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Pat, Andrew, Gale and Jessica practice “shovel diplomacy” with Marion. Photo by Monty Sloan<br />
nicely” together. In the longest of these bouts, Marion’s hackles stay down<br />
admirably. I think that one reason Marion and Erin got along so well on that<br />
occasion was because the two girls did very little to each other. Mostly they<br />
did things to Tristan: roll on him, sit on him (he is big enough for both of them<br />
to sit on him at once) and tweak him, then let him up, pin him, and do it all<br />
over again. They could both be doing things to him at the same time without<br />
showing hostility to each other. I have also seen Erin pick up objects, such as<br />
a bone or piece of hide, and offer them to other wolves. She will sometimes<br />
shake or wave them in front of a threatening Marion as if trying to induce a<br />
mood shift and get Marion to “play” instead of threaten.<br />
As the trees and bushes slowly leaf out in this long, cold spring, Erin has<br />
been scanning the enclosure anxiously. It is no longer a simple thing for<br />
Marion to sit on the dam, or on the line of pines on the east side of the<br />
enclosure, and see everything Erin does, but neither is it easy for Erin to tell<br />
where Marion is and whether she is watching. When we are in the enclosure<br />
we will watch for Marion and give Erin a chance to do things like ask for whole<br />
body massages, chase bubbles, and have treats. If Marion is coming we<br />
woof to warn Erin or call Marion’s name (which Erin associates with Marion)<br />
in an attempt to lure her to us instead of letting her focus on Erin. We do the<br />
same sort of thing for Miska and Chetan when we are in the enclosure. This<br />
has to be done carefully because human intervention like this can backfire<br />
(from a human point of view). The wolves we are trying to protect may try to<br />
use us as “back up” while they assert themselves at a wolf who has been<br />
intimidating them. This can backfire on the wolf badly when the humans<br />
leave.<br />
“Tong diplomacy” has been superceded by the Shovel Twirling and<br />
Marching Society. Thanks to a couple of days when Marion was a) very very<br />
hungry and b) we could not find any fresh scats, she decided that biting into<br />
poop and trying to shove it aside to loot and pillage the wheelbarrow was a<br />
viable option. So we obtained shovels (large, imposing objects) and, without<br />
paying Marion particular attention except to briefly greet her in friendly tones,<br />
we worked on twirling the shovels in synchrony while marching beside, in<br />
front of, and behind the wheelbarrow. The presence of these strange objects<br />
was enough to make Marion think twice. Marion backed off and walked<br />
parallel to us at a distance. She lay down and submitted. She got the deer.<br />
To date we have been able to fade the cue, by making the twirling less<br />
spectacular and dropping some of the other Synchronized Shovel Movements<br />
from our repertoire, but it looks as if we will continue to report from time to<br />
time on the progress in teaching Marion that all things are not necessarily<br />
hers.<br />
Members’ Weekend (see the cover story) was quite an event for the<br />
wolves as well as the humans. After watching the construction of the bridge<br />
supports, and being fascinated by watching the bridge moved into place, they<br />
had to get used to seeing people cross the bridge. Erin found the first<br />
sizeable group to cross the bridge to be rather alarming and she swam over<br />
to the western front. Over at East Lake, Chani and Sierra, and Orca, who<br />
were most alarmed at the big crowd crossing the bridge after the ribbon<br />
cutting ceremony, no longer act fearful. Socrates and Kiri, who often occupy<br />
one of the back enclosures along the loop trail, seem to find the increased<br />
opportunities for human watching mildly entertaining. We usually call the trail<br />
the Loop Trail because it now makes a loop but we also call it the Loup Trail<br />
because it allows better viewing of the loups.<br />
-<br />
- 2. 34456- 7. 8998<br />
Maya died suddenly and wholly unexpectedly around the middle of the<br />
day on March 6 th. At mid morning that day Monty Sloan and Gale Motter<br />
were in with the pack doing a program. Marion, for some reason, decided<br />
not to come over so Maya got lots of cuddles and tummy rubs. Neither<br />
Gale nor Monty noticed anything amiss — she appeared completely normal.<br />
At about 1:00 pm, Peggy Marsico went up to the observation deck<br />
and looked out the window at the wolves. Maya was lying on her side<br />
with her tongue hanging out, unresponsive as Erin stood beside her and<br />
tugged on the side of her neck. Erin appeared to be trying to get a response<br />
from Maya. Peggy hurried for help but Maya was already gone.<br />
She had no external wounds but it did<br />
appear that she had bitten her tongue<br />
hard enough to make it bleed. Amanda<br />
and Monty and Peggy all thought it<br />
looked as if Maya had a sudden seizure.<br />
Though Erin grabbed at Maya’s tail when<br />
Monty picked up her body, it was not<br />
done in an aggressive way — it is com-<br />
mon for a wolf picked up by Monty to<br />
have its tail tweaked in a playful way by<br />
other wolves present, and that was what Erin appeared to be doing.<br />
Marion was also present and Amanda commented on her complete lack<br />
of aggression, saying that Marion seemed confused.<br />
Maya’s body was taken to the Animal Disease and Diagnostic Laboratory<br />
at Purdue for a postmortem. To date we have received word back<br />
that she was not suffering from any of the usual canine viruses. We are<br />
still awaiting the outcome of some other tests. Our vet, Dr. Dave, and I<br />
strongly suspect that Maya suffered a severe neurological incident. Recalling<br />
the intense seizures she suffered when she was five to seven<br />
months old, I believe we were lucky to have her for as long as we did.<br />
Maya was a very special little wolf, overcoming many obstacles in the<br />
course of her short life. I will always treasure memories of her buoyant,<br />
joyous personality. She was a social, friendly and beautiful wolf who was<br />
always ready to interact, both with humans and with other wolves, and<br />
always had a smile handy. She loved to bounce. Her “boing” and her<br />
“ottering” play run made it into the <strong>Wolf</strong> Ethogram, and her hobby of<br />
“dancing with humans” has forever earned her a place in staff slang.<br />
Despite her setbacks as a pup, Maya was able to remain in the pack,<br />
interacted with other wolves and mated each year after she became<br />
sexually mature. She was feeling well and showed reasonably good to<br />
effervescently goofy good spirits in her last winter, despite Marion.<br />
Maya was one of those individuals whose talent seems to lie in being<br />
able to enjoy what they have to the fullest, without pining over what they<br />
do not have. She made a great deal of her short life in spite of the restrictions<br />
imposed by Marion. By the accounts of Gale and Monty, Maya had<br />
a very nice last morning. I am going to concentrate on that rather than<br />
dwelling on futile “if onlys.”<br />
Maya.<br />
Maya with Erin.<br />
Photo by Monty Sloan<br />
Photo by Monty Sloan<br />
<strong>Wolf</strong> <strong>Park</strong> News Summer 2002 7
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