grizzer – Nov 20, 2010 12:00 AM

Denali's posting details some of events that happened in the last few days. Grizzer had a tear on the top of his head that required stitching, but it is very critical that, as the dominant wolf, he was not removed from the pack for an extended amount of time. We immobilized him out of view of the pack, carried him into the lab for the vet care, and had him back in the pack within two hours. We did not want to risk issues with his stitches, so we decided to hold Denali in the pack holding area for the weekend to give Grizzer some time to heal. There is always a risk to pack dynamics when isolating a wolf, but it is better to isolate a lower ranking wolf than the dominant wolf. Even in the short time while we were immobilizing Grizzer, Denali was posturing towards Maya and doing RLU's in the Exhibit. He was much more subdued when we placed him into holding. Grizzer approached the fence and showed a high tail to Denali, but Denali responded with whining and a t-3 tail, but not tucked. This shows submission and not fear, which is what we had hoped for.