The land that the center is on belongs to Washington University and used to be small arms munition depot during World War II.  The Wild Canid Center was founded by Marlin Perkins. Many of you may remember Marlin Perkins as the host of Wild Kingdom.  My brother and I used to love this show when we were kids.

We also learned that all of the animals in the Wild Canid Center have been wild at one time and also are on the federal endangered species list.

The Wild Canid Center is a non-profit organization and 75cents of every dollar that the center gets comes from individuals through tour tickets, gift shop purchase, the adopt a wolf program and other donations.

Besides being a wonderful center for wild canid research and survival, the animals are simply phenomenal to see.

Tickets for the 1 hour walking tour are $8, reservations are required.

When you pull up to the address there is no big sign that says “Wild Canid Center”, you pull up to a gate and dial a number using a call box and someone tells you when someone will be there to let you in.

The tour guide, called a docent, eventually comes down and opens the gate and everyone scheduled for the tour gathers in the gatehouse, then gets back in their cars and drives a mile or so up the road when you park again.

You are then taken on a walking tour by the very knowlegable docent, who shows you the animals and explans about the center and the animals themselves.  Our docent was great, sprinkling in bits of local history and stories though the tour. In total you probably walk about a mile, over graveled areas, some of it uphill.  We saw 5 different species of canids in our tour and got pretty close to some of them.  It is a tour I’d highly recommend.  There are a few pictures here, you can see more here.

Don’t forget to visit Lone Elk Park and World Bird Sanctuary while you are out that way! World Eagle Day is March 21st and its FREE!  Check out some pics from past  World Eagle Days.