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Wolves of Wall Street Party to Save Actual Wolves of Westchester

Wolves of Wall Street Party to Save Actual Wolves of Westchester

(Bloomberg) -- Rich Handler drew some howls as he led the auction Wednesday night at a benefit in Tribeca for the Wolf Conservation Center.

The Jefferies Financial Group chairman and chief executive officer had been introduced as the “wildest wolf” in front of other Wall Street wolf types -- General Atlantic CEO Bill Ford, hedge fund manager George Weiss, Vista Equity President Brian Sheth and Kelli Roiter, head of Jefferies private capital group.

Wolves of Wall Street Party to Save Actual Wolves of Westchester

Yet as he faced the room with his reading glasses on to hawk four suite tickets to a Jets game, Handler looked tame, sheepish even.

“We all know the Jets suck,” Handler said, after selling the package for $10,500 to an absentee bidder, who hadn’t had a say.

“That’s what you get when you don’t show up,” he said.

Handler had a tough act to live up to: “The Wolf of Wall Street” star Leonardo DiCaprio famously raises tens of millions in St. Tropez for environmental causes. No matter: the real stars of this Handler fest were the wolves of Westchester County.

Around the room, screens showed video of the wild canines with their searing eyes and white fur as guest dined on ravioli and risotto. A vivid account of what those wolves are like in person came from Megan Smith Ray, founder of Pilates for Equestrians, and Murray Fisher, founder of the New York Harbor School, over a cocktail.

“When you visit the center, they have you howl like a wolf at the top of your lungs, to let the wolves know you’re there,” she said. “It felt so freeing. One time, they howled back and one time they didn’t. The wild wolves won’t come near you, they don’t want to harm you. There are three wolves you can get close to. They look like Siberian Huskies."

Wolves of Wall Street Party to Save Actual Wolves of Westchester

The center in South Salem, New York, has about 50 wild wolves and several that are socialized and serve as “ambassadors.” The animals are a rarity, re-introduced after disappearing from the state more than 100 years ago. As apex predators, they have important sway over the ecosystem: When they kill deer, the number of ticks and invasive plants are reduced.

Handler’s attachment to the wolves is through his wife Martha, board president of the Wolf Conservation Center, which is about a mile from their home.

Wolves of Wall Street Party to Save Actual Wolves of Westchester

When the Handlers moved from Los Angeles, the house they rented while theirs was under construction abutted the wolves. Handler, an environmental consultant, said she heard their howls, found bones on the tennis court and was soon pulled into the center’s mission.

While her husband’s philanthropic passion is a scholarship program at the University of Rochester, he did do the alpha male thing and announce a $1 million donation to the center in her honor, describing her in an interview as “an animal whisperer.” Perhaps his coolest moment, though, was introducing actor Ed Norton, whose remarks were a tour de force about impending ecological disaster.

Wolves of Wall Street Party to Save Actual Wolves of Westchester

“I think a lot of people could be forgiven for saying, the only wolves I know are Rich and his pals, do we really want to save them?" Norton joked. "Or they feel, that’s a very esoteric affection, for a single species like the wolf.”

“Why should I support the Wolf Conservation Center?,” he added. “It’s because a lot of organizations focused on species are in essence fighting a rear-guard action, a critical defensive maneuver to try to preserve the biological diversity of the world while we sort the rest of this stuff out.”

To contact the reporter on this story: Amanda Gordon in New York at agordon01@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Pierre Paulden at ppaulden@bloomberg.net, Steven Crabill

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