Colorado Wolves

At the end of my 'sabbatical' from the park I drove to Colorado Springs & spent some time with my good friend Pat & her husband Dale.  They were nice enough to put me up for a week & we had a great time cooking home cooked meals & touring around Colorado.  Our picnic at the Garden of the Gods was spectacular.  What a great evening.  Reminded me of our picnics in YNP.  The weather was absolutely gorgeous except for the day before I left, when it snowed about 3 inches & messed the roads up for driving back to the park.  It actually turned into kind of an Old Faithful reunion as Sharon another of our friends from Old Faithful, was in the middle of a 2 week visit with Pat & Dale when I got there.  It was fun catching up and renewing our golf games.  Pat also took us along to her weekly Mah Jongg group.  What a nice group of folks that put up with Sharon & I who never played before.  They really made us feel welcome.  But the absolute high light of the week was visiting a wolf preserve near Colorado Springs http://wolfeducation.org/.  It is a preserve similar to the one I went to last year in Indiana where they provide an environment to keep around 17-18 wolves.  The Colorado preserve provides tours focused on education and outreach to schools telling the story of the wolves in the wild.  Unlike the IN preserve the CO preserve had Mexican & Arctic wolves in addition to timber wolves.  They also had swift foxes, which are indigenous to CO & red foxes, which are an non-native species.  The red fox was brought to North America by the British for hunting.  Unfortunately the red fox is driving out the swift foxes from their native territories, causing the swift fox to be listed as endangered.

Swift Fox

Red Fox

In their gift shop/visitor center they track the number of wild wolves by state that have been killed by hunting since the grey wolf has been removed from the endangered list in 2011.  Minnesota leads the list with over 400, with ID, MT, & WY each having >100.  Michigan which just established a hunting season this year will sadly be added to the list from now on.  On the tour they described each wolf & it was apparent that each wolf had its own personality.  Some would come up to the fence lured by a 'treat' from the tour guide, but others would not come near with any amount of coxing.  The preserve is accredited as a zoo, so they have to meet strict standards, one of which is the maximum number of wolves that they can house.  They said that wolf preserves across the US are filled to the maximum at this time.  Therefore they neuter all their animals to avoid breeding.  But a couple of years ago they had an 'accident' when an 8 month old female unexpectedly went into heat resulting in 2 pups being born.  One died, but one is still living though after many life threatening physical ailments.  Apparently there is an underground market for exotic animal including wolves.  Guaranteed 'hunt clubs' need a supply of animals for there clients & obviously aren't as interested in the wolves' long term physical well being.  The female that gave birth came from one of these 'clubs' when a client bought the live wolf, but then couldn't take care of it.  It is believed that the poor physical care that this wolf received was a factor in why it went into heat at such an early age & why the pups had such physical problems.  Our guide told us that there are over 3,000 guaranteed hunt clubs in Texas alone??????

Like in IN, I again got the feeling that these magnificent animals should not be kept in pens, but this may be the only way many people get to see these highly evolved hunters.  I just hope that they don't think of them as cuddly dogs, but understand that they are highly intelligent apex predators that benefit their wild environment.  As in IN they offered a photo op with 2 of the wolfs that are more acclimated to being around people.  Sharon would not let us pass this up, so after emptying our pockets & shedding jackets we were instructed upon entering the enclosure to not approach the wolves or make any quick movements.  We were to sit on a log & if the wolves came up to us, to only pet their sides or chests.  I have to admit that I was a little nervous to enter the enclosure that held 2 wolves.  A large black male & a magnificent grey female.  The guide told us the male seemed to like men & if it came up to us it would probably come to me first.  On our tour these 2 wolves were 'arguing' about something with loud growling & snapping jaws deciding the outcome.  The guide laughed saying that that was the way these 2 wolfs settled things between themselves, but never acted that way towards humans (?).  As we walked to the log & sat down, the wolves seemed to have no interest in us.  After several minutes of cajoling they still did not want to come over & say hello.  To entice them over, the handler told us he would give us a treat (a slice of hot dog?).  We were to hold our hands behind our back, palm up.  They would place a treat in our hand which we should then close & bring around to our front.  Well that did the trick.  When the food came out the wolves came over.  It was an irresistible ploy for the canids.  I thought it was a little like being in the ocean & enticing a feeding frenzy with the sharks.  I couldn't tell if it was the hot dog or a wolf nose that I was closing my hand around.  The first time I opened my hand too soon & the wolf was gone before I got him in front of me for a picture.  Next time I kept my hand closed as the wolf pressed his nose into my palm & started licking at the hot dog.  It was easy to lure him in front of me for the pics & petting.  What an odd feeling to have a wolf's tongue pushing between my fingers!  Sharon couldn't resist & gave the male a hug around the neck, which caused the handlers to get very excited, immediately ordering Sharon to remove her arm from around the wolf.  Turns out that an arm around the throat is an act of domination to the wolf & may cause it to react badly (Way to go Sharon!  Trying to get us mauled, Ha!)  We had several minutes of close interaction with both wolves & the female even gave me a kiss.  No I did not have a treat in my mouth.  What an amazing experience interacting with these spectacular animals feeding them by hand.  Their fur was very coarse & you could feel how muscular they are.  They were very gentle, but once or twice they put a paw on my back & I could feel the strength in their huge paws.  Once we started interacting with these wolves I never felt threatened or in fear of them.  You could see the intelligence in their eyes as they tried to figure us out.  What amazing animals.  It was spectacular, but I couldn't get the image of a wolf pack hunting bison in Lamar Valley or tearing apart an elk carcass out of my mind.  But that is just the way they survive in the wild.

Look into my eyes...

Don't do this!

The female finally came over.

At the end of the tour our guide got the attention of all the wolves by howling (She was from Alaska & was the best howler I've ever heard).  The wolves couldn't resist & howls rose up from across the preserve.  The wolves howled for a couple of minutes until they faded into silence.  I have only heard wolves howl a couple of times in the wild so to be in the middle of such a primal behavior is almost a mystical experience.  I got a little of it on video.  Howling video  Just another example of how spectacular these wonderful animals are.  I just hope there will be wolves in wild places like Yellowstone for my grandchildren to discover & enjoy.  What a spectacular day!