Magpie

Born on April 7, 2002
Arrived at Mission: Wolf on August 21, 2002
Passed away on July 24, 2017

Sex: Female
Lived with Abraham, Zeab, Nashira, Saurya

Did you know? It takes $3,000 a year just to feed and care for one of our wolves. By giving $5 or more a month, you can take a wolf to dinner by becoming a Wolf Caretaker

Magpie’s Story

Magpie, nicknamed “Maggie,” was our lead Ambassador wolf. She was one of two females born in South Carolina to British Colombian and Arctic wolf parents. Although her two brothers were recruited for a movie project, Maggie and her sister Raven were not used by the trainer and were in need of a home.

At only 4 months of age, Maggie and Raven arrived at Mission: Wolf and were instantly the stars of the refuge. Rami, our elder and most outgoing wolf, eagerly adopted the two, and gave them a boost of confidence. Earlier in the year, Rami had adopted a wolf-dog pup named Luna, who immediately dominated the two new pups. Before Luna knew it, she soon found herself in the middle of two big, black pups that were nearly twice her size, though she managed to hold her own for a few more years. That fall, the four climbed onto the wolf bus to travel the country with the Ambassador wolf program. On tour, Raven was the clown who loved being the center of attention. Maggie was more timid and seemed untrusting of the outside world, yet once she got in front of an audience, she soaked up the attention and happily greeted everyone.

As years went by, Maggie slowly gained confidence and bonded with her human pack mates. By the time she was 3 years old, her shyness was replaced with confidence; she displaced Luna, then her sister Raven, and finally Rami to become the alpha female. For 13 years, Maggie traveled with the Ambassador wolf program from coast to coast and met over 300,000 people. She swam in both the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, looked over the edge of the Grand Canyon, and howled with wild wolves in Yellowstone. Her picture and story have been spread across newspapers and TV features worldwide. In 2006, Maggie met her partner, Abe, a wolf-dog found on the streets of Salt Lake City. After living together for over a decade, the two were inseparable.

In 2009, Maggie and Abe helped foster and raise eight wolf pups that were brought to Mission: Wolf from a wildlife safari park. Once the pups adjusted to life at the refuge, they all moved on to other packs. In the summer of 2010, Abe and Maggie were surprised again when three young wolf pups named Farah, Zeab, and Apollo arrived. Farah and Apollo are now in their own pack as well, but Zeab remained with Abe and Maggie as the goofy omega of the family. The three of them then helped foster two timber wolves named Tiger and Rosie until the fall of 2014.

In 2014, Maggie and Abe were officially retired from our traveling Ambassador program. While she still loved greeting and educating new people about wolves and wolf-dogs, Maggie enjoyed a not-so-quiet retirement as the main ambassador at the refuge. Alongside Abe and Zeab, she also helped to raise the newest members of our family, the mischievous puppies Saurya and Nashira, until she passed away peacefully in July 2017.