Exhibit Pack Update – 20 October 2023
We had a visitor that surprised all of us. A skunk came into the enclosure, probably under the gates, on Tuesday, October 17 around 2 am. The skunk was kind of just wandering around possibly looking for food resources. As you can imagine, the wolves found out pretty quickly. In the image you can see the eyes of Caz preparing to ambush the skunk. Luckily, we were able to capture the whole encounter in our security cameras and track down what happened and who was involved for health purposes.
The skunk did not notice Caz was coming behind him, but once he found out and was able to, the skunk sprayed Caz in the face. Caz started face wiping to try and clear his eyes, he shook his head and proceeded to sneeze repeatedly. The commotion of Caz going after this skunk led the rest of the pack to investigate and they did a lot of scent rolling and stalked the animal for about three hours while it hid in the rocks by the exhibit windows. Around 5 am, the skunk left his hiding place and was attacked by the wolves.
We monitored wolf health for any unusual symptoms that could be a side effect of being sprayed by a skunk. Another important task for the wolf care team was to send the skunk to be tested for rabies and distemper. Even though our ambassadors are vaccinated, we would rather air on the side of caution and make sure that this animal wasn’t sick and causing it to act a little bit abnormal coming into an enclosure full of wolves.
We have not had any snow yet, but we’ve had temperatures down in the 20 degrees Fahrenheit. While it’s been a very calm pack this year, we did have a little bit of noise up in the woods around 10:30 this morning and it turned out that Caz had a bite wound on his left wrist. It’s not a complete puncture wound, but it is located near a joint and we need to keep a close eye for signs of infection. So, he’s on anti-inflammatory medication and was later put on antibiotics so we’re hoping the afternoon of hanging out under the eaves with Rieka will give him a little bit of relief.
