The zoo plans to ‘spay and neuter them because they are no longer and endangered species’ — WTF?
http://www.startribune.com/local/266956601.html
by: JIM ADAMS , Star Tribune
July 14, 2014 – 11:22 AM
Rescued from wildfire, the pups will replace older wolves and are expected to draw visitors.
A revived and lively litter of wolves is expected Tuesday at the Minnesota Zoo, just weeks after being plucked from the smoldering aftermath of an Alaskan wildfire.
Officials at the Apple Valley zoo said the five gray wolf pups have rebounded nicely after being abandoned by their parents during the May fire and then losing a sibling to a porcupine attack.
Four firefighters discovered the 2-week-old pups in their den, dehydrated and stuck with quills. A porcupine apparently had wandered into the den to escape the smoke and flames of the massive Funny River wildfire in the Kenai Peninsula Wildlife Refuge.
Such a wildfire rescue of pups is rare, according to the Alaska Department of Fish and Game website. Officials believe the pups’ parents fled the den because of the fire and firefighter activity in the area.
The five survivors — three males and two females; three gray, two light-colored — were taken to the Alaska Zoo in Anchorage on May 27, where staff tended and bottle-fed them. One pup is named X-Ray, after the fire crew that saved them. The others were named after the four rescuers’ hometowns: Gannett, Hooper, Huslia and Stebbins, said Minnesota Zoo spokesman Josh Le.
Now eight weeks old, the pups have tripled in size and can be seen playing on video taken at the Alaska Zoo. Visitors were invited to view wolf feedings five times a day at the zoo, and as they grew, watched them romp and roll outside.
“So far they are really healthy and that is why they are coming Tuesday to the Minnesota Zoo,” Le said. “They are growing but still adorable.”
But don’t expect to see the Alaskan canines in person until mid-August. The pups will be in quarantine for a month while they are monitored and blood and fecal tests are done to ensure they carry no disease or parasites to the zoo, Le said.
The furry five will replace the zoo’s adult pair of gray wolves, Kaskapahtew and Wazi, who have never bred successfully, Le said. He said the pair will be sent to another accredited zoo in the U.S., and had no chance of being euthanized.
The five siblings likely will boost attendance by creating the wolf pack the zoo has long sought. They will have free run of the spacious wolf enclosure on the Medtronic Minnesota Trail. They will be spayed and neutered because they are not an endangered species and the zoo avoids inbreeding, Le said.
Le said the pups will be escorted by Alaska Zoo staff on a flight donated by Delta Air Lines. Two Minnesota Zoo managers will greet the Alaskans at the Minneapolis airport.
Exposing the Big Game 
What a rough start in life, poor little guys; a fire, losing their parents and a sibling, porcupine attack. Hopefully they’ll have good lives from here on out. This is one time when a zoo makes sense…they should all be only for rescue and rehab, care as needed, and lots of space, like this zoo apparently.
I was assuming the rescuers were telling the truth, had not considered the other likelihoods mentioned below. I retract my statement about for once a zoo making sense, since apparently these zoos in Minnesota and Alaska are no different from the rest, only interested in the money/attendance generated by new wolves, so easily disposing of the current pair who live there. Saying wolves aren’t endangered so therefore these pups will be spayed/neutered was also rubbish. And I don’t like people keeping carnivores long-term, feeding other animals to them.
Yes, I’d bet their parents would have been back for them if they could have, but how they would have dealt with the porcupine quills is another matter The pups are said to have had some infections from those quills: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2642853/Firefighters-battling-forest-blaze-stop-rescue-five-wolf-pups-abandoned-parents.html
It’s hard to deal with this case, the firefighters seemed to really love the pups and felt they had no other hope. But a zoo, being what they are, shouldn’t be their permanent home. Every effort should be made to get them back to their family in the wild…they should have someone going to the den area daily to spot the parents if they come back, and get those pups to them if they do. But the fire happened two months ago. Very sad.
PS: And what’s with them not letting the current pair of wolves, a male and a female, possibly adopt those pups, since they apparently won’t breed in captivity? Why are they “replacing” them with the pups. WTF? People never fail to disgust, sorry for my attempt at positivity earlier.
Yes, the quills are another matter. I doubt that all the pups got quilled, but we’ll probably never know now.
Disgusting. What a pile of propaganda crap. Abandoned by their parents? Taken by humans after a dangerous wildfire is the truth. Also, so important not to miss the ‘spay and neuter them because they are no longer and endangered species ‘ bull too. I don’t think I’ve ever read that in a zoo description. Only for wolves that bring out some kind of crazy in humans, don’t they? Why can’t these wolves stay in Alaska in a sanctuary? Also, ‘boost zoo attendance’ most important too – translation: make more money! We suck.
There’s no mention as to whether the den might have been safe from the fire, or if the parents might have come back for them. We’ll never know, because humans interfered, thinking they know best. In a fire that was more than likely the fault of us too. What’s good for us isn’t always what’s good for everything. Animals will usually try to rescue their offspring. These poor wolves are in purgatory now simply because stupid humans rule the world.
That’s the reason behind everything the animals are going through.
Also, the parents might have become separated from the den because of the fire, or were killed themselves. There’s no reason these pups couldn’t be rehabilitated at a sanctuary and then released back into the wild. It’s because people have such a pathological, irrational fear of wolves that they have to be sterilized and placed in captivity, safely behind bars. If animals can be rehabilitated and released back into the wild in Africa, we can certainly do it here.
Hmmmm….I also wonder what ‘replacing the older wolves’ at the zoo means, like Denmark’s method, I would presume. Besides, Minnesota has their own wolves!
Yep, I thought of the Denmark zoo and their killings of “Surplus” giraffe and lions. Will these wolves end up as surplus some day too?
…’spay and neuter them because they are no longer and endangered species’ I’m going to highlight that at the beginning of the article. Wolves are endangered or extinct in most places across the lower 48. Those wolves could have been reintroduced or released to augment other populations–preferably in a state that doesn’t hunt them.
If anything should underscore just how bad humanity is in no uncertain terms, it’s the shooting down of the Malaysian Airlines plane in Ukraine, and the aftermath of how it is being handled.
I would bet that the pack would have returned for the pups after the fire had passed and the firefighters left. Wolf family ties, loyalty, love and concern for the young rival or exceed humans (Gordon Haber, “Among Wolves”). That the pups were abandoned is a human interpretation of events; and such a “story” will now be put out to the public over and over in MN zoo.
I agree Roger, that was my first thought. It’s not like the firefighters saw the adult killed by the fire, they just assumed the pups were abandoned.
There’s a wolf center in Minnesota, I wonder why they weren’t contacted? One or two of their wolves recently passed away (naturally) too.
Laura I know you were trying to be positive and I hope my posts didn’t make you feel bad. It’s just that there’s so much misinformation about wolves.
Wonder why the heartless zoo keepers had to remove the old veteran wolves instead of attempting to let them be the pack leaders or enjoy the company of more wolves
I hate zoos actually but in this case at least the pups won’t be facing traps and snares in Alaska
Louise Kane louise@kaneproductions.net 508-237-8326
From: Exposing the Big Game Reply-To: Exposing the Big Game Date: Sunday, July 20, 2014 9:31 PM To: louise kane Subject: [New post] Alaskan wolf pups rescued from fire heading to Minnesota Zoo
WordPress.com Exposing the Big Game posted: ” by: JIM ADAMS , Star Tribune July 14, 2014 – 11:22 AM Rescued from wildfire, the pups will replace older wolves and are expected to draw visitors. A revived and lively litter of wolves is expected Tuesday at the Minnesota Zoo, just weeks afte”
No, just idiots gawking at them day and night, no territory to roam in, sterilized, and shitty food. Great! I think I’d rather take my chances in the wild, instead of a living hell.