Our nine year old silver alpha female, Altair, died shortly after surgery to remove a mammary tumor on Monday, November 17, a little before noon. The surgery went smoothly. But she was taken off the anesthesia machine and while we waited for her to show more signs of returning consciousness she suddenly stopped breathing and had no heart beat.

Biopsy results on Altair's tumor and for the interpretation of a panel of tests run on a blood sample we had taken showed that the tumor was cancer and not encapsulated. It would have a tendency to spread. Some tissue adjacent to the tumor was proliferating myoepithelial cells, which is bad also. The lab results came back saying that even with prompt surgery, the prognosis was "guarded." Also she was diabetic, which we had not known. This was probably the immediate cause of her death, tipping her heart into a fatal arrhythmia.

Altair, who since the death of Chinook in July 1996, was the pack's overall leader, is survived at Wolf Park by her sister, Vega, and her sons, Kiri, Socrates, Apollo, Seneca and Miska.

She was an effective alpha who demonstrated over and over that she knew when to assert herself, and just as important, when not to push another wolf into a critical reaction. She readily accepted friendly overtures from humans - even those she was meeting for the first time. She was beautiful in body and in personality and we will miss her for a long time.

-- Pat Goodmann

A couple of her human friends have made dedications to her.
FemAlphWuf's Rainbow Bridge Page
Altair - Beloved Matriarch
Altair has been taken from our midst

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Unless otherwise noted, all photographs © Monty Sloan/Wolf Park For permission to use or for more information about wolf photographs please check with Monty Sloan

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Web page © 1998 Monty Sloan

Last revised: January 28, 1998