shadow – Sep 24, 2010 12:00 AM

One thing we've learned about retired wolves is that they have a way of wrapping the wolf care staff around their paws…. What do I mean by this? Well, let's start with food. As we've written about before, Shadow had lost a lot of weight in his last few months as the pack leader of the Exhibit Pack. So, we were very concerned about increasing his weight prior to winter. This meant the offering of food several times a day, changing the variety of food, delivering food so that he didn't have to compete with Malik. Now, we have a good solid weight on Shadow, but we've also got a wolf who has become picky about what, how and when he eats. He will only take chicken if it's held up for him, not placed on the ground, he only wants beef in small chunks and it should be room temperature, he doesn't care for beaver any more, a deer torso should have some of the hide removed… You get the point. Of course, they're wolves and there is a side that says, if he's hungry enough, he'll eat whatever we serve (like Malik, who eats anything). But, there's another side, he's old, he maintained order in the Exhibit Pack for 8 years, he deserves some comforts, that's what defines Best Management Practices.