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

Red Wolf SSP meeting update

July was the Red Wolf SSP Master Plan meeting. It was hosted by White Oak. White Oak is an amazing facility- check them out and what they do. On my way in, I drove by a crash of rhinos (I love that a group of rhinos is called a crash). Outside my room was a river on one side and a herd of Somali Wild Ass on the other.   The meeting is always held the mid to end of July.Read more

Red Wolf SSP meeting 2017

Next week I am off to this year’s Red Wolf SSP Meeting. Every July I head to the master plan meeting for the red wolf species survival plan (SSP). Folks from around the country come together to talk “red wolves”. We review new research, what’s going on with the red wolves in the wild, any health advancements, and more. This is also when we make the breeding and transfer recommendations for the upcoming year. With the pups born at theRead more

2014 Red Wolf SSP meeting

Besides picking up lemurs last week in Ohio, I also had the Red Wolf SSP planning meeting. Akron Zoo was a wonderful host, and a beautiful Zoo. We talked about so many things that my head is still spinning: information about captive wolves, wild wolves, veterinary research, enrichment, capture and restraint, and so much more. We spent one whole day discussing husbandry issues, such as enrichment and diets. We also saw several videos on different ways to “catch-up” wolves (HenceRead more

2013 red wolf SSP meeting

The red wolf SSP meeting took place the end of July. About 20 folks from institutions that house red wolves were able to make it to the meeting.  Becky Bartel, the Assistant Coordinator of the Red Wolf Re3cvoery Program wrote a great post on their Blog about the meeting. I highly recommend checking out their blog ( http://trackthepack.blogspot.com)  for information about the red wolf recovery program and the red wolves that roam free in the wild. Our two wolves- 1414Read more