Aidan – Making Strides

We have had some noticeable improvement with Aidan’s confidence.  On Tuesday, February 20th, Aidan came to the front gate and took his morning supplements with the rest of the pack.  This was real progress, he hadn’t had the confidence to be in such close proximity with the pack since January 11th.  But, we have been expecting, spring is the time for winter attitudes to calm and tensions to subside.  But still, we were very surprised that during wolf care today, Aidan joined the arctic yearlings in the medical pen that is only a 6 foot by 20 foot area. In previous weeks, close proximity interactions were out of his comfort zone.  As we have experienced with past pack leaders, this season of calm may allow Aidan to stay within the Exhibit Pack through the summer, but he and Denali will be 10 years of age on April 27th.  We may have retained Aidan’s presence in the pack now, but we will likely need to prepare a plan as next fall’s tension returns and a retirement will probably occur.  At least if we wait until October, the arctics will have reached maturity and may not be more suited to lead.  We still see the vulnerability of the juveniles when there’s conflict, especially from Grayson.