WILMINGTON – The Adirondack Wildlife Refuge in Wilmington is kind of like a zoo, but not really.

“At a zoo, you might only get a paragraph or two about the animal,” co-owner Steve Hall said. But at the refuge, you can stand just a few feet away from wolves, coy-wolves and raptors of all shapes and sizes.

The refuge, which is open to the public five days a week, held its ninth annual Habitat Awareness Day on Sunday of Labor Day weekend.

Hall said that most people who visit the area for the holiday weekend are traveling on Monday, so the annual event was a natural fit for that Sunday each year. He said that about 500 people showed up for the event this year, adding that it has seen growth each year since its inception.

While the refuge has several full-time employees, including Hall and his son Alex, along with Steve’s wife Wendy, they also utilize about a dozen interns each year.

“About half our interns this year came from Paul Smith’s College, which is a great institution,” he said. “The rest come from St. Lawrence (University) and (SUNY) Plattsburgh and other colleges. It’s a great opportunity for them to get hands-on experience with the animals.”

One of the main attractions of the refuge is the trio of wolves that are housed there, but one of the most popular animals last Sunday was a tame-ish coy-wolf named Vickie.

Vickie is considered a coy-wolf, another name for what some people may call a coy-dog.

Hall explained that the genetic make-up of coyotes in the Adirondacks is a total mish-mash, but they tend to be about 60 percent coyote, 30 percent wolf and just 10 percent dog, so the coy-wolf moniker is what the refuge goes with.

He explained that at the end of the 19th century, there was just as much lobbying of the federal government as there is now, and ranchers and hunters successfully convinced congress to increase the federal bounties paid on dead wolves.

“They doubled it, and then I think they tripled it, and it (the bounty) was wildly successful,” Hall said. “You all of a sudden had people who had no interest in hunting realize that if they carried a gun with them all the time and shot wolves, they could earn a pretty good secondary income.”

He went on to add that as wolves were eliminated, western coyotes’ populations grew and they expanded their range eastward. But the interbreeding of scattered wolves and coyotes eventually led to what most people now consider a coyote.

“Wolves are a lot like people, but when one grows up and wants to start a family, they’re basically kicked out of the pack and on their own,” he said. “But as they move around they’re looking for a mate.

“Since there weren’t a lot of wolves around, a young male wolf might catch wind of a female coyote that’s in heat, and his thought is “alright, let’s rock and roll,” Hall laughed.

As the animals interbred, a new animal was birthed that is larger than western coyotes, but still genetically similar.

Wolves play an important part as apex predators in the wild, helping to keep deer, moose and other animal populations in check.

Hall thinks one of the reasons there are so many deer-vehicle collisions is that there are no predators other than hunters to keep the white-tail numbers lower.

“When you ask people what the most dangerous animal is, they say bear or wolf,” he said. “But deer kill more people than any other animals” through car accidents.

Hall said that most of the meat the refuge feeds the wolves, coy-wolves and raptors comes from deer that are found on the side of the road.

He said that numerous hunters will also donate the unwanted parts of deer taken during hunting season. Some local grocery stores and pet supply places also give the refuge expired meats and dog food.

“For us, we can’t eat rancid meat, but wolves are like ‘this is great,'”

The refuge is open to the public Thursday through Monday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. each week, with a “wolf gathering” talk each day at 10.

The refuge works to rehabilitate injured or orphaned animals and often releases those animals back into the wild. But they also house animals that can’t be released due to injuries or familiarity with humans.

For more information on the refuge and the animals housed there, visit www.adirondackwildlife.org.