The notes from the wolf care staff indicate that Grizzer has been an an extremely good mood and very socially engaging since the medical exam. When judging a wolves pain tolerance or irritation with something like a decaying tooth, we watch how they feed and respond to human inspection. Grizzer did both well and never showed any issues with the tooth, but as we saw from the exam, he had an abscessed pocket below the tooth that must have been painful. Now that the tooth is gone, he seems to feel very good. The stitches are still in tact and his gums are very clean.
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.
Denali has been getting his fair share of attention this week, thanks in part by the timing of the year. As spring approaches the winter antagonistic hormones start to decrease. Aidan has been spending more time in a submissive roll-over with staff, allowing the secondary wolf care staff to give Denali the attention that he wasn't getting during early winter. Denali doesn't usually submit to staff like Aidan, but that's more in response to the vulnerability issues. When he's on his back, he is more nervous about the lack of a quick escape if Aidan starts to chase.
We have scheduled the Veterinary Exam for Tuesday, March 6th. Aidan will have a biopsy to help reveal the cause of his pigmentation loss, as well as a complete blood profile. This will be his first full immobilization as an adult. When we don't have a history of immobilization, we tend to dose light and monitor the effects. It is also important to keep in mind the rank order issues. We will recover Aidan in the enclosure so he has time to be mobile before Denali joins him. Aidan is likely to take longer to burn off the drugs as he is carrying more body fat.
Denali hasn't had any occurrence of scent block issues since the medical exam. He is starting the pattern of spending time in the upper wooded portion of the enclosure during the warmest parts of the day. We've kept the straw in the enclosure to help retain some of the snow and ice. As temperatures increase, the wolves will have a period of time before shedding when they can easily overheat. Denali has the least amount of issues, as the tallest wolf in the Exhibit, he dissipates a lot of heat from his long legs.
On Tuesday, we pressure washed the pond to clean a winter of snow melt and debris in preparation for the spring and summer. Since Aidan doesn't like to stay in holding very long, we decided to leave him out while the Curator ran the pressure washer. Aidan did really well except for pulling the hose a few times, he stayed out of the way and enjoyed some kibble at the gate. After we finished, he did proceed to mark areas around the pond. The water line thawed in about 3 days, and he was wading and splashing in the pond by Friday.
While Aidan could be trusted in with the pressure washer, Denali is another story. He has such a strong tendency to test things, that he is best held off the exhibit until tools are safe. This worked out to his advantage because 2 wolf care staff were able to spend time with him in the medical pen. This was the most hands on wolf care staff contact he's had in a long time.
Malik is an opportunist. Whether it be a raven, his packmate or a wolf care staff member that doesn't have a clear possession of an object, Malik will take any opportunity given. This best describes the pond filling event. It takes about 2 hours to fill the pond in retirement and while it would be nice to get some other work done, every time I went into the lab, I noticed the surveillance camera showed a new location of the water hose. I finally decided to just take a break on the bench, and show some guarding behavior over the hose, this seemed to work.
I always thought that Malik was the retired wolf that had to be monitored when tools and hoses were left unattended, but Shadow proved that Malik isn't the only one that needs monitoring. During the 3rd episode of placing the hose back in the pond, I gave Malik and Shadow a pig's ear. Shadow cached his, and Malik began chewing. I went back to the lab, thinking that Malik was occupied and all was well, only to find after 20 seconds at my computer, that Shadow was taking the hose, while Malik was still in the same place chewing on his pig's ear. The only difference is, as soon as Shadow saw me, he dropped it and greeted. Malik has a tendency to run as far as he can, spinning hose off the reel. We learned this lesson with Lakota a few years ago, never discount a wolf because of age, they are always curious and they will always try to take an unattended possession.
Staff have commented on how much calmer Aidan has become in the last week. We see these seasonal changes in hormones that will be reflected in a wolf's overall attitude. Some of this is triggered by temperature, a warm day in March results in wolves that tend to be very sedentary in activity. While last week's temperatures motivated staff to get the pond filled, this week's temperatures and last nights snow reminds of that spring can bring a wide variety of conditions.
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.