Wolf Park Welcomes the Birth of Two Litters of Pups Born in 1997

On April 8th, in a den dug on the island in the main enclosure by several members of the pack, Altair gave birth to her largest litter yet. She blessed us with a total of 8 puppies. Much to our delight the litter was also mostly males. Female wolves tend to be less compatible with one another and placing female wolf puppies in suitable zoos and wildlife parks is sometimes difficult. Altair's litter contains only one gray female pup! Among the males, only two are gray, the rest are black.

Then, on April 21, Karin gave birth to a relatively smaller litter of five pups. Because we were worried about aggression between the two females, a decision was made to separate the girls to prevent fighting and possible injury to the mothers or their pups. Altair is getting up there in age, she is now nine, and Karin is just coming into her prime, turning three this month. Our assumption was clearly shown to be a good assumption when a minor fight occurred between the girls the week before we separated Karin. Karin was placed in a small pen in our retirement section and was provided with a wooden shelter and straw. To hear the pups, if you have a dog, bring the dog into the room. Then if you have a sound card, click on one of the photos below and wait for the sound to upload. If you don't have a sound card, just pat the dog on the head. If you do have a sound card, please let us know what your dog thinks of wolf pups. Enjoy! -- Monty Sloan

Jill Moore and Lara Luke, two long time and trusted (by wolf and human) handlers spent a lot of time with Karin before she gave birth. They were able to document the entire process on video, and were later joined by Monty Sloan who was able to photograph Karin giving birth to her fifth pup, a little female. Click on the top photo to hear the newborn pups. Click on the second photo to hear Karin actually giving birth. Click on the bottom photo to hear just one pup.

Karin was very relaxed around the people she knows well and granted us a wonderful opportunity to watch the birth of her pups. For more on Karin's birth check out Jill's notes of her observations.

On the afternoon of April 22 Altair's pups had celebrated their 14th birth-day. At Wolf Park we feel it is very important that captive wolves are hand-reared to provide them with as good a life in captivity as possible. We have found that if the wolves trust people and if the pups are not taken too early, the mother will often be accepting of having their two-legged companions take over. Altair was actually acting excited exploring the adjacent pen where we put the pack while the pups were taken from the den. She did not seem all that concerned about the pups at all. Perhaps this was because this is her 7th litter and she is accustomed to the 'routine' or perhaps it is because she had so many this year she wanted a break :-)

The only pen available to put the pack had an occupant, Vega who was recently ousted by two bratty brothers, Kiri and Socrates. We guess the boys must have decided that bachelorhood was better than living with their older Aunt Vega. Being hand-raised Vega was easy to move from her pen. She even enjoyed the experience. Monty Sloan and Lara Luke went in her pen, greeted and then leashed Vega. She was then led into one of the bison fields (sans bison) to explore and watch silly humans, in the pen next door, crawl down very narrow holes in the ground. Vega got a chance to scent roll, dig in mud, do a little wading in the upper portions of the pond and even be threatened by a goose.

In the good hands of Karin Bloch, whom Karin the wolf was named after, Altair's puppies are now being hand raised to continue our efforts to learn from the wolf and provide ambassadors for ourselves as well as other facilities around the country. Karin comes to Wolf Park from Germany every spring to be a "puppy parent". This is her 6th year as a puppy mom.
Still showing some mud on his face from a life underground, this puppy has already accepted his new "mom" and tries to suckle Karin's nose.

Wolf Park would like to show gratitude and thanks to all the puppy parents of 1997 who are helping us raise this years litters of wolf pups. To learn more about the puppy "Mothers" and "Fathers" Click on the puppy.

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

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Web page ⌐ 1997 Monty Sloan

Last revised: July 12, 1997