Grayson- Conducting his own Behavioral Observations

This week’s photo was taken by Christina Rizzo while visiting the Center for a recent Wildlife Photography session with Heidi Pinkerton.  Grayson is very keen on activities in the building and when we have a photographic session or behavioral observation, he seems to be conducting his own behavioral studies.  He is especially keyed in to the presence of youthful exuberance (i.e. young kids running) which likely triggers the predatory drive.  Grayson had another positive fecal for roundworms, so he received a treatment as well as the pack to reduce any risk of reinfection.  We will test him again in the upcoming weeks to make sure the treatment was effective.  It does seem that he might have a weaker immune system or may be associated with his underlying stress of the pack dynamics this winter since he seems to have had more issues than Axel even when they were pups.  There is no doubt that Grayson reacts to things with more intrepidation.  We did weigh Grayson on March 2nd and he had slightly increased in weight from 82 pounds at the beginning of the year to 84 pounds.  Of course, wolf weights fluctuate significantly with the fact that they can eat 20% of their body weight while gorging on a carcass, but we still want to get Grayson as many food resources as possible.  Until further notice, staff have been instructed to continue to feed Grayson any chance they get, the problem is, Denali thinks the instructions apply to him.