ELY - Grizzer, an ambassador wolf at the International Wolf Center, was euthanized last week. He was 17-1/2 years old and was the oldest wolf in the Center’s 30 years of having an ambassador pack.
“We’re all so sad today,” said Grant Spickelmier, the Center’s executive director last week. “Grizzer meant so much to so many of us and to so many people around the world. Watching him encourage his retirement packmates to race around the enclosure with him during those Grizzer 500s was inspiring to all of us.”
Grizzer and his packmates at the Wolf Center have educated more than half a million visitors at the exhibit in Ely and countless more online through regular YouTube videos, wolf logs and webcams. 
According to Spickelmier, the decision to euthanize Grizzer came after a consultation with the Wolf Center’s local veterinarian. His condition began to decline late last month when wolf care staff observed him having troubles.
“He was brought into the wolf care building and the veterinarian was called to begin monitoring him,” he said. “Blood samples were taken and IV fluids and antibiotics were administered. A portable x-ray machine from the nearby Vermilion Community College veterinary technician program was brought in for chest and abdominal x-rays, but nothing significant was found.” 
Wolf Curator Lori Schmidt added, “In between the vet exams, diagnostic testing and treatments, some of Grizzer’s trusted wolf care team members spent the day keeping him comfortable in the wolf care center. The special bond that is formed during the neonate pup socialization stage has the most value on the last days of an animal’s life,” she said.
Despite some hopeful moments where Grizzer ate a pound of beef and took meds early on the morning of Jan. 27, his decline and more obvious indications of distress prompted the decision to euthanize him at approximately 7:40 a.m., Schmidt said.
Grizzer joined the Center’s ambassador pack in 2004 with his littermate Maya. He was moved to the retirement pack in 2011 after her tragic death.
“He had lost confidence in his status and without the dominance of his littermate, he couldn’t compete with the younger packmates,” she said.
While he was in retirement, Grizzer saw several wolves share the enclosure with him, including Denali, Luna and Aidan, as well as Boltz in a neighboring retirement enclosure. He was also engaged with the Wolf Center’s 2021 pup, Rieka, often interacting with her through the fence that separates the Exhibit Pack from the Retirement Pack, according to Schmidt
To learn more about Grizzer’s condition, he was transported to the Ely Veterinary Clinic for a necropsy performed by Dr. Kristine Woerheide. Those results will further educate staff as the Center continues to manage the three remaining ambassador wolves at the facility in Ely.

New board members
The Ely Wolf Center’s longtime board chair, Nancy Jo Tubbs, stepped down from her post at the end of the year, and a new chair was elected. Tubbs, who operates Camp Van Vac outside of Ely, remains on the board, according to Communications Director Chad Richardson. Tubbs had served as board chair since the 1990s
The new chair of the Board of Directors is Judy Hunter.
Hunter is a retired Girl Scout Council CEO. She became involved with the International Wolf Center after moving to Minnesota and started volunteering in several areas, including its Alpha Legacy donor program. After she joined the Board of Directors in 2012, those opportunities expanded to include participation on the Development Committee and chairing the 2013 Symposium Task Force. She was co-chair of the 2018 International Wolf Symposium and is serving in the same capacity for the event in October.
“I believe in our work providing education about wolves and believe we must help the next generation understand the environment and the role we play in its balance,” Hunter said. “The Center has a staff, both professional and volunteer, who are dedicated to our mission. It is exciting to be an active part of the team.”
The Wolf Center board’s new vice chair is Rick Duncan, a Minneapolis-based attorney.
Duncan practices in the fields of environmental law, federal Indian law, and commercial litigation. He has extensive experience in the Endangered Species Act and the Wilderness Act, statutes critical to wolf conservation, and received the Sierra Club’s William O. Douglas Award in 2007.
The Wolf Center also welcomed a new board member, Madan Menon.
Menon, who lives in Milpitas, Calif., is the COO and a board member at Innovative International Acquisition Corp, with a 17-year career in technology startups spanning multiple countries.