Red wolf pups m1803 and m1804 are two months old and due for a health check. Their last checkup on May 20th went smoothly, the lone true challenge was locating the two-week-old pups in their lush enclosure. Yesterday’s attempt to capture and vaccinate the pups proceeded neither with ease nor success!

Close to a dozen WCC staff and volunteers gathered early on Thursday evening to locate, capture, and “process” the two pups. Red wolf parents F1397 and M1483 moved easily to the vacant half of their enclosure where they watched the forthcoming follies without alarm. Based on past observations of the pups’ behavior, we were fairly positive that the pups remained well stashed in the cavernous den designed by their mother. After the two hour attempt to excavate the pups using shovels, catch poles, flashlights, and mirrors yielded no wolves, the WCC team surrendered. We convened in the classroom to rehash the details of our defeat and spy upon the red wolf family via the WCC WOLFCAM. We watched the parents probe every spot where our scents likely lingered. They needed also to asses the damage we caused to their sturdy den. After a 30 minute survey of their home turf, F1397 stood outside the entrance of the den and summoned her boys to the surface. A spirited reunion followed and we couldn’t help but cheer from the classroom at our own expense.

Several “fans” of the WCC on Facebook posted what they estimated the pups would weigh and unfortunately there will be no winner of this guessing game. We will pick one of the participating fans at random and send them a small prize nonetheless.