, which is near the former Loboland site, said most people in the community did not miss the wolves. People were paranoid about the wolves, she said. They worried that wolves would get loose and attack their cattle, or worse, she said.

The woman, who asked to not be identified, said Loboland was originally set up like a drive-through game preserve. A couple of years ago an "adopt a wolf" program was started. She said, "You sent money and he (Lynch) fed the wolf."

She said Lynch stopped soliciting visitors the past two or three years. "He didn't want them (visitors) here," she said.

There never were a lot of visitors at Loboland, a Jefferson County wildlife agent, Mike Ragon, said. "Lynch never really got the operation in gear," he said.

Ragon said Loboland was not the best choice for a home for the wolves. Lynch had a tough time getting food for his wolves; the climate was not right for them and the drainage at the site was poor. He added, "It was not a neat operation."

Ragon said the people of the West Coast did not like to see wild animals penned up and thought of them as "poor animals"...