malik – May 11, 2009 12:00 AM

Malik and Shadow were 9 years old on May 8th, and when I say that most of the pack was vaccinated last week, I do need to qualify… everyone, but Malik. You may have observed the wolf care staff on camera last Wednesday at about 3 pm Central time. Curator, Lori Schmidt, and wolf care staff members, Laurie Feela, Rusty Wetzel and Donna Prichard, all attempted to get Malik to stand still long enough and close enough to get a subcutaneous injection of the Rabies vaccination. Our process with the lowest ranking wolves is to be as low to the ground and submissive as possible, which would explain why you may have seen the curator crawling around under wolves. Unfortunately, every time Malik was close, Grizzer would approach and Malik would move off. We make every attempt to do a vaccination calmly, without stress. But, in Malik's case, we may need to physically restrain him in the holding pen and give him his injection. It is not uncommon for the lowest ranking wolf to avoid anything that makes them more vulnerable or with a feeling of being restrained.