shadow – Jun 28, 2010 12:00 AM

Shadow was transitioned to the Retired Pack on Saturday evening June 26th, 2010. This was a planned transition in response to behavioral indications that he was having difficulty interacting with the younger pack members. The June 27th Youtube video posting showed increasing aggression with any interactions, possibly caused by a pain response or intolerance for the intense physical contact of younger pack mates. The transition to retirement was extremely smooth, and the remaining Exhibit Pack members showed very little activity surrounding the pack holding area on the night of the move or in subsequent days since the move. This may indicate that the pack had identified his weaknesses long before the transition to retirement. The reintroduction of Malik and Shadow was smooth without any incidents, and the Exhibit Pack remains calm. We will continue to monitor the activity of the wolves with the Ethology class that is currently on site, and will have more detailed footage of the event in the next YouTube video.