The Center is offering a free "Member's Only Behind the Scenes" tour prior to the feeding program. A wolf care staff escorts the group (limited to 15) to a set of bleachers adjacent to the wolf enclosure for a 45 minute introduction to the pack. The first program started today, with the wolves responding well to the group, all wolves approached the fence to see what was going on. This program is free to all member's but is limited to 15 total, with a minimum age requirement of 6. Members may sign up at the Center Den store. This program is offered on Saturday's during July and August.
Attempted to give Lucas vitamins, but ended up with vitamins to all wolves, but Lucas. (so much for the earlier log comments about vitamins being easy to deliver). Curator, Lori Schmidt, put Lucas in the holding pen alone and attempted to feed the vitamins to Lucas in a meatball. Lucas ate the meat and left the vitamins. After the third meatball, Lucas finally ate his vitamins. June in Ely is the beginning of the bug season. To keep the wolves comfortable in the exhibit and willing to stay in front of the viewing windows, staff provide pine and cedar wood chips near the observation windows. The wood chips (especially cedar oil) seems to act as a natural bug repellent. The wolves are also treated with daily fly ointment on their ear tips to deter biting flies.
Lucas is doing well, no news to report other than the fact that he still prefers sleeping under the cover of the branches of the recent tree felling.
Temperatures have been extremely high for Northern Minnesota, often reaching the high 80's (even 90's) and rarely cooling to the 70's at night. The wolves have been attempting to deal with the heat, by panting (evaporating heat and moisture off their tongue), by digging a hole in the dirt to lay on bare ground and by remaining inactive. So, if you visit the Center, your best bet of seeing them active is during the late afternoon, 5 – 7 pm or try one of the evening programs. If you watch the wolves on the web cam, try viewing by 7 am Central time, staff usually sees one if not more wolves on the greeting rock before the sun rises over the building.
Good interactions with all – Brushed all wolves who are in full shed. Applied fly ointment to all and fed vitamins to all. Jen Westlund noticed small spots on Lucas's nose, similar to the earlier problem with Vitaligo. We will photograph the spots and monitor the condition.
Mackenzie is very aggressive toward Shadow. LS noticed a bite wound, scab on Mackenzie's abdomen and a patch of missing hair on her upper chest. Shadow also had a patch of missing hair on his right shoulder. LS applied antibiotic ointment to both Shadow and Mackenzie's skin irritation. Lucas appears to have full pigmentation regained on his nose. The medical reports indicated a possible auto immune condition causing the pigmentation loss, so this new development is of interest. What triggered him to lose the pigmentation and now gain it back?
Lucas was trying to find a place to rest, since Lakota occupied his favorite den box. He went out for some time and did some sniffing around, but the weather was too much for him. After a few minutes, he went inside the other den box and rested there until the weather cooled a little.
Whatever was causing Lucas's shyness, seems to have ended. He was quite social with wolf care staff this morning and also did a few fresh snow dives with his nose, same as Lakota
Vermilion Community College student Damon Hann, who works at the Center as an assistant to the curator wrote the following behavioral observation. " When I first greeted, Lucas and Malik were the only ones who came up to the fence. Several minutes later Mac came down to greet. At this point, Lucas showed aggressive dominance toward Mackenzie. This got the other wolves stimulated and Malik and Lakota came after Mackenzie. Mac stood her ground and chased them away. At this point, she went over to the pack holding area and followed Shadow along the fence and she was growling, snarling and barring her teeth to Shadow with much ferocity. Several times, as Mac was chasing Shadow along the fence line, Malik would come from behind her and try to bite her in the hind quarters, I (Damon) called Malik over, and Mack continued her aggressive dominance toward Shadow (between the fence as Shadow is still isolated). Shadow was also showing aggressive growling and fence biting toward Mackenzie, but not nearly as intense as Mac was. Mac eventually stopped with Shadow and then she chased Lakota around. Lakota did not stand her ground and she fled every time Mac went after her. I held Malik's attention at the fence so he would stay out of it.
Lucas is fairing well, no signs of Vitaligo (a previously diagnosed pigmentation condition) this winter. Three Beaver (higher fat content needed in cold weather) were fed to the Retired Pack today; Lakota generally tries to get them all under her control and will defend her food from everyone including staff. Due to the cold weather, we redistributed the Beaver so all wolves were able to possess some food."
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.