grizzer – Apr 8, 2011 12:00 AM

Grizzer has reduced his howling bouts but still engages in response to Shadow and Malik. As the spring melt occurs, he is spending more time resting in the shaded portion of the enclosure and less time in the overhead kennel. Staff continue to spend time with him and this week’s Youtube shows a short clip of a staff visit. There have been questions about Grizzer’s status, and yes, he will be managed alone for the short term for several reasons. I put them in bullet format: <br> 1. We want to make sure he has a good hair growth over his suture sites before he meets any other social companions (except humans). <br> <br> 2. We don’t want to have any snow or ice if we do consider an introduction into retirement or a visit from Shadow. <br> <br> 3. We want to wait for the natural hormonal cycling for calmer, prolactin influenced wolf behavior.<br> <br> 4. We want a complete medical exam on the Retirees to make sure there are not any medical issues that could be magnified by a stressful change to pack dynamics. <br> <br> 5. We want to have the alternate habitat done in case a introduction into retirement doesn’t work out<br> <br> There was one more question I received regarding a camera on Grizzer’s enclosure. Yes, this will occur, we are currently researching models, and will need to do some internet upgrades to the lab as we have no more ports available. I anticipate having something online near the end of May.