Virginia "Ginny" Busch isn't big or bad, but she's doing some huffing and puffing in her new role.

She's just been named the new executive director of the Endangered Wolf Center, one of the nation's leading facilities for breeding and repatriating Mexican gray wolves to the wild. The center is located on 63 acres on the grounds of Washington University's Tyson Research Center in Eureka.

The center, founded in 1971 by Marlin and Carol Perkins, houses 28 Mexican gray wolves, six red wolves, three African wild dogs, two maned wolves and three swift foxes.

"I am very excited to be a part of the center, which has gotten me back into the wildlife realm," Busch said. "It's cool to be part of an organization so rooted in St. Louis and being a part of the St. Louis community."

Previously director of corporate conservation programs at SeaWorld and Busch Gardens Parks and president of the SeaWorld and Busch Gardens Conservation Fund, Busch had assisted the parks in expanding conservation programs, including development and oversight of partnerships for collaborative research projects. Busch also served as media spokesperson for environmental efforts at the parks.

Busch recently talked about wolves, her work in conservation, and the center.

QUESTION: You grew up the daughter of a famous St. Louis family and could have entered any field you wanted. Why did you want to focus on animal conservation?

ANSWER: It's just where my heart lies, helping animals in the wild and raising awareness about wildlife issues that I've always felt strongly about. I'd constantly been a part of Busch Gardens and SeaWorld, and, even when I was a child, I and my father would go to those parks every weekend in the winter months, as part of his rounds. I'd also really wanted to work for Anheuser-Busch in some manner, and the parks happened to be a great outlet where I could be both a part of a family business, but also in a realm I loved, working with wildlife.

Q: Why did you want to be part of the Endangered Wolf Center?

A: I was approached by them. I'd been hearing about the center and things going on there and that it was really in trouble. My heart reached out, and I felt bad for them. When I was with the parks, we'd provided grant funds to the center, so I had known and worked with them several times and knew several previous executive directors. And I remember coming to Tyson and seeing the wolves as a kid. So, when they reached out to me and knew I had background in this field and asked if I'd like to tackle the job, I jumped on it. The center is something I feel strongly about because it's had such great success in releasing animals into the wild, though not a lot of people know about this place.

Q: What are your priorities as executive director of the center?

A: What I'd really like to focus on is raising awareness about the center such as on different social media outlets, trying to bring more guests through the gates so they can get an up-close, personal experience with the animals. That creates a powerful connection. When people hear the animals' stories and what's going on in the wild, they want to help. I want to see more tours out here, to make it a destination to come to for St. Louisans and people on vacation, to support our mission of releasing these animals into the wild.

Q: What's the center's most urgent need or project?

A: I would say the most urgent thing is that we almost had to close our doors last year due to lack of money. Land was purchased several years ago with the idea of moving to a different site to have our own facility. It drove the organization into almost being bankrupt, but we've recovered. We don't have that land anymore, but we're still struggling for basic donations to expand and enhance the center. So funding is the biggest issue.

Q: What's the closest you've been to a wild wolf, and what was that like?

A: I have never been close in the wild other than here just recently. Though I've been to Africa on safari and seen lots of wildlife, never a wolf close up. But at the center, I've literally been a couple feet away from them. It's amazing. These animals are charismatic, powerful. Hearing them from my desk, howling, is such a cool thing. To think that hundreds of years ago you'd have heard them in your own backyard. It's been pretty amazing to see what we're doing to help them. What's really struck me is that all the Mexican gray wolves that have been released into the wild have a connection to this center. In 1975, those remaining in the wild were captured and brought here for breeding so that every single animal now in the wild has some sort of lineage trace back to the center.

Q: What don't most people understand about wolves?

A: Wolves in general get a very bad rap in terms of how they interact with people. But they're really very nervous around people, not aggressive by any means. Their reputation is as the Big Bad Wolf from children's stories. And they are a top predator in the ecosystem. They're necessary to keep prey populations in check. Without them, we have the current situation with deer and moose and elk where there can be overpopulation because there aren't enough predators. But the wolf, in general is an elusive animal, not aggressive, but very family oriented. The mom and dad cooperatively raise puppies, a lot like us.

Q: What are your hopes for the future of the center?

A: I would love to see a multi-purpose educational facility go up, either here or at a different site. We need a much bigger educational, multi-purpose facility where we can have more guests and allow more interactions with animals to make a bigger impact than what we're doing now.