HALLOWELL — Early Christians saw the devil in its eyes. Fairy tales paint it as a cunning, bloodthirsty bully. Some sportsmen regard it as competition. Most ranchers simply hate it.

The eastern timber wolf, or gray wolf, is surrounded by myths both good and bad that endure today.

Volunteers at the Maine Wolf Coalition’s new Northeast Wolf Center want to dispel the illusions surrounding the endangered animal so people concerned about its possible return to the Northeast can form opinions based on fact instead of fiction and emotion.

“We want in the East to have the wolf welcomed back because people are educated and understand their role in the ecosystem,” said Geri Vistein, a coalition board member.

The group supports wolf recovery in the Northeast, whether wolves are reintroduced by people or migrate naturally from Canada.

The animals have been gone from Maine for more than a century after they were eradicated by a bounty program.

“It’s the same old thing: What people don’t know, they fear, and what they fear, they hate,” said Helen Hutchings, a volunteer at the center. “That’s why a place like this is important. If you deal in facts, you don’t fall into the traps.”

The center, nestled in a string of shops on Hallowell’s main street, has wolf pictures and books, a computer for wolf research, a viewing area for movies, a wolf pelt, and a small gift shop that the nonprofit group hopes will help pay the rent.

The center also will work with federal and state biologists to track wolves’ presence in Maine.

“The strength of groups like the Maine Wolf Coalition is that they continue to focus on just providing factual information about wolves,” said Craig McLaughlin, a biologist with the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife.

Some groups, such as the 13,000-member Sportsman’s Alliance of Maine, oppose reintroducing wolves in Maine. SAM fears the effects on logging, hunting, trapping and other traditional activities in the Maine woods.

“We’re not opposed to wolves, we’re just opposed to the reintroduction. We’re not opposed to anything coming back on its own,” President Edye Cronk said.

The wolf coalition contends returning the predator would increase the health of the ecosystem.

Natural recovery is considered possible, but highly improbable, because of highway traffic and the natural boundary of the St. Lawrence seaway that separates Maine from Canada, McLaughlin said.

Biologists have found evidence of stray wolves in Maine in recent years. In 1993, an animal later determined to be a wolf was killed near Moosehead Lake. Biologists have not determined whether another wolf-like animal killed by a trapper in 1996 was a gray wolf or a wolf-dog or wolf-coyote hybrid, McLaughlin said. He said there has been no evidence in Maine of a breeding pair, which could establish a wolf population.

There have been several other unsubstantiated wolf sightings in northern and eastern Maine.

Wolves emigrating from Canada likely would disperse throughout the state rather than stay up north, where deer populations are thinner, McLaughlin said.

“The wolf is not a wilderness animal. They are very able and willing to live near suburban-type areas,” he said.

Wolves favor deer over moose and could have an impact in areas where herds are small, but likely would not have a noticeable impact in areas such as central Maine, where deer numbers are higher, he said.

Wolves in other parts of the country have been known to occasionally feed on livestock, but that likely would not be a problem in Maine simply because few people raise livestock here, McLaughlin said.

Public sentiment in Maine is so strongly against reintroduction that the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife would oppose any attempts to do it, McLaughlin said.

“It doesn’t make sense to ignore the wishes of the people,” he said, who noted that the animals probably would be killed.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service also does not plan to push for reintroduction in the Northeast anytime soon. However, the agency is considering filing a proposal in the fall to reduce the animal’s status from endangered to threatened in the region.

That would allow for more flexibility and possibly make people more amenable to wolf recovery in the Northeast, said Kim Tripp, an endangered species biologist in the federal agency’s office in Old Town.

Any filing would be followed up with hearings and intensified research. “The service’s intention is to start up a dialogue about restoration,” she said.

The strong reaction against reintroduction has even wolf recovery supporters at the center balking at the idea of pushing it now.

“You don’t want to go out and be confrontational. That just gets people mad,” said Hutchings, a retired teacher.

Some members don’t favor reintroduction at all.

“It’s more publicity than the wolf needs,” said center volunteer and coalition member Matt Krawczyk, a hunter who also is a SAM member. “I think they’re going to come back anyway; it’s just going to take time.”

The Northeast Wolf Center is open from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Monday and Tuesday and 9 a.m. to noon Friday. The group hopes to eventually be open seven days a week. Visitors are advised to call 622-1161 beforehand.