Linda Martz

Reporter

MANSFIELD - A 2-year-old grey wolf named Logan — who snoozed quietly on the carpet at the main library while his owners gave a talk — clearly captivated many of the 140 people who crowded into the community room Tuesday to see him.

Many of those who listened to Rachel and Matt Emmelhainz, who operate Ironwood Wolves, stuck around afterward, lining up to ask questions. Onlookers stepped as close to the young wolf as the couple would allow them — snapping pics or shooting video clips.

"I have a question for you. When everyone else clears out, can I pet him?" one young man waiting in line asked Matt Emmelhainz eagerly.

"No, it's not fair to everyone else," Emmelhainz replied.

"I love wolves," the boy replied.

The Emmenhainzes, who live in the Columbus area, keep four spayed and neutered wolves, ranging in age from 2 to 8 years old, all acquired as captive-born animals, not from the wild. Logan is the youngest.

The formed Ironwood Wolves as a small business in 2012, after working for two years with wolves in captivity, managing to go full-time two years ago by making a circuit of talks at schools and other venues, and working with photographers and other artists on collaborative portraits of animals and humans. "It's not a non-profit," Rachel Emmenhainz said, on a mention of donations.

Emmelhainz said their mission is to convince people that the stereotypical image of wolves as aggressive marauders who might approach a back door in rural areas, snarling at those inside the house, aren't true.

"What have you heard about wolves?" she asked her audience.

"That they eat little kids," said the first man who spoke up..

Wolves in the wild "are mostly afraid of humans," shying away from contact, Emmelhainz said. "These guys are terrified of people," she added.

Logan stayed calm — even a bit sleepy — in a room filled with dozens people because he is mixed breed, Rachel said. As required under state law, all four of their wolves kept in captivity have some dog genes in their lineage, she said.

Grown wolves average 60 to 96 pounds, Emmenhainz said. Their eyes "can be amber, brown or pale green" — but not blue, which is a dog trait, she said.

Wolves all have two coats — a summer and a winter coat — and onlookers might not recognize them as the same animal, after they shed. Their winter coats come off peculiarly, "kind of in sheets, like," she told listeners. "It makes them look 20 pounds lighter, after they lose it."

Wolves in the wild hunt in packs. But the idea of snarling groups, lead by an "alpha" wolf who fights his way to the head of a pack, dominating through aggression, is wrongheaded, Emmenhainz said.

Wolf packs typically operate more like a family — a mother and a father, children, perhaps aunts and uncles, who are not very effective hunters. manage to find something to eat perhaps twice a week, "and that's it."

"They only are successful about 20 percent of the time," she said. When wolves do manage a kill, they gorge on up to 20 pounds of meat at a time "because they don't know the next time they are going to eat," she said.

And they have been spotted bringing meat to elderly relatives who can no longer join the hunt, she said.

Because of difficulties finding food reliably, wolves tend to live only 3 to 6 years in the wild, she said.

North America has just one species of wolf — the grey wolf — because the 20 subspecies that once may have had distinct physical differences have interbred over time, making the differences hazy, Emmelhainz said. Designations such as "timber wolf" or "Arctic wolf' just indicate "where he lives," she told families.

Further south, the Mexican wolf remains a subspecies, due to relative isolation, she added.

Ohio no longer has wolves living in the wild, she said. When people tell her they spotted a wolf near their home, she tells them it probably was a coyote, she said.

She made a pitch for listeners to sign online petitions for efforts to allow wolves to live undisturbed in outdoor habitats.

"They're not aggressive. They are not coming out to get you. They're just another animal that deserves to be left alone and respected," she said.

Library officials said Ironwood Wolves made two visits to branch libraries earlier in February, both to capacity crowds. That included a talk at the Lexington branch that attracted 100 people, in a much smaller meeting space.

lmartz@gannett.com

419-521-7229

Twitter: @MNJmartz