Dr. Edward H. McCleery (1867-1962)
Hamlin Township, McKean County, Pennsylvania
Marker Inscription
A medical doctor by profession, McCleery established a wolf park nearby to breed and care for lobo wolves, a subspecies of gray wolf. Subject to a 1920s elimination program, this wolf was saved from extinction through his efforts. The park served as an education center for scientists and the public. Descendants of this pack survive in Montana and are the only bloodline of an animal that played a major role in western US ecology, history, and lore.
Erected by Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission
The Story
In the early twentieth century, federal eradication campaigns nearly wiped out the lobo, the great gray wolf of the American West, as cattle country treated it as vermin. A Pennsylvania physician, Edward McCleery, gathered surviving wolves and bred them at a park near here, determined to save the strain from extinction. His enclosure became an unlikely refuge and an education center where scientists and curious visitors could see the vanishing animal up close.
Why it matters
McCleery's stubborn preservation kept alive a bloodline of an animal central to the ecology and lore of the American West, long before wildlife conservation was mainstream.
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Related people
- · Edward H. McCleery
Themes & tags
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