Happy Birthday to Shadow!

Uma P. with her drawing of Shadow.

Uma P. with her drawing of Shadow.

This lovely drawing of Shadow and Juno in their sanctuary enclosure was drawn by a young lady named Uma P., in honor of Shadow’s 3rd birthday. Uma & her mom visited Wolf Haven International to see the young wolf that she adopted at Christmas time.

See Sweetgrass documentary – sheepherding in American West

Join Wolf Haven International for a special screening of Sweetgrass at Evergreen State College followed by a discussion on wolf recovery and agriculture in the Pacific Northwest and abroad. This breath-taking documentary follows the last of the American west cowboys as they lead herds of sheep into the mountains of Montana. The discussion following the film will be led by the Evergreen Conservation Club and the Evergreen Animal Agriculture Club.
Wolf Haven International Screening & Discussion of Sweetgrass
Evergreen State College
Free Showing
April 12, 2013 at 4:30pm
2700 Evergreen Parkway NW
Olympia, WA 98505
This event is a collaboration with the award-winning documentary series POV.
 
“With eloquence and splendor, “Sweetgrass” is a singular record of all there is to love and hate.”

Slate review of the movie Sweetgrass.

Feeding the Wolves at Wolf Haven

Lonnie with salmon

Lonnie with salmon

Our Wolf Feeding Schedule

At Wolf Haven International, we have traditionally maintained a feeding schedule for the wolves that mimics a wild setting as much as possible. This means adjusting their diet to simulate a “feast or famine” style of eating.  (In the wild, wolves generally succeed in hunting one out of ten times.) We accomplished this by maintaining our animals on a bi-weekly feeding schedule (with treats in-between).

We recently began modifying our feeding schedule. Rather than two regular feedings (as in the past), we now focus simply on 20 pounds of meat per wolf/per week. The number of feedings (usually 2-3) and the amount per feeding varies depending on what food we have available. The primary food sources are beef, chicken, and salmon.  The salmon is donated to us from World Famous Pike Place Fish Market in Seattle. The wolves’ diet is still supplemented with marrow bones and turkey necks. In addition, we now get donated meat through our participation in the Sustainable Selections Program (meat donations from WalMart). This includes steaks, roast, ground beef, and other human grade food. This meat is usually divided up and frozen into a ‘loaf’ for each wolf.

Feeding Species Survival Plan (SSP) Wolves

Kibble feeder made from cedar wood.

Kibble feeder made from cedar wood.

Keep in mind the SSP animals (red wolves and Mexican gray wolves) are on a different diet: The SSP animals are fed kibble, with approved supplements (mainly roadkill). The reason the SSP animals are fed kibble is so ALL the facilities in the programs can maintain on the same diet. This removes the need for animals to get re-adjusted to a diet at a new facility if they get transferred. It also prevents potential pre-release animals from developing a taste for farm or ranch animals.

Erik Wilber, Animal Care Specialist

brotherly love

Siblings Myta and Chai

Siblings Myta and Chai

Chai, one of our female San Bernardino wolves, was transported to the vet on Tuesday for surgery. Chai, who will be 10 this month, has remained intact since her arrival in 2000. She is housed with her brother, Myta Jr., who is altered, so there was no risk of pups. However, the last couple of years, she has been having very severe false pregnancies, with symptoms persisting into August. We decided to do a complete spay so that she would not have to endure another season.

While Chai was at the vet, Myta received a portion of his regular meal, since Tuesday is a normal feeding day for the wolves. When Chai returned, she was not ready to go out so she spent some time recovering in her crate until she had burned through the anesthetic drugs.

By around six that evening she was ready to go; we transported her into her enclosure and opened the gate of the crate and backed off, allowing her to come out on her own time.

Myta Jr. just watched her from a distance, slowly walking back and forth, whining. As soon as Chai exited her crate, he took off running. We thought maybe he was going to run over and greet her but instead he ran to his meat pile. “oh… how sweet,” we thought. “he’s going to offer her a piece of his meat.” but instead he proceeded to scarf it down as fast as he could.

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Wolf Haven Announces New Summer Event