Wild Wolf News from August 2001 Red Wolf Tracker
The 2001 whelping season brought some setbacks and some successes. The following story is an interesting combination of both. In the Spring two female red wolves each had a litter of pups. One litter survived, but the mother died. Sadly, the pups in the other litter died; the mother, however, survived. The red wolf biologists assessed this situation
and made a daring decision. They placed the pups from the dead mother into the den of the female wolf who had lost her litter.
Such an “adoption” had never been attempted in the wild with red wolves, so the plan was a huge gamble. This kind of litter translocation had, however, worked in captivity, so the biologists hoped to have the same results with the wild wolves. The biologists kept a close watch on the female with her newly-adopted puppies, monitoring her movements carefully. Then just after the translocation of the pups, the adoptive mother left the den site. The biologists had to investigate, so they went into the abandoned den and found no puppies. All the researchers could do was hope the female had taken the pups with her when she left.
A few months later this female’s radio collar went into mortality mode. After a search, her body was found, but the cause of death could not be determined. The biologists immediately began to look for the puppies. As luck would have it, Scott Larsen, one of the wolf biologists, unexpectedly flushed them out of hiding along with an uncollared adult red wolf. This was an exciting event to be sure! Not only had the adoptive female accepted the new litter; she had successfully raised the pups by herself. The biologists do not know if the uncollared animal was the dead female’s mate or a subordinate, but this wolf was obviously taking care of the pups.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife red wolf recovery team began dropping carcasses at the den site to supplement this pack. Wolf pups grow rapidly during their first summer, and they require a great deal of food. Although food supplements from human do not fully replace the care of the parents, the biologists’ efforts may make the difference between death and life for these pups.
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