Shadow – The Age of Concern

As many of you may observe on the webcams, Shadow has the most intense greeting of all the wolves on site, and at 14 years of age, he is my greatest concern.  No doubt, being a pack leader for 8 years can have an influence on how a wolf ages.  It’s been our experience in captivity that we start to see health declines by this age.  We call it the age of concern, at 14 years old, many a systemic issue can occur.  We are thankful that we have a surveillance system that allows us to observe and record the wolves in retirement, but we know despite good genetics (mom lived to be 21).. we need to cherish every day we spend with the retirees.