The operation of the Wolf Education and Research Center is a huge task with often limited resources to support the endless work. To care for a captive wolf pack 24 hours a day, 365 days a year and maintain the Visitors Center seven days a week through the entire summer requires a dedicated group of individuals. The staff and interns at WERC work long hours to fulfill the mission of WERC. With the financial limitations of a small non-profit organization, the WERC relies upon interns to accomplish the never ending list of responsibilities at Wolf Camp.

The WERC internship program began in 1996 when the facility moved to Winchester. Since that time, over 60 interns have taken part of WERC's mission. The internship program has moved through some revisions through the years, but the goals of our internship program have always remained the same; to provide a quality educational experience for novice professionals or students while at the same time using the temporary personnel to further develop the mission of WERC.

WERC interns arrive in Winchester after a usually competitive selection process from around the world, with past representation from Sweden, England, Denmark, and Switzerland. Most interns however are from the United States, with most states already represented. WERC accepts college students and graduates from nearly every academic study, but most candidates historically have concentrated in Wildlife or Veterinary sciences fields. In the near future, WERC hopes to expand the primary and secondary education-orientated candidates and create an environmental education concentration among some of the interns each season.

Currently, interns are taught a diverse array of topics while at WERC. Some of the typical subjects that interns study while at WERC include: captive wolf management and care, environmental education to all ages, interpretive design/development, ecological land stewardship, noxious weed management, carpentry, animal tracking, and many other disciplines depending on the interest of each intern.

An effort is made to tailor the learning of each intern according to personal preferences of each intern. Nearly every intern that completes our program states that the time spent at WERC has been a life-changing experience, one they will never forget. It is common to hear from past interns several years after their departure to inform us of their careers and to share how beneficial our internship was in guiding them both in their career and life.

The WERC intern program is loaded with success stories, within WERC and each past intern. Some examples of projects that interns have completed include: the creation and building of nearly every interpretive display on the WERC site, the design and building of the trail system, the 24 hour a day care and welfare monitoring of the Sawtooth Pack through every season, the building of a new observation platform (this summer), the design and performance of several top-notch behavioral research projects on the Sawtooth Pack, and the building and upgrade of the remote, rustic camp in which interns live.

Without the intern program, WERC would not be the caliber of facility it has become. Interns become the life-blood of our organization during their term, and then when they depart they carry WERC in their blood forever.

Many past interns have used their experience with WERC as a stepping stone into their chosen professions and have been able to realize their dreams partly or completely due to the lessons and experiences learned at WERC. Some noteworthy professional placements among past interns include: wild wolf monitoring/management crews for both Yellowstone and Idaho; a few past interns currently enrolled in veterinary school; zookeepers and captive facility managers; environmental educators; local, state, and federal wildlife biologists and managers; nature preserve managers; and even a recent Doctorate of Veterinary Medicine.

To further highlight this recent accomplishment of the WERC intern program, Jonathan Ball began his internship with WERC back in 1999. A recent graduate in Psychology at the time, Jonathan thought he wanted to do something with wildlife, but was not sure exactly what or how to go about it. He realized with his background in Psychology it may be difficult to break into a wildlife career, so he took a chance and applied for an internship with WERC. We accepted Jonathan and quickly realized he had tremendous potential as a biologist and possessed the particular traits necessary to handle and care for animals.

Jonathan remained in the intern program for approximately nine months (we held on to him for three terms due to his great value to WERC and potential in a future career with wildlife). Upon departure, Jonathan had decided to pursue a career in wildlife veterinary science. It was a struggle to be admitted to a vet school with Jonathan's lack of academic background in vet science. However, Jonathan persisted and finally his break came with Tuft's University School of Veterinary Medicine.

During his entrance interview, Jonathan was told that his experience with WERC was a major reason for his admittance. Jonathan has since graduated from Tuft's as a Veterinary Doctor, with a concentration in wildlife. He continues to be a friend of WERC and often cites his experience as an intern with WERC as the stimulus and catalyst that made his career a success.

As WERC continues to search for the next generation of interns, maybe we are actually searching for the next leaders in wildlife biology, veterinary science, and environmental education around the world.

Are you ready for the challenge and opportunity of WERC's prestigious intern program? For more information on our intern program and to apply visit our website or call 888-422-1110 ext. 3.