Grizzer – Weekend Athlete Syndrome

Luna has stimulated some new social interactions with Grizzer in the last few weeks.  We needed to make sure Grizzer was a willing participant, not just on the receiving end of Luna’s scruff bites.  As this picture shows, Grizzer is very stimulated and as much a part of these interactions as Luna.  The challenge is that Grizzer is nearing 13 years of age and has been fairly sedentary in retirement.  This new found exercise is like a weekend athlete that has a great time joining the action, but ends up paying for it all week long.  This is the issue we are facing today with Grizzer.  After some continual activity in some icy conditions, Grizzer seems to have aggravated his ACL (Anterior Cruciate Ligament) causing him stiffness and pain in his rear right leg.  He’s on an anti-inflammatory medication for a week and we decided to give him a rest through the weekend.  Both he and Luna were fed 1/2 a deer torso on Friday night, given soft cover hay and are staying in separate enclosures.  Depending upon ice conditions and Grizzer’s improvement, we plan to reunite them no Monday the 20th. 

Grizzer – Good Stimuli

Thanks to all of Grizzer’s followers that want to make sure the Luna isn’t overwhelming Grizzer.  While she has her moments that Grizzer would rather avoid, their living situation is great stimuli.  Not only does he have some social engagement with Luna (yes, there are playbows and chases), but he by living with her, he has more real estate.  Rather than having one of the retirement areas, he has access to all three.  Grizzer seems healthier than he’s been in the last several years and we are most grateful for that as he will be thirteen years old on May 5th. As you can see from this photo, he is very relaxed during the morning wolf checks.

Grizzer

Grizzer – Thickest Coat of the Bunch

This weeks log written by Kim Wheeler, Executive Director, Red Wolf Coalition, Inc.  During my visit to the Center, I witnessed Grizzer’s thick coat first hand.  Grizzer was very social with wolf care staff this week.  At almost 13 years old, Grizzer still has a deep howl and he lead several howling sessions with all the wolves on site.  His favorite time to howl seems to be 5:00 AM!  Grizzer and Luna seems to be settling into life together and he continues to enjoy the den in the pack holding area.  It gives his a great view of everything going on in the wolf yard and exhibit enclosure.  

Grizzer – Ever Patient

Grizzer continues to show a great tolerance for Luna’s intense food possessive behaviors. This week she had managed to acquire and possess both her own and Grizzer’s weekend meals. Staff remain ever aware of food consumption in the pack and in retirement, and feed accordingly. Grizzer received extra chicken and Bison for having little time on his deer meal. We continue to see play behavior between Luna and Grizzer as well. Their relationship does appear to be getting stronger, becoming more of a social relationship rather than a mere cohabitation. 

Photo by Kelly Godfrey

Grizzer- On the MOve

If you watch the Retired Pack webcam, you may notice Grizzer is on the move far more than Luna.  Grizzer has always had the tendency to be far more responsive to activities around the wolf yard. He doesn’t react well to unfamiliar people, equipment such as snowblowers and anything with some height (ladders, roof rakes or blowing and drifting snow off the adjacent buildings).  With the multiple days of snowfall, he’s had a lot to keep him up and active.  For a wolf nearing 13 years of age, being active is a good thing.  The webcam is focused on the Pack Holding Area that shows Luna’s new den and has the closest access to the wolf yard, but there are many days when Grizzer is sprawled out off camera on the East Side den. 

Grizzer – Joining Luna

Grizzer has demonstrated some tolerance of some of Luna’s high intensity behavior and is definitely adapting to having access to all three retired areas.  There have been several observations of play bows and invite chase interactions between Luna and Grizzer with each taking the lead on stimulating the interactions.  We are happy to report that Grizzer weighed in at 130 pounds last week, the largest weight ever recorded for him.  We have worked through the feeding protocol so Luna and Grizzer don’t need to be separated when we feed larger prey species, although we still feed in separate ends of the enclosure.

Grizzer – A Period of Adjustment

Over the last few weeks, we have made some progress in getting Luna and Grizzer to share the three enclosures that comprise the “Retirement Area”.  Initially, we tried fence to fence greetings where we saw some focus and posturing from Luna, but no response from Grizzer.  With a team of seasoned wolf care staff equipped with tools for distraction and intervention, we opened the gate and allowed Grizzer to come into the Pack Holding Area with Luna.  The meeting was calm and Grizzer showed more interest in the Wolf Care Center  building than he did with Luna.  The following days resulted in some avoidance behavior, similar to magnets of like poles that repel each other, whichever enclosure Luna entered, Grizzer exited.  We were also monitoring Luna’s food possessive behavior since that was her behavioral pattern when she lived with the Exhibit Pack. By the third day of interactions, Grizzer and Luna started to show some social interactions with Luna even rolling over for Grizzer.  To make this transition easier for Grizzer, we are switching back to smaller more frequent feedings for both Grizzer and Luna with just one larger feeding on Saturday night.  With less food to cache, Luna’s defensive behavior subsides.  If needed, they can be separated for the Saturday night feeding, but we did watch Grizzer defend and feed on a beaver cache on Thanksgiving evening that had been Luna’s possession earlier in the day. They may have already made the adjustment.  

Grizzer – Trying another Den

Grizzer and Luna met face-to-face today, but before we released Luna, Grizzer got a chance to explore her new den.  The meeting went well and I will feature the video on this week’s Youtube, but everything we do for Grizzer must be done in moderation.  At 12 1/2 years of age, stimuli is good, but in moderation.  You may also notice that Grizzer has been a bit anxious lately and resting in a new area of the webcam .  This is primarily due to some construction projects.  The Working for Wolves crew started a new storage area that serves an added benefit of providing a visual screen for Grizzer.  While the long-term benefit is good, the short-term construction can have an impact.  We are almost done with the project and Grizzer and Luna can settle in for a winter of interactions. 

Grizzer – Calm and Collected

We did our first trial of Grizzer sharing a fence line with Luna.  Grizzer did fabulous, was calm and collected, not showing any posturing towards Luna.  It wasn’t quite the same response on the other side of the fence.  Luna seemed to have her old pattern of threat display, likely a preemptive move to control interactions.   Grizzer was excited to be back in the far habitat that has been off limits since Luna’s move out of the pack.  It didn’t take long for Grizzer to hone in on Denali through the fence and display a T-2- straight back tail with some direct eye contact for Denali.  Needless to stay, all wolves were stimulated and after Grizzer’s return back to his enclosure, it motivated him to dig up his cache’s and feed on a beaver.  Nothing like the perceived idea of competition to make a wolf consume some food.

Grizzer – Fall is in the Air

Grizzer lives in the East Side Retirement area that has less moisture due to topography and a lack of pond overflow that is characteristic of the Exhibit Pack.  These dryer soils seem to show the autumn colors in full force in retirement, while the vegetation around the Exhibit Pack pond remains green.  While photographers appreciate fall colors and eventual leaves falling, the change brings more open enclosures and to some extent, more vulnerability for wolves, especially the older wolves.  If Grizzer gets overwhelmed by the activities around the wolf yard, in summer, he could always retreat to the back of the retirement area and be literally out of sight.  Now, the breaks in the canopy are creating a bit more alertness and we need to be more sensitive to the activities within the wolf yard.  This is one of the reasons that we wind down the “Behind the Scenes” tours until next spring.  Grizzer will have some challenges during the upcoming Working for Wolves program in October.  We are carefully determining the extent of the work projects that we need to do prior to the weekend by wolf care staff  versus work that can be done during the Working for Wolves weekend.  We are excited about the weekend and know that it will result in a  tremendous improvement in the lives of Grizzer, Luna and the Exhibit Pack.