Laughing Wolf

Wednesday, March 19, 2008

Hate To Tell You LiveScience.Com:

You’re wrong.  Wolves, be it in the wild or in captivity, are just as monogamous as humans.  Some general citations are here and here.  There are some good papers out there as well, but don’t have the right citations readily available. 

LW

Wednesday, February 13, 2008

A Hard Thing To Do

Time is one of the most precious commodities, and it seems these days the one we have the least of.  I’m trying to do a number of things in my life, and I need time in order to do them.  WIth luck, getting them done may allow me much more time to devote to the fun things.  I can dream.  While it was extremely difficult to do, and I had looked long and hard for ways not to do it, I stepped down as Assistant Volunteer Coordinator at Wolf Park.  I will continue to give what time I can, and do what I can to support the Park, but for the next little bit it is not going to be as much as I would like it to be. 

I also want to state for the record that in my writings here, I do not represent the Park nor do I speak for it in any official capacity.  I speak merely for myself, and myself only. 

Speaking for myself, I hated to step down.  I have enjoyed very much working with Dana, and hope that I may do so again some day.

LW

Tuesday, January 22, 2008

Interview With CNN

Yesterday saw me doing a very interesting interview with CNN on DJ the Puppy and Operation Puppy Love.  Interesting because it was done by phone, but the video work was to be done by me.  Me being me, I could not do just the normal-type thing.  So, I talked with Holly out at Wolf Park, then talked with Pat, and then abused my friends by getting Pat, Gale, and Monty (with Dana on call if/as needed) to help do the interview from Wolf Park with the main pack out on the ice of Turtle Lake.  With luck, this will get some nice publicity for Wolf Park and maybe even in time for Winter Wolves. 

The set-up was somewhat surreal to me, and the wolves/location were a bit surreal to the folks at CNN.  I’ve just finished uploading the video files to them, and thought I would share with you a bit of how you prepare for doing something like this.

The hardest part, aside from being able to actually understand the person doing the interview (voice came across as badly overmodulated), was keeping my balance when trying to stand up.  At the end, I was glad for Gale’s help as my knees had become one with the ice—you can actually hear a ripping noise from each on the video.  Huge thanks to Pat, Monty, Gale, and Dana for their help on this.  Some more wolf videos are coming too…

LW

Sunday, December 16, 2007

A Christmas Woof

Well, really a howl, but I wanted to play the title off the James Herriot story “Only One Woof” that if you haven’t read, you should.  Yesterday was the Christmas program for the wolves out at Wolf Park, and thanks to a former intern who is now a volunteer, each and every group of wolves got a “tree.” She (with some help from her Dad) worked out a system if an easy stand that made use of branches trimmed from Christmas trees to create a “tree.” While the Junior Volunteers carried the load for the main pack, the rest of us did up trees for all the wolves in the retirement area and a real tree for the coyotes. 

As things got started at Eastlake (the retirement section), a small group of us pre-positioned the trees at the enclosures so that things could move along.  The wolves love this weather, the visitors, not so much.  When we did this, my favorite wolf Echo (our oldest wolf) indicated her strong interest in the tree via some silent ru-ing and howling.  She is silent, and has been since she came back to us, because of a condition that affects a number of older canids—vocal cord paralysis.  I told her that it was coming, and then moved on to do other things. 

Well, because she can’t really be seen by the public where she is, Echo got her tree last.  I don’t know what caused me to put some extra cheese on the tree (a specific brand of cheese product most often used in dips), but I was glad I did.  I was given the honor of taking in her tree (thank you P!), and when I picked it up, Echo looked at it and me, and howled.  It was more than a ru, it was a howl.  A real, honest-to-goodness reasonably loud howl.  Sound.  Sound from my silent lady. 

Now, Echo is also a picky eater. She still isn’t sure that a lot of things really are food no matter what we and some of the other wolves say.  Yet, she went into the tree with gusto, getting all the cheese product wrapped around limbs and taking it almost before she began to consider the summer sausage and other meats.  She also seemed quite taken with the special little sausage I added, though it took her a while to track it down.  I can say without a doubt that she liked her tree—a lot. 

Me, I got something I never expected:  A Christmas Howl.  What a wonderful gift, from a special and wonderful wolf. 

LW

Thursday, April 19, 2007

Free Ice Cream vs. Wolf Park 35th

Work is busy, but even busier are all of us getting ready for the Wolf Park 35th anniversary and members weekend.  April 20 is Wolf Park Day in Indiana; a free-admission program Friday evening from 6-10 pm at the historic Lafayette Theatre; and, here is a PDF schedule of events for the weekend. 

NOTE:  This is a member’s only weekend, there is no general admission.  Memberships are not expensive and will get you in to a variety of interesting speakers, presentations, demonstrations, and activities.  You can buy one at the door, and come on into the Park. 

Oh, did I mention the charity auction???  Or that the free-admission event on Friday will feature live jazz as well as a howling contest, stories, and more?  Or that we are doing a special wolf-bison demo on Sunday?  Or that people can win a chance to ride in the truck for the wolf-bison demo, to take part in food prep for the wolves, or other special activities? 

That’s it for now, but there are tons of gravel, acres of mowing, and many other things to get done.  Hope to see you there.

LW

Content copyright C. Blake Powers and the individual authors. Comments become the property of C. Blake Powers and may be altered, edited, deleted, and used by C. Blake Powers or the individual authors without restriction or recompense.