Do you have a wolf?
Are dogs descended from wolves?
Are people able to own wolves?
Does the Wolf Conservation Center have any red wolves?
Author Leokadia George visited Meadow Pond Elementary School’s third grade on October 22 to share her first book, “Trumpet the Miracle Wolf Pup.” When the students heard the topic of the book talk, they had so many questions about wolves that she didn’t begin reading for a full fifteen minutes!
While third graders will visit the Wolf Conservation Center in South Salem at the end of the school year, the third-grade team invited George to share her book with students now in honor of Wolf Awareness Week!
George introduced herself by saying that her name on the book’s cover—Leokadia George—is a pen name. The concept of an author using a name other than their own was new to the students. George explained that she combined both sets of her grandparents’ names. “I wanted to honor my family,” she said, “because this book is about family. A wolf family."
“Trumpet the Miracle Wolf Pup” tells the story of a little wolf pup nicknamed Trumpet for her loud squeals. She was called the miracle pup because she was the first, and only, pup to parents Rosa and Diego, who had been together for a long time. Trumpet was already eight days old by the time the workers at the Wolf Center discovered her!
Reading the book opened another round of questions from the students. They learned that Trumpet’s real name is F1505, because she’s the one thousand, five hundred and fifth wolf to be born into a breeding program began after people realized that Mexican gray wolves were nearly extinct.
“She’s our age,” said one of the students, when they learn that Trumpet was born in 2016.
George, a resident of White Plains, has volunteered at the Wolf Conservation Center for nine years—first for the education department, now she helps care for the wolves. “Trumpet the Miracle Wolf Pup” is her first book, and the first in a trio about Trumpet.
“The end of this story is just the beginning,” said George. Trumpet now has had over 20 puppies! Twelve of them were cross fostered to the wild before they were two weeks old. Trumpet and her mate Lighthawk currently live at the Wolf Conservation Center with five of their sons.