Keeper note

October 5, 2010

“Making Sure Everyone is Healthy”

Just when you think the chaos of summer can be left behind and things can relax for the fall season, reality settles in and the chaos resumes.  We are talking about one of the busiest seasons for the keepers at the Center, and that is “Capture Season”, which usually is from October to January.

Just like you would take your cat or dog to the veterinarian once a year for their vaccinations, a general health check up and maybe have some blood taken to make sure they are healthy, the animal care staff do the same thing for the wolves and all of the animals at the Center.  Although we are always watching them every day to make sure they are healthy, we also do a full exam once a year to make sure we haven’t missed anything.  You see, wild animals are VERY, VERY good at hiding injuries, illness and disease.  If they showed this type of weakness then they would become more vulnerable to other predators, or other animals.  This way, the exam and blood sample helps us to confirm their health or to give us an early warning to something that might be wrong.

During their health exam, we also give them their vaccinations and take a small blood sample to make sure they ARE healthy.  To do all of this, we usually need several people to go into their enclosure and form a “human wall” to encourage them to enter into their smaller holding area where they are usually fed and get fresh water, or sometimes into a den box.  Once in this smaller area, we use special pieces of equipment to restrain them (for our safety and theirs).  Once the wolf we want is secured in a corner of the holding area or the den box, the veterinarian will come and do the exam.  They will also take a blood sample and give the wolf (or fox) their vaccinations and a wormer.  The vaccinations we use are the same vaccinations that a veterinarian will give to your pet dog, and the whole process is usually done in a few minutes.  Once that is done, we then get the wolf to go into a crate so we can weigh them and make sure they aren’t too fat or too skinny.  Then, the process begins all over for the next wolf.

Another reason we usually do the annual exams on our animals in the fall, is that this is the best time to transfer them to another facility.  The weather is cooler and the transfer recommendations have been approved by all of the different committees that manage the species.  We also want to make sure that the transfer happens several months before the breeding season so that the new pair of “possible parents” can get to know each other.

This year, our capture season isn’t just busy because we have over 40 animals to catch, but also because we have a lot of transfers and shipment to coordinate between three of the five species that live at the Endangered Wolf Center.  All of these exams and transfers happen for one important reason:  to make sure that the species stays alive for generations to come…through breeding or even release back into the wild.  Stay tuned!

Read more about the animal transfers and recommendations in our November field note.  Also, make sure to read about it on our facebook page or website at www.endangeredwolfcenter.org.