Thanks to the concerned caller last week about MacKenzie. When she's not on the camera, it generally means she's lying in her bed in the corner of the enclosure. She's doing well and enjoyed some personal attention from wolf care staff today. The wolves are checked every morning by the staff people entering the building around 7:30 or 8 am, in addition to the wolf care staff that enter the enclosure for daily checks (usually at 8 am, but may vary depending upon the day). The Retired Pack's enclosure is located right outside the wolf lab, so even if you don't see someone in the enclosure on the webcam, we are still around the lab and the wolf yard to make sure everyone is up and active.
This morning's wolf care found the retired wolves very active, with Mackenzie giving the wolf care staff enthusiastic greetings. Lately, Mackenzie has been focused on watching the Exhibit Pack. It could be the increased activity during the fall/winter months, or the noise from construction projects close to the center, or a combination of things….it's hard to tell. Her attention this morning was diverted by the fresh straw that was brought into the enclosure.
MacKenzie is doing well and was very enthusiastic when greeting staff this morning. The Retired Pack was fed beaver last Thursday, giving them a break from the abundance of deer they have received due to deer season scraps. When the beaver was brought into the enclosure, MacKenzie got two of them and proceeded to take them to her corner, where she guarded them from Lucas and Lakota when they tried to approach.
MacKenzie discovered that a woodchuck entered their enclosure and had taken residence under one of the denboxes. The woodchuck was doing a whistling call that increased the digging activity around the denbox. The woodchuck spent the night and by mid-day of the following day, scurried across the enclosure and scaled the fence. Mac was fast on his heels, but missed his tail by an inch as he scaled to safety at the top of the fence. Wolf Curator, Lori Schmidt, helped the woodchuck off the fence and he scurried away under the secondary security fence to freedom in the woods. It doesn't appear that the woodchuck was too negatively conditioned, as he showed up in the garage a day later.
Staff have this term called the crocodile walk, where a wolf hunches low to the ground and appears to roll over, but continues slinking along on their front legs. MacKenzie is famous for this behavior; lately, she's been very excited to see staff, and approaches for what appears to be a submissive roll-over. But, with so much activity in the Exhibit Pack and the problem of being vulnerable in front of Lakota, she doesn't roll over, but continues along her path, with front legs low to the ground and an arched back.
This week's wolf logs were written by program participants in the 10/28-10/30/05 weekend program called "Working for Wolves", in which participants performed enclosure enrichment and maintenance projects in both the Retired and Exhibit enclosures. Written by Andi Nelson: For the Working for Wolves weekend, some major changes were done to the retirement pack's enclosure. While they were in the holding pen, there was some whining and pacing along the fenceline with Shadow. We moved the den boxes and filled them with fresh straw, which was also placed in other resting areas. Upon return to the enclosure, Mackenzie explored the changes and modifications to the enclosure. Her arthritis issues and eye condition seem to be in a holding pattern, at least since mid-September.
MacKenzie is doing well, as staff provided fresh straw beds this morning, she protected her deer leg cache from the old bed, by carrying it around the enclosure until staff were finished. She also defended it from Lakota, but a mere glance of a dominant eye, she had control.
So sorry for the delay in the wolf logs. Preparation for the Wolf Symposium in Colorado Springs has taken a bit of my time. In addition, protocols and contingency plans during my absence need to be written to ensure that every possible wolf emergency is covered. International Wolf Center members and former nannies, Brian and Ellen Dietz will be driving up from Illinois to spend the weekend at the Center assisting with any pack issues that may arise. I am most grateful for their offer to help keep an eye on the pack. I plan to feed a large deer carcass to both packs on Thursday night prior to my departure. A full wolf is usually a sleepy wolf. Dr Chip Hanson and wolf care staff Matt Fetterer and Jim Ziburski will be monitoring the pack as well.
Mackenzie had some troubles with Lakota yesterday. Lakota sucessfully stole a beaver form Mackenzie and guard it. Today, during wolf care, Lakota instigated a chase play and Mackenzie responded running after her and grabbing her scruff, but as you can see by Lakota's tail position, Mackenzie was not aggressive. Notice in the right corner of the picture, Lucas's leg as he runs around the pen.
It's a bright sunny day today, and generally that causes MacKenzie to be a bit light sensitive of her eyes, but today she seems to be doing well. Staff did comment on a few things, the cloudiness in her right eye is more noticeable and she's really turning gray.
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.