As every year in early May so again this year the Haliburton Forest team entered the Wolf Centre enclosure on their annual quest to locate the den, in expectation of a litter of newborn wolf pups. This year we were accompanied by a camera team from Discovery Channel’s Daily Planet program.
And as every year going into the wolf enclosure and wondering what we may find is an adventure. This year was no exception. We did not find either den or pups in the area where in most years the alpha female would have kept the new generation of wolves. Instead we had to search the 15 acre enclosure for an extended time until, only during our second “sweep” did we find the pups – all 7 of them – dry and well at the top of the highest elevation within the enclosure.
But instead of encountering them at the base of a deep den – last year’s was 10 feet underground – they were virtually lying in plain view just sheltered by some overhanging branches and roots.
We then checked out the pups, sexed them and applied some deworming medication. There were 2 males and 5 females – 3 grey and 4 black.
Then we put them back where we found them to have the alpha female take over her litter again. She was observing our every move from a safe distance below us once we approached the cache of pups and especially while we handled them. However that only took the better part of 3 or 4 minutes. After that we moved out quickly to have the pack taking over the pups again.
