shadow – Nov 12, 2001 12:00 AM

Prior to Shadow's release, Lucas and Malik were brought into the pack holding area to interact first, hoping to calm Shadow before his release. Staff also placed some distractions in the pen (raccoon urine, rabbit urine, cat food etc.) to focus the wolves on the unusual scents rather than each other (THANKS TO THE WILDLIFE SCIENCE CENTER FOR THAT TIP…) The distractions worked great, they spent time scent rolling and investigating throughout the enclosure. Mackenzie is very jumpy around Shadow and appears to be fearful of him, but she has regained full status over Lakota and Lucas and Malik have stopped tag teaming her. Mac does follow Shadow around closely, but avoids direct eye contact if he turns to face her. She appears to be avoiding a confrontation. The night of the 12th, we planned to isolate the yearlings to avoid any overnight fights, but we are concerned about heightening frustrations if they aren't allowed to work things out themselves.