A Beautiful Life

On September 22, 2018, we said farewell to the most magnificent wolf we have ever known. Ambassador wolf Atka died in his sleep at 16 years old; his passing was painless and peaceful with his family surrounding him. While Atka leaves a hole in our lives so big that words can’t describe it, his impact on wolf conservation persists and can not be overstated. Atka is an Inuit name meaning guardian spirit, and his brilliant spirit lives on in those whose hearts he warmed, minds he opened, and souls he touched. He instilled compassion, understanding, and awareness to the hundreds of thousands of people he met over his storied career. We will be better and do better because Atka lived. He will empower us to continue the fight to safeguard the wild legacy he leaves behind. Thank you, Atka. We’ll never stop loving you. Atka, born in 2002, was a captive-born Arctic gray wolf at the Wolf Conservation Center (WCC), a 501c3 non-profit organization, in South Salem, NY. He was one of the four ’ambassador wolves’ at th