Wolf Transfer Day: let’s talk about crates

Last week I talked about catching up the wolves. The focus of post #2 about red wolf transfer day will be on CRATES. In order to catch up 10 wolves, we not only need more than 10 crates (ideally), but very specific sizes and types in order to make our work go as easily as possible. The work starts well ahead of time to make sure we have the crates on grounds: a minimum of 10 of the “x-large” size,Read more

The goodbye was hard… on so many levels

Last week we transferred eight of our red wolves to the Mill Mountain Zoo, one of our Red Wolf SSP partner institutions. We’ve been updating folks through Facebook so hopefully everyone is aware of the changes. I’ll write a few different posts over the coming days to let people in on the enormity of the project. From planning, communications, wolf catch-up, health checks, transportation, emotions, documentation, institutional readiness, supply management, and more; the project was intense. Today, let’s focus onRead more
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Christmas 2019

Happy Christmas! Today has been incredibly smooth. I am sure it is due to the abundance of help. Yesterday we had an almost full contingent of staff, and today, Keeper Chris and Volunteer Virginia were in to help this morning. Given the help, it meant my start time was much later. I woke before my 6:01 AM alarm and arrived at work to get settled and organized for Chris’ arrival at 7 AM. In addition to the later start time,Read more

New Furniture

So, not exactly like my couch, or table at home, but some new items at Bears and Wolves. Come check everything out. The wolves immediately checked out their new furniture.Read more

Virginia Bear’s Laser Treatment

Virginia, our almost 15 year old American black bear, has some extensive arthritis and degenerative issues. We’ve been treating her for years with a variety of medicines and supplements. We’ve even added acupuncture and laser treatments. (Check out this blog post about treatment from almost 2-years ago). I watched yesterday as the team administered Virginia’s Laser Treatment (cold, or low-level, laser therapy is often recommended for pain management or inflammation reduction). The Animal Care team worked (and still works) toRead more