maya – Feb 22, 2005 12:00 AM

Sorry for the lapse in logs, I was at 2 professional conferences in the last two weeks; Wolf Care staff took great care of the wolves in my absence. I gave the Exhibit Pack a bison hide for entertainment while I was gone, it seemed to do the trick. Maya gave wolf care staff an interesting surprise, on February 10th, staff noticed Maya began showing estrus bleeding, a sign that she had come into a heat cycle. This was a bit earlier than anticipated, usually wolves don't become sexually active until they're 18 – 24 months of age, but the higher nutrition and lack of a dominant female role can create a situation where an 8 month old pup can come into heat. We knew the pups were in good condition coming into the winter, so we took the precaution of neutering Grizzer in case there was an early heat cycle. Nyssa has not shown any signs of coming into heat, both females will be spayed in May '05.