When Lucas was moved out of the enclosure to be euthanized, Lakota was showing signigicant interest in the vestibule. Staff kept her occupied, but there is likely going to be some separation anxiety expressed by both her and MacKenzie. Staff are monitoring them frequently throughout the day. Lakota continues to maintain a fairly dense undercoat, despite daily brushings from staff. Her method for staying cool is to go underground in a rather deep hole she dug a few years ago. The sprinkers give her relief as well, but her preference is to be subterranean. As a side note, the camera's were off for a few days as we buried a new cable for distance learning opportunities into the lab. Sorry about the side angle on the camera, we moved the camera before disconnecting the electricity, resulting in a 45 degree angle photo as the last photo before we completed the wiring. It wasn't some new abstract method of displaying wolves.
Part II So, we built a kennel in the garage portion of the lab, and Lakota remained in this area from Friday morning until her return to the enclosure on Monday morning. We were prepared to sedate her for this recovery, but she is very calm, and has only needed light doses to keep her anxiety under control. We keep the door open to the lab, so she can hear the pups, and she gets some warmth from the lab heaters. She’s getting a meat, puppy formula gruel to keep her calories up and help her immune system. She’s on antibiotics and pain killers, and so far, she has not touched the bandage. She welcomes wolf care staff, and enjoyed the comforts of a flannel sleeping bag at night. The pups have a bit of adjustment as the garage air is a bit cool, but they’ve settled into the curator’s blanket and pillow which is frequently on camera. Lakota has lost weight since the last surgery to remove the benign tumor on her face. In September of 2007, she weighed 92.4 lb, on this exam, she was 87.5. Granted, the time difference could be a factor, pre-winter fat reserves versus end of winter fat reserves, but Wolf Curator, Lori Schmidt, noticed significant atrophy of her muscles in her haunches and front shoulders.
Lakota gave the wolf care staff a little bit of anxiety last week. Staff noticed her having difficulty defecating and some discomfort when laying down. This was of great concern as this was how Lucas's troubles were first identified. After some investigation and a fecal sample at the vet, it was determined that Lakota ate too many raspberries. The staff did not feed her raspberries, so she must have been picking them off the fence line. After verifying that there was no parasite issue that might be making her browse, it was determined that she would be fine, but it would be better if we could give her a significant amount of meat to help clear her system. She readily ate her carnivore diet and on Sunday, was running throughout the enclosure and jumping on the den boxes. Her searching for Lucas seems to be diminishing, now only MacKenzie shows some anxiety, probably related to the absence of Lucas.
On Wednesday, we fed some scraps from the freezer. These are usually donations from other people and may include venison roasts, chicken or other meat products that are a bit outdated for people consumption. These are great treats for wolves, and Aidan had some fun with some cornish game hens. The excitement of a new smell resulted in 30 minutes of scent rolling. While Denali had the same response, he lacked the vigor of Aidan who really dived into the bird.
Grizzer has had some good aerobic activity chasing ravens. With the warm weather, we experience wolves with less than a normal appetite. This means that there is a lot of extra scraps within the enclosure. Where there's scraps, there are ravens. I didn't get a chance to clip the video, but I did watch him chase at least 10 ravens from the den area of the new habitat.
Malik hasn't cached much in the den lately, probably due to the recent snowfall. There's finally enough snow on the ground to actually cache something larger than a pig's ear. When you spend a lot of time with the wolves, it's sometimes easy to overlook the daily behavioral patterns of the individuals. This past week, we have noticed a significant amount of raven watching from Malik. By dawn, the ravens start to perch on the trees in the various enclosures. Malik is very tuned into the sound and sights of these perching birds. This may be related to his defense of food. Out of all the wolves on site, Malik demonstrates more guarding behavior than any other wolves.
Denali has really increased his social behavior lately and has been a bit more engaging with staff. He even took the rake from the wheelbarrow and had some excitement dragging it into the woods. This was a good chance for staff to practice guarding behavior and is a great reminder as to why we have consistent handling behavior with pups. They respect wolf care staff possessions when we guard them, and we need to be consistent about protecting our possessions.
Grizzer has really gotten a lot of attention and has been very stimulated to invite chase, even though the pack mates are all on the other side of the fence. There's been many episodes of chasing behavior on camera, but we continue to film in order to capture the excitement we experience when we work with him. He's doing great, for a wolf managed alone. He did have a day of howling on Thursday. Oscar was off site for the day, and there seems to be a correlation to Oscar's absence and howling.
It's hard to write a short wolf log about Shadow that does any justice to the complexity and depth of his personality. This wolf clearly influences every other canid on site, and they all seem to have a response to his howls, and his mere presence at the fence line. His overall interactions with staff show more excitement and enthusiasm for social greetings than any other wolf on site.
The logs will all be the same this week. It has been an extremely busy week for the wolf curator between the job at the college and the Center. Wolf care is still done, but all other activities such as email, logs and reports are on the back burner. We had a relatively calm week except the return of the sled dogs created some stress for Shadow. He did some pacing, and in the warmer than average days, he got a bit overheated. He eventually settled down by mid-morning, and was fine the next day. This is the last trip for the dogs, and they will be moving back to their home turf by Wednesday. Aidan was less anxious and a bit more dominant, Denali got very playful, Grizzer howled, Malik ignored everything and Shadow paced. We are in the process of finalizing the Pup Care teams, and will be making decisions and sending notifications by the first week of March. We should return to a full set of logs next week.
The International Wolf Center advances the survival of wolf populations by teaching about wolves, their relationship to wildlands and the human role in their future.