Shadow has been very responsive to wolf care staff and daily checks lately. His behavioral patterns are clearly influenced by the activity in the wolf yard. The Behind the Scenes programs ended on August 15th, and it’s like a whole new wolf has emerged. His confidence is increased and his social interactions with the pack have increased dramatically. This could also be timed with the end of the summer heat, but we are taking all precautions to make sure we don’t do anything to upset the balance of this pack prior to pups arrival. For the Spring Working for Wolves, we’ve changed from open registration to an application process to ensure that we have people with prior experience around the wolf yard in the weeks prior to the pup’s arrival. In Shadow’s case, it’s not just prior experience, its prior positive experience. I know for some people it’s hard to understand why we have such standards for programming, such as prerequisites for the nanny program, applications for a working for wolves program, but the reality for us in wolf care, is that we have to keep pack compatibility prior to the pups arrival and during the pup socialization process. The wolves have to come first, and one thing we have learned when working with wolves for nearly 20 years at the Center is that wolves have a lasting effect from a negative experience. Please bear with us as this exciting time of pups arrive, we will try to accommodate everyone’s wish to be involved in the process, but we will always do what’s best for the wolves.
As Shadow’s photo shows, he still has strong confidence in showing Grizzer that he’s the pack leader. While Grizzer persists in this behavior, Shadow will increase the strength of the message by showing a full–teeth threat display. Shadow’s video clip shows the behavioral sequence surrounding this image. While the interaction may only last for a few seconds, it is a strong message that for now, is keeping Grizzer as the number 2 male in this Exhibit Pack.
The text and video for the rest of the Exhibit Pack logs is all the same, when the temperatures increase, the wolves become less active. It has been a bit of a challenge to give visitors a good sighting of the wolves when daytime temperatures have increased over 80 degrees on a regular basis. The wolf care staff use a sprinkler system on both enclosures to decrease the ambient air temperature by several degrees. The wolves are also called down to the front of the exhibit 3 times a day to draw them into the sprinkler and get a physical check on them. The videos this week for Maya, Grizzer, Malik and Shadow all show a typical summer day for wolves, stay cool by finding a good piece of cool dirt in the shade.
The cooler weather has increased the wolves appetites, especially MacKenzie. The Retired Pack is fed on a twice a week schedule with chicken or bone dust on Wednesday's and deer or beaver on Sunday nights. After last week's feeding of beaver, the only evidence that remained was one beaver jaw from a feeding of 2-30+ lbs of beaver. This is common prior to winter, wolves have a natural instinct to get as much resources as possible. The extra food helps build a fat layer before nighttime temperatures begin to dip. So, far, we've experienced temperatures in the low 40's, but we will be analyzing the wolves diet to ensure that they are feeling satiated with a meal.
In an effort to reduce some of Grizzer's excitement, which leads to testing behavior, we have changed the feeding program to include a mid-week light meal in addition to the Saturday night feeding. Grizzer had a pattern of getting hungry and somewhat anxious about feeding, creating a situation where he was redirecting aggression to Malik. While his physical body clearly indicates that he is well fed, his mind wasn't convinced. So, the pack gets, and in most cases, Grizzer gets either a Beaver or deer leg on Wednesday's. The first test of this schedule has revealed good results, with Grizzer remaining calm throughout the week, but he did have some intense redirection towards the vegetation when Lakota was immobilized for the surgery. As we were waiting for Lakota's drug to take effect, we could hear trees snapping in the Exhibit pack. Staff said as we left the site with Lakota, the Exhibit Pack howled intently. Wolves are very disrupted by change and inconsistency in their routines. This is why so many wolf care programs have so many prerequisites. Concerning Grizzer's weight, we are constantly amazed at how much hair Grizzer puts on for winter. He looks massive, but when we see his images from the July wolf logs, we see a lean mean young adult. If he does gain a few extra pounds this winter from the increased feeding, we expect chasing after 2 young pups will help him lose weight.
Lakota did extremely well with the surgery and immobilization. She was drugged at 7:04 am Central Daylight time, and at the clinic by 7:30 am. She weighed 92 lbs, which was the same weight during one of her 2001 exams, so in 6 years, she hasn't lost a pound. She is in exceptional shape for a 14 year old wolf. The growth was successfully removed and will be sent in for a tissue biopsy, although all indications show it as benign, we want to make sure. We also are doing a full blood panel to look at other age related issues such as BUN, glucose levels any any signs of abnormal readings. The conditions were ideal, with morning tempertures around 46 degrees farenheit, warming to the mid 60's. When a wolf is coming out of anesthesia, we usually bed them on a wool or fleece pad with hot water bottles. Lakota's video shows her recovering in the holding area with the full compliment of pads. Wolf care staff stayed with her until she regained full mobility, and placed her back in the enclosure with Mac around 3pm. We placed a full bale of straw in all the den boxes for comfort. Her incision is very dry and clean and she shows no sign of scratching. Although, most of the scratching response will likely come during the healing process. She is on daily pain treatment for 6 days and antibiotics for 7 days. She is doing very well and staff will check on her through the night.
While Lakota was at the clinic for surgery, Wolf Care Staff members Jen Westlund and Matt Fetterer stayed with MacKenzie and fed her a meal of chicken. She did extremely well in Lakota's absence, ate her entire meal, and layed within about 8 feet of the fence the whole time Lakota was in recovery. When Lakota did come back into the enclosure, she sniffed Lakota's face, but didn't give her any sign of aggression or dominance. A full bale of straw was spread in the den boxes and in the corner of the pen and as of this writing (5:40 pm on Monday), both are bedded down and sleeping.
Malik is doing well, he will be the most likely wolf to benefit from the mid-week feeding, although indirectly. The pack seems to be very calm lately and that makes Malik less anxious. When tensions are high, Malik spend a fair amount of time growling at any wolf that approaches, which only ends up aggrevating the group. We still see him get into the mix, he seems to like to be in the middle of interaction showing a high tail until someone reminds him of his status. This week's photo is a perfect example of this.
Shadow has been doing very well lately, as last week's logs indicate, he does much better after the high traffic summer season is over. He still leads the pack with howling bouts and has a dignified way in which he rests. In this week's picture, he is showing the typical cross-legged relaxed posture of a dominant male.
MacKenzie requires many more calories per week than Lakota, and management of getting the ideal amount of food to MacKenzie without overfeeding Lakota has been a bit of a challenge. But, we seem to have settled into a routine and MacKenzie is doing well. The weekly video clips also help wolf care staff make a comparative analysis of her mobility week to week. MacKenzie did have a rough day last Thursday. There were several dead trees removed from the retired enclosure at the last “Workin for Wolves session, and more dead trees in the area surrounding the enclosure. In an effort to reduce the fire potential next summer, winter time burning is necessary. The fire crew from Vermilion Community College donated 2 hours of time to cut, pile and burn this debris. Lakota was fine with the chainsaws, fire and burning pile, but MacKenzie had a bit of pacing, until the crew left. Wolf curator, Lori Schmidt, was there with the crew, but with MacKenzie’s poorer eyesight, she reacts negatively to things that she hears, but can’t see.
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