By Amanda McGregor
IPSWICH — Amid a frantic search, 4-year-old Nina returned home late Monday night.
Nina is a wolf at the Wolf Hollow sanctuary off Essex Road in Ipswich, where she apparently climbed a snowdrift, clambered over an 8-foot fence and escaped the 31รขÑ2-acre property sometime after 6 p.m. Monday.
Wolf Hollow staff, police and the animal control officer searched for Nina, and even got the other wolves howling to lure her back. Nina returned on her own around 10:50 p.m.
"Our biggest fear was just her getting hurt, or getting hit by a car," said Zee Soffron, assistant director of Wolf Hollow. "She was really scared when she got back."
Wolf Hollow is a nonprofit organization started in 1988 by the late Paul Soffron for the preservation of wolves through education and exposure.
Animal Control Officer Matt Antczak said townspeople were in no danger while Nina was on the loose.
During the three- to four-hour ordeal, Nina apparently wandered no farther than a half-mile in the area of Essex and Northgate roads, Antczak said. Zee Soffron said they nearly retrieved her twice prior to 10:50 p.m., and even had their hands on her, but she was skittish from the commotion and scampered away.
"You could tell she was nervous by her tracks, the way she was pacing back and forth," Antczak said, "and in the area she crossed the road, you could see she was hunkering down under bushes."
Eventually, they secured the other wolves and opened the gate to the holding pen, into which Nina ran, Soffron said.
"Nine out of 10 times, she'll jump into my arms," Soffron said, "but she was scared."
Nina will turn 5 this spring and weighs about 90 pounds. She is one of five wolves living at Wolf Hollow, including one wolf/dog hybrid named Bear, according to Soffron, who said the wolves love to play in the snow and enjoyed the big snowstorm over the weekend.
Wolf Hollow is housed at the Soffrons' Ipswich residence on Essex Road (Route 133), and the sanctuary is contained by 8-foot-high, double chain-link fencing with overhangs, Zee Soffron said yesterday.
It was the second time that a wolf escaped in Wolf Hollow's 20-year history.
"We had an escapee about 10 years ago," Soffron said. "We had a fence company that cut some corners and used chicken wire, and he (the wolf) was out close to 24 hours."
Soffron concurred that Nina did not pose a threat during her escape. He was heading out yesterday afternoon to clear snowdrifts from the fencing.
"She, or any wild wolf, is really no threat to people whatsoever," Soffron said. "If she sees a person she doesn't know, she'll just run away."
Tom French, an assistant director in the Massachusetts Division of Fisheries and Wildlife, said humans hunted wolves into extinction in Massachusetts around 1840.
"We have had one potentially wild wolf in probably the last 100-plus years in the state," French said. "Wolf Hollow is the only place around that has gray wolves."
French said wolves are known for their cooperative hunting and sophisticated family structure and social hierarchy. They mate for life, and wolves bring food back to the puppy and elder wolves in the pack, Soffron said.
French said he has never heard of a wolf attack in the "lower 48" that resulted in a human fatality.
"They're perfectly capable of it," he said in reference to their strength and size, "they just don't do it."
Wolf Hollow was founded in 1988 and got its first wolves in 1990.
"Our goal is to teach people about wolves in the wild," said Soffron, whose mother, Joni, is the director of Wolf Hollow. "We are a state- and federally licensed nonprofit."
The Soffrons raise and care for the wolves with the help of about nine volunteers, Zee Soffron said.
Wolf Hollow draws between 5,000 and 10,000 visitors annually who sit through a presentation and question-and-answer session prior to meeting the wolves, according to Soffron.
Antczak said he often brings roadkill to Wolf Hollow for the wolves to eat, including birds, deer, groundhogs and beavers.
"If people took the time and came up and saw these beautiful animals," Antczak said, "it would be the experience of a lifetime."
Ipswich Patrolman Joseph Perna assisted in the search for Nina on Monday night.
"To have Nina back last night was a great thing," Soffron said yesterday, looking worn from the ordeal. "I still didn't sleep too well last night."
For more information on Wolf Hollow, visit http://wolfhollow ipswich.org.
Staff writer Amanda McGregor can be reached at amcgregor@salemnews.com.
