Wolves and bears and coyotes, oh my; animal stories in Glen Ellyn

John Basile can rattle off, at a mile a miute, facts about the wolves, bears and other predators housed at his farm.

The cadence was much too fast for most of the pint-sized audience perched before him Saturday at the Glen Ellyn Public Library. But it didn't matter. Most of them were just waiting for a chance to pet a few of the animals he brought with him.

Like Wilson, a grey puffball of a groundhog perched on the forearm of Basile, who runs the Big Wolf Ranch in Lockport. "Is it anybody's birthday today?" Basile asked in an unsuccessful attempt to weed out a potential volunteer. "Was it anybody's birthday this week? OK, how's about a volunteer."

Several hands shot up for a chance to feed the animal.

Many of the animals on Basile's farm, such as Mahala, the year-old coyote who made the trip with him to the library, are rescue animals who would have otherwise been euthanized.

"There's nothing a man can throw at a coyote that they can't adapt to," Basile told his crowd. "They're very smart animals."

While most of the animals on site are typical North American predators such as wolves and bears, Basile has since added a few kid-friendly critters to his coop, like Wilson, and a chubby little skunk named Kirby, during the 21 years he has run Big Wolf Ranch.

"Uh oh!" Basile joked as he squirted water at his crowd as he was explaining how a skunk defends itself. "You'd think I was squirting battery acid on them."