This past weekend was the first in a series of three Planning for Pups programs. Denali and Aidan did an excellent job of demonstrating the value of socializing pups. Grizzer was tolerant, although we were very careful to give him his privacy. Shadow started a bark howl on Sunday morning, but that was probably more directed at the Curator for applying fly ointment to his ears. Due to the extra work load this weekend, all wolves will share one log posting.
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This past weekend was the first in a series of three Planning for Pups programs. Denali and Aidan did an excellent job of demonstrating the value of socializing pups. Grizzer was tolerant, although we were very careful to give him his privacy. Shadow started a bark howl on Sunday morning, but that was probably more directed at the Curator for applying fly ointment to his ears. Due to the extra work load this weekend, all wolves will share one log posting.
This past weekend was the first in a series of three Planning for Pups programs. Denali and Aidan did an excellent job of demonstrating the value of socializing pups. Grizzer was tolerant, although we were very careful to give him his privacy. Shadow started a bark howl on Sunday morning, but that was probably more directed at the Curator for applying fly ointment to his ears. Due to the extra work load this weekend, all wolves will share one log posting.
Malik has had a good week, getting some quality time with his favorite staff member, and with the snow and ice gone, he has discovered many caches from last winter. Some of these are not quite so fresh, but to a wolf, they smell great. We are in the transition period, where some days are too warm, and some nights are too cool for 11-year old wolves. We have left the straw in the den for now, but plan on removing it for the Working for Wolves program. Hopefully, the cool nights will start to diminish.
This weekend is the Working for Wolves weekend, and due to the significant amount of preparation work, we will be posting the same text for all the logs. The main priorities for this weekend include straw removal, cleaning and filling the ponds in the Exhibit and Retired Enclosure, putting a roof and protective walls on the medical enclosure and starting the fence layout for Grizzer’s new enclosure. It will be a busy weekend, and work will continue in the upcoming weeks on Grizzer’s habitat. The goal is to get him into the new area by June 15th. All the wolves are doing well. Aidan and Denali are having no problem eating their entire deer carcass on weekends, and Shadow and Malik are transitioning to more food carcass meals with chicken on Tuesday and Thursdays. Grizzer gets chicken on a daily basis as he has a small area left to heal from his head and we want to maximize his nutrition to keep is immune system strong. Someone emailed with concern about Malik in the den, because he sleeps so soundly, they were concerned that there was something wrong. Old wolves do like their sleep, but we keep the camera on the wolves and staff are aware of their condition.
Malik had a bit more stress with the tree removal process than the work crews. If you have been monitoring the logs over the years, you may recall a problem we had in the main enclosure in 2008. A large aspen tree fell and landed on the fence wall, causing a Malik a significant amount of anxiety. When the tree removal contractor did some climbing in Grizzer's new habitat (he wanted to safely rope down a dead tree top to avoid hitting a fence), Malik seemed to have a flashback. Fortunately, we finished that project and everything is back to normal.
We started the process of grooming Grizzer and he rolls in full submission to get brushed and to trim some hair on his head. He’s found a cool hole to for relief from the heat, and we did give him a small tank to splash in the water. It’s not like the big pond, but Grizzer never did care much for swimming, he is more of a wader. He usually scoops all the water out of his drinking pail, but now that he has the tank, he spends time splashing in there. We will see how the new habitat progresses and if we can improve on a watering source, but his main preference is the sprinkler systems which will be installed in the next few weeks.
Malik has been extremely social this week, and as the Youtube video shows, he tries to lick the camera. We have scheduled the veterinary exam for next week. You may notice the webcams down for a period of time. This is standard practice during a medical exam so staff can stay focused on the wolves, rather than worrying about what they’re projecting on camera. We will also drain the pond to avoid any slipping while coming out of anesthesia. The Veterinarians will make a final determination on the abscessed tooth and they will receive a full blood panel to see if we have other old age issues lurking.
Malik and Shadow had a successful immobilization. We did pull Malik's tooth, and after looking at the decomposition of the root, it was a good thing that we did. This abscess would have continued to be a problem. Malik had some other issues with some slight hair loss on his shoulder and back hip, and blood work will determine if this might be caused by a thyroid problem. We will keep the logs updated as the results are available. We did offer Malik a deer leg the night of the immobilization to see how he would eat, he had no problem eating them both (even though one was meant for Shadow).
Shadow was tested for diabetes and showed normal levels of glucose, so more blood work was taken to see if there are other issues. Our main concern is is higher than average water consumption and his appetite issues. If medical tests don't show anything, these situations could be behavioral. Shadow had no other signs of problems during the exam, and his ears were checked and cleaned. We did have an error in his weight when I recorded the Youtube this week. In the video, I state that he weighed in at 87, but in fact, he was also 92 lbs. What a come back from his low point of 71 lbs when we retired him from the Exhibit. Retirement must be agreeing with him.
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