Spring - Wolf Park

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6 # , 52 Erin, born in 1998, is beta female in Wolf Park’s main pack. Erin is a strikingly marked gray female with a beautiful musical howl. She loves meeting new people. Other wolves in the main pack: Seneca, Tristan and Chetan (grey males), Miska (black male), and Marion (grey female). Support Wolf Park’s mission and activities and get the opportunity to greet the hand-raised wolves by becoming a wolf sponsor. A privilege of this program is the chance to meet a wolf first hand. The personal bond between a real live wolf and her/his sponsors forms a bridge of concern for wolves in the wild, for which our wolves are ambassadors. On behalf of the wolves in the wild and in captivity, we appreciate your continued support through our various levels of membership, including the Adopt- A-Wolf program. * ' *& &' ' " & )' /01%!! 2 &' /3!%!! /1!%!! . + , '- / 31%!! Single membership includes free admission for one to the Park for one year, a 10% discount on books in the gift shop, invitations to membersonly events, and our quarterly newsletter Wolf Park News. Family memberships include all of the above plus free admission for up to 8 family members per visit for the year of membership. Group memberships include free admission to the Park for up to 12 members of a group on any one visit. (These can be different members on each trip!) Includes one copy of newsletter and materials (to share), and 10% discount on books in the gift shop. Adopt-A-Wolf includes family membership, plus a personalized Leader of the Pack Certificate with a photo of “your” wolf and signed by the director. You will have visiting privileges and contact with your wolf during your sponsorship in most circumstances. If your wolf is aggressive or shy, or for some reason we do not believe a visit would be a positive experience for you or your wolf, another will stand as proxy. You must be 18 or older to meet a wolf. You will receive a life history of your wolf, quarterly updates and photos. After the spring shedding season you will receive a sample of wool from your wolf. Only the Adopt-A-Wolf program includes the opportunity to meet a wolf. Name: ______________________________________________ Address: ____________________________________________ City: ________________________________________________ State: _________ Zip: _____________ Phone: ____________ My check for $_____________________ is enclosed or Please make checks payable to: NAWPF or WOLF PARK You may charge my: MASTERCARD VISA CARD Account # ______________________ Expiration Date __________ Sign here: _________________________________________________ Your signature is required for MC and VISA charges. - $* . + , '- *& 4 ' -&'' & ' (" I plan to contribute my Adopt-A-Wolf gift in: ' )&-+ - / 31%!! 3 & + '' + - / %01 Quarterly payments are also accepted via automatic withdrawal on Mastercard or Visa I would like to adopt _______________________________________ If you have no preference, a wolf will be selected for you. 55 # # 2 6 # # 7 5 % WOLF PARK, Battle Ground IN 47920 (765) 567-2265 Wolf Park News Summer 2002 - ! " by Pat Goodmann After the breeding season was over we human observers were tired of seeing aggression between the wolves and looked forward to the postbreeding season change in hormonal profiles. One of the early indicators was the increase in tolerance or active friendliness between wolves like Seneca and Tristan, who usually have a pretty good relationship outside the breeding season, but occasionally tangle in January and February. On the morning of March 21 st, Seneca and Tris held a “play bout” lasting about eleven minutes. They wrestled a lot, including Seneca sitting or lying on Tristan, holding him down and giving him moderately gentle pinches. (Moderately gentle as evidenced by the absence of yelping from Tristan.) Nor was Tristan idle while he was being used as furniture and pinched — he squirmed, kicked and attempted, though not very hard, to roll free, all without arousing Seneca’s ire. Miska stood beside them without joining in and Chetan, again the lowest ranking male, hung around about a hundred feet away, too inhibited to come close. A little later, after Miska lay down to rest, Chetan approached Tristan and Seneca, who were still wrestling. He watched without joining in while Tristan and Seneca broke apart and Tristan rolled from side to side waving his jaws. Then the two wrestled again, and again Seneca pinned and pinched Tris but without causing him obvious discomfort. Tris got up and they walked side by side jostling each other. Seneca then performed the wolf equivalent of “stage business” with an object and when Tristan came back, Chetan showed that he was not too squelched to “help” Seneca grab Tris by his scruff. This time they didn’t pin Tris, they just held on. Chetan was able to leave without harassment and even when Marion wandered over the interaction stayed relaxed and friendly. Marion herself was cause for some concern as she was still aggressive to Erin, although the intensity waned and she did not spend as much time “micromanaging” Erin. After Maya’s death (see box at right), Erin spent a lot of time on the peninsula and I heard her howling repeatedly. While we cannot ask Erin what she feels now that Maya is no longer there, I think she misses Maya in some sense. The two sisters were in each other’s metaphorical pockets so much of the time. They probably had more access and friendly social interactions with each other than with any other single wolf in the pack. While they were not always friendly to each other, they usually got along well, and even licked each other’s wounds. I have been watching to see if Erin seeks out the males more now that Maya is dead, and if she can moderate her behavior so that they are more likely to tolerate her approaching and greeting them. So far I have seen single instances in which she did seem be inhibiting her usual excited exuberance to the point that the males tolerated her better, but it is too soon to tell if this is a real trend or just an brief clustering of events. Last year Marion was nicer to both Maya and Erin in April and May and then started tolerating them less and less. While we were able to shape her behavior to the point that she will sit-stay at the fence, nose poked through the mesh, waiting for the tangible reward of a food treat even if Erin is there, she is not noticeably more tolerant of Erin in wolf to wolf social situations. I have seen and taped a few instances of Marion, Tristan and Erin “playing Tristan actively submits to Seneca.. Photo by Monty Sloan
Pat, Andrew, Gale and Jessica practice “shovel diplomacy” with Marion. Photo by Monty Sloan nicely” together. In the longest of these bouts, Marion’s hackles stay down admirably. I think that one reason Marion and Erin got along so well on that occasion was because the two girls did very little to each other. Mostly they did things to Tristan: roll on him, sit on him (he is big enough for both of them to sit on him at once) and tweak him, then let him up, pin him, and do it all over again. They could both be doing things to him at the same time without showing hostility to each other. I have also seen Erin pick up objects, such as a bone or piece of hide, and offer them to other wolves. She will sometimes shake or wave them in front of a threatening Marion as if trying to induce a mood shift and get Marion to “play” instead of threaten. As the trees and bushes slowly leaf out in this long, cold spring, Erin has been scanning the enclosure anxiously. It is no longer a simple thing for Marion to sit on the dam, or on the line of pines on the east side of the enclosure, and see everything Erin does, but neither is it easy for Erin to tell where Marion is and whether she is watching. When we are in the enclosure we will watch for Marion and give Erin a chance to do things like ask for whole body massages, chase bubbles, and have treats. If Marion is coming we woof to warn Erin or call Marion’s name (which Erin associates with Marion) in an attempt to lure her to us instead of letting her focus on Erin. We do the same sort of thing for Miska and Chetan when we are in the enclosure. This has to be done carefully because human intervention like this can backfire (from a human point of view). The wolves we are trying to protect may try to use us as “back up” while they assert themselves at a wolf who has been intimidating them. This can backfire on the wolf badly when the humans leave. “Tong diplomacy” has been superceded by the Shovel Twirling and Marching Society. Thanks to a couple of days when Marion was a) very very hungry and b) we could not find any fresh scats, she decided that biting into poop and trying to shove it aside to loot and pillage the wheelbarrow was a viable option. So we obtained shovels (large, imposing objects) and, without paying Marion particular attention except to briefly greet her in friendly tones, we worked on twirling the shovels in synchrony while marching beside, in front of, and behind the wheelbarrow. The presence of these strange objects was enough to make Marion think twice. Marion backed off and walked parallel to us at a distance. She lay down and submitted. She got the deer. To date we have been able to fade the cue, by making the twirling less spectacular and dropping some of the other Synchronized Shovel Movements from our repertoire, but it looks as if we will continue to report from time to time on the progress in teaching Marion that all things are not necessarily hers. Members’ Weekend (see the cover story) was quite an event for the wolves as well as the humans. After watching the construction of the bridge supports, and being fascinated by watching the bridge moved into place, they had to get used to seeing people cross the bridge. Erin found the first sizeable group to cross the bridge to be rather alarming and she swam over to the western front. Over at East Lake, Chani and Sierra, and Orca, who were most alarmed at the big crowd crossing the bridge after the ribbon cutting ceremony, no longer act fearful. Socrates and Kiri, who often occupy one of the back enclosures along the loop trail, seem to find the increased opportunities for human watching mildly entertaining. We usually call the trail the Loop Trail because it now makes a loop but we also call it the Loup Trail because it allows better viewing of the loups. - - 2. 34456- 7. 8998 Maya died suddenly and wholly unexpectedly around the middle of the day on March 6 th. At mid morning that day Monty Sloan and Gale Motter were in with the pack doing a program. Marion, for some reason, decided not to come over so Maya got lots of cuddles and tummy rubs. Neither Gale nor Monty noticed anything amiss — she appeared completely normal. At about 1:00 pm, Peggy Marsico went up to the observation deck and looked out the window at the wolves. Maya was lying on her side with her tongue hanging out, unresponsive as Erin stood beside her and tugged on the side of her neck. Erin appeared to be trying to get a response from Maya. Peggy hurried for help but Maya was already gone. She had no external wounds but it did appear that she had bitten her tongue hard enough to make it bleed. Amanda and Monty and Peggy all thought it looked as if Maya had a sudden seizure. Though Erin grabbed at Maya’s tail when Monty picked up her body, it was not done in an aggressive way — it is com- mon for a wolf picked up by Monty to have its tail tweaked in a playful way by other wolves present, and that was what Erin appeared to be doing. Marion was also present and Amanda commented on her complete lack of aggression, saying that Marion seemed confused. Maya’s body was taken to the Animal Disease and Diagnostic Laboratory at Purdue for a postmortem. To date we have received word back that she was not suffering from any of the usual canine viruses. We are still awaiting the outcome of some other tests. Our vet, Dr. Dave, and I strongly suspect that Maya suffered a severe neurological incident. Recalling the intense seizures she suffered when she was five to seven months old, I believe we were lucky to have her for as long as we did. Maya was a very special little wolf, overcoming many obstacles in the course of her short life. I will always treasure memories of her buoyant, joyous personality. She was a social, friendly and beautiful wolf who was always ready to interact, both with humans and with other wolves, and always had a smile handy. She loved to bounce. Her “boing” and her “ottering” play run made it into the Wolf Ethogram, and her hobby of “dancing with humans” has forever earned her a place in staff slang. Despite her setbacks as a pup, Maya was able to remain in the pack, interacted with other wolves and mated each year after she became sexually mature. She was feeling well and showed reasonably good to effervescently goofy good spirits in her last winter, despite Marion. Maya was one of those individuals whose talent seems to lie in being able to enjoy what they have to the fullest, without pining over what they do not have. She made a great deal of her short life in spite of the restrictions imposed by Marion. By the accounts of Gale and Monty, Maya had a very nice last morning. I am going to concentrate on that rather than dwelling on futile “if onlys.” Maya. Maya with Erin. Photo by Monty Sloan Photo by Monty Sloan Wolf Park News Summer 2002 7
Page 1 and 2: On April 19-21, Wolf Park celebrate
Page 3 and 4: $ # Wolf Park celebrated its 30th a
Page 5: 1 0 Every year, some extremely nice

Spring - Wolf Park

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