Words For Wildlife by State licensed Wildlife Rehabilitator, James Orr
No Wolves in the Living Room Please
I live with 8 full blooded wolves, two Arctic and six Timber wolves rescued by the ASPCA of Hot Springs,. Two of the six I have raised since pups and the rest came to me as adults. They cannot be released as they are not native to Arkansas so they are permanent residents of my Wildlife Refuge.
Red wolves were native to Arkansas but have been extinct for decades. I have had several people tell me they have seen wild wolves in Arkansas but officially they do not exist. There is an animal known as a Coy dog that is a cross between a domestic dog and a coyote. Coy dogs can get quite large depending on how big the dog half is and might be mistaken for a wolf.
There is less than.002% DNA difference between a wolf and a dog but that little difference manifest itself primarily in strength, intelligence, larger teeth and endurance in favor of the wolf.
Dr. Meenen worked with wolves at the St. Lois Zoo and assists me with the Veterinary care of my wolves. He warned me never to let a wolf see how the cage door is opened or they might figure how to open it themselves. I leaned this the hard way after returning from his office with one of the adult females in a large enclosed trailer. I had rigged a cattle panel over the door and tied it in six places so she could get fresh air and sunlight while she recovered from spay surgery. I was tending to some other animals and saw the wolf trot by with two of my dogs. This was very disturbing as, one, she was supposed to be caged, two, she had never met the dogs and I was unsure how they would get along, and three she was not tame and very well might disappear into the woods.
It turned out she had untied (not chewed) all six knots and pulled the cattle panel toward her to squeeze around it to release herself. I know people that would have had trouble figuring out an escape and she did it in 10 minutes. The situation worked out all right as all she wanted was to rejoin the pack. She found the pen and I got the tame Alpha female to lead her through the door.
My youngest wolves, Bear and Feather where raised with dual citizenship. That is to say they spent half their time with my dogs and the rest of their time in the wolf compound. Feather prefers being a dog whereas Bear chooses the life of a wolf.
Wolves are very social animals and have very specific rules in which they run their pack. There is an Alpha Female (Cherokee) and an Alpha male (Bubba) that are the supreme beings. They eat first without interruption then decide who else eats and in what order. They even assign sitting and sleeping positions in the den. The Beta wolves that are next in the chain of command and Omega wolves are at the bottom of the totem pole. Feather prefers the dog world because she has status, in the wolf world she has none as the youngest Omega. Of course she also has discovered the comforts of house living and has acclimated to couches, air conditioning and regular meal times.
Wolves raise their young as a community even having baby-sitters to watch over pups when the pack leaves to hunt. I used this to my advantage with Bear and Feather. They learned discipline during their time in the compound with the pack. Since they see me as an Alpha they behave for me the same as they would Bubba or Cherokee. All I have to do is communicate what my rules are and they immediately behave. Of course it took a pair of shoes to teach them not to chew shoes, a couch to teach them not to eat furniture and a few wet rugs to get them to understand house training. In each case, once they where told “No” they would not do the bad behavior again. The downside is they continue to find new things to do wrong.... “No! a pillow is the same as a couch do not eat, No! do not take food out of the refrigerator,... No! Do not swim in the pond and roll on the bed, etc. Wolves have a four year Juvenile period unlike the two years most dogs have.
The Alphas maintain discipline and control with very little physical enforcement. They will simply give a glance, a growl or a charge toward troublemakers to assert their authority. In most cases the offender will instantly submit, rolling over on its back and cry like the world is about to end. The Alpha will simply stand over it as if to say “Ya, you better be sorry”. In some cases the Alpha feels additional reinforcement is needed in which case they will open their mouth, stand over the other wolf putting their teeth on the throat of the other as if to say, “Go ahead punk, make my day”. All of this without blood or physical injury.
The only time my pack ever drew blood was when a low ranking Omega wolf ate out of turn picking up a scrap of meat without permission. Two Beta wolves where deeply offended and attacked her ferociously until the Alpha female interceded and broke up the fight by grabbing the Beta by the ear and pulling her from the scuffle (9 stitches). When the fight ended they all nursed each others wounds as if best friends but all two Betas that started the fight lost their status for weeks as the Alphas made it clear that they were in the Dog house (Wolf house) for fighting. When a wolf looses status it walks so low to the ground its belly almost touches and it avoids looking any other wolf in the eye. They drop to the ground and cry every time the Alpha looks toward them. In my case the Alphas made them sit alone and would not let them socialize with the rest of the pack for over three weeks. In human terms they were grounded and lost all privileges.
There is no known case of a wild healthy wolf ever attacking a human in North America. There are cases where hybrid dog/wolf mixes and caged wolves have become dangerous. Anytime a wild animal looses its fear of humans they are unpredictable and potentially hazardous. Of my eight wolves three are still wild and hide when people approach. The others have accepted people as a non threat and behave like big friendly dogs enjoying a head pat or back rub. If people could learn to live as well within our society as wolves do in theirs it would be a far better world.
DONATIONS NEEDED If you would like to help any donation amount it is greatly appreciated. Donations should be made out to Witter Wildlife Refuge and can be sent to P.O. Box 1118, Huntsville AR 72740.
See web page under "HOW YOU CAN HELP" for specific ways you can help us help wildlife
