Stephanie Arne is the host of Mutual of Omaha’s “Wild Kingdom,” a nature adventure television show that came on the air in 1963. It is a show that holds a dear place in many St. Louisans’ hearts because it was originally hosted by St. Louis zoologist Marlin Perkins, who worked many jobs at the St. Louis Zoo and eventually served as its director.
You can now find it on a web series that is updated regularly.
Arne has come to St. Louis this week to do a series on endangered wolves, focusing on the St. Louis Endangered Wolf Center, located in Eureka.
“We’ve been here filming with wolf species, trying to focus on the Mexican Wolf species here today,” Arne said. “They have recently had a couple of pups. We came here to see those pups, hear their story and see how the team here is working with a species survival program and fish and wildlife to figure out creative ways to track them when they are released into the wild.”
There is a stigma about wolves, Arne said, but that perception is changing.
“There is so much more education now,” Arne said. “People are learning the truth of the purpose of the wolf in the food chain and their actual true behavior. … A lot of people have been backing down and saying ‘Oh, I understand now how important wolves are to the entire food chain system. If you take away the wolf, it impacts the antelope and the bison all the way to the owls, turtles and snakes. It is important to have those top predators in there as well.”
“Wild Kingdom’s” series on wolves will also include work being done at Yellowstone National Park. It will be finished and up on the website in July. You can find that here.
Listen to the full conversation with Arne about endangered species, ecology and the environment here:
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