Ranch & Coast Magazine: How six San Diego nonprofits in our philanthropic community are changing lives every day

California Wolf Center
“Everything gets a little bit more balanced when you allow your wildlife to be there.”

For many of us living in San Diego County, the mountain hamlet of Julian is synonymous with many things, from apple pie and autumn pumpkin patches to snowy scenes when winter temps dip, but critically endangered wolves may not be top of mind. Their plight, however, has been the focus of California Wolf Center since 1977, when it was originally founded with two North American gray wolves in its care. 

In 1997, the center joined efforts to save the Mexican gray wolf from extinction, when only a handful of these animals existed in the wild that were deemed genetically diversified enough to start a breeding program. Over the course of decades, adjustments to the strategy to breed and reestablish the wild population as well as retain genetic diversity in well-managed captive breeding programs throughout the U.S. have led to counts approaching 300 in the wild, with more than 300 still in captivity. [Read More]