Last month's wolf capture Photo by Jim Gehrz, Dml - Star Tribune
An endangered Mexican gray wolf that was recovered after a massive metro search last month is no longer welcome at home. After a dangerous reunion with her sisters at Forest Lake's Wildlife Science Center, she will be sent to live elsewhere.
The wolf was on the run for four days after someone pried open their enclosure, allowing her to escape. The other two wolves apparently weren't interested in leaving and remained at home.
The female wolf was captured near Interstate 694 in New Brighton on Feb. 18 and returned home, but the reunion didn't last long. A few days later, her two sisters attacked her, said Peggy Callahan, the center's executive director.
The four-year-old wolf, nicknamed Medium Toast because of her coloration, had been the leader of the three. But after she returned, said Callahan, the other two females no longer accepted her dominance in the pack.
"This is behavior that we find in wild wolves," she said. "It was clear from the minute she came back that she was exhausted, and it didn't take long for the others to see that." Packs typically have fights for control when the leader has been weakened, said Callahan.
The wolf was bitten and bloodied during the attack, she said, and needed to be isolated from her sisters in a different enclosure.
"We pulled her before it was life- threatening," Callahan said.
Medium Toast needs to recover and will be moved in a few weeks to mate with a male in another part of the country, although Callahan said a final location has not been decided.
Mexican gray wolves are the smallest subspecies of gray wolf and once roamed freely in the Southwest and Mexico. They were placed on the endangered species list in 1976 after disappearing in the wild in the United States. After captive breeding raised their population numbers, about three dozen were reintroduced into the wild in 1998, and about 50 now live in the forests of New Mexico and Arizona. Another 150 live in captivity in zoos and other wildlife centers.
It is not clear who broke into the Forest Lake center and damaged the enclosure, but Callahan said it was an ill-fated decision for the wolf.
The center is upgrading its security, she said.
This story appeared in the Minneapolis-St. Paul Star-Tribune on March 16, 2010
