FALL2022 | TOWER 23 JEREMY HEFT ’96 career as a wolf biologist began as a dream at KU Jeremy Heft ’96 can read a wolf ’s behavior the way some people read a mystery. He gathers clues and insights about wolves the way readers find hints to get to the bottom of their favorite whodunit. Observing movements, interactions and pack behavior, Heft understands wolves’ unspoken communication. Heft developed those skills during 24 years as a biologist and captive wildlife consultant with the Wolf Education and Research Center in Winchester, Idaho. He lived as a closely bonded human to members of two wolf packs housed at the center, the Sawtooth and the Owyhee packs. His close relationship to the wolves provided him with unique insights into a species that was declared endangered in 1974. Wolves were reintroduced into Idaho, Montana and Yellowstone National Park in 1995, just before Heft began his work at the center. They were removed from the endangered list in 2021. BECOMING ‘THE WOLFMAN’ Heft’s interest in wolves began in high school in Quakertown, Pa. Stories about the ways wolves were eradicated in the 1800s and early 1900s appealed to his youthful sense of justice. “I was appalled at the atrocities that human societies did to their species,” Heft recalls. “And it wasn’t just the fact that they were nearly killed to extinction, but how they were killed.” He remembers stories about dens of wolf pups being torched and other similar practices. He brought that interest with him to Kutztown University, becoming a member of the first class in the university’s new environmental science major. He drew inspiration from the animal behavior classes taught by biology professor William Towne, Ph.D., who retired in 2019. “I thought, ‘Holy cow! There’s a whole other level to what wildlife are doing that I never really thought of,’” Heft says. His passion for studying animal behavior grew when he worked with Towne on honeybee behavior research. “Jeremy knew what he was interested in, he was passionate about that and pursued it and did great,” Towne says. It took a few years for Heft to achieve his success. After graduation, he accepted a job as an educator at the Marine Science Consortium on Wallops Island, Va. Working there, “I got my teaching wings,” Heft says. The skill has served him well, since his job now largely focuses on education. A stint at the Appalachian Mountain Club in New Hampshire followed, teaching mountain ecology and guiding backcountry trips. He began applying for internships at the Wolf Education and Research Center. The nonprofit center, headquartered in Washington state, established its Idaho sanctuary in the 1990s on land belonging to the Nez Perce tribe. The Native Americans played an integral role in the reintroduction of wolves to the northern Rocky Mountains. “I applied every three months for the better part of two years. The competition was so high to get in,” Heft says. “While I was in New Hampshire, I got a call that there was availability.” With two weeks’ notice, he trekked to remote Idaho in December 1997 to begin his dream career. WORKING WITH WOLVES Over the years, Heft assisted biologists using the center for their research. Early on, he worked with Megan Parker, Ph.D., on her seminal research into the ways wolves mark the perimeter of pack territory. Working with scientists and interns from many colleges and universities over the years (continued on next page)
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