Less than five months ago the chances of survival for baby timber wolves Nissa and Lupe were grim.
Their mother was shot and killed in the Edmonton area. They were alone. But the wolves were the recipients of good fortune when Alberta wildlife officials were called. The pups were transferred to Innisfail's Discovery Wildlife Park. They had a second chance.
And now, following months of loving and dedicated care, the two female pups are regularly running at the park as if they were home in the wild.
Serena Bos, the zoo's head zookeeper, said Nissa and Lupe are now fully engaged in twice-a-day training in one of the park's massive enclosures, which the public can view.
“We do this a minimum of twice a day, plus we may in addition do anywhere from one to three or four wolf encounters with the public every day,” said Bos, adding there are multiple reasons for the intensive training.
“One is for exercise, for pure sheer running, because they are five-month-old pups that need to go. The second is for socialization. Building that relationship is really important, and they are in training for all the reasons we train every animal in the park, and this is to maintain medical health as they mature and get older,” she said.
Bos added the intensive training regime is especially vital because they are both females, which brings additional challenges, as wolves in the wild normally do not have two females in a pack.
“Normally in packs there is one dominant female, said Bos. “If you have siblings, the females will separate and go into different packs so normally you don't have two females that stay together.”
For as long as Lupe and Nissa are at the park they will always be together. The park has three mature male timber wolves but they will not be put together with the new female pups.
“If we were to put these young females in with them their natural instinct would be to kill them. It is dominance,” said Bos.
And that of course will not happen. Lupe and Nissa are wolves, often a greatly misunderstood creature of the wild, that are now thriving on second chances at the Innisfail zoo. Their ongoing training, which will continue for the rest of their lives, will ensure they have the highest standard of living for wolves in captivity.
“Their training is also for enrichment,” said Bos. “It's considered to be the highest enrichment you can give an animal in captivity.”
Discovery Wildlife Park will be open until the Thanksgiving weekend. For the remaining Wednesdays, there will be half price admission at the park.
