W is for Wolf

I had wanted to visit Wolf Hollow in Ipswich, Mass for a while but waited for my W activity to come around before planning a trip.  Last Saturday morning we began our adventure with a stop at the Stone Zoo in Stoneham, home to wolves and other animals.  The star attractions at the zoo are a pair of black bear brothers, Bubba and Smokey.  They came to the zoo as orphans from Georgia several years ago and they appear to be thriving in their new home. 

After our stop at the zoo we headed to Ipswich.  Wolf Hollow is only open to visitors for one hour presentations at 1:30 on weekends so we arrived around 1:00 and bought our tickets in the gift shop.  As we were sitting in the outside waiting area before going into the presentation, we were chatting with one of the volunteers and suddenly we heard the wolves all start to howl.  This went on for about five minutes and the volunteer told us the wolves knew a bunch of people were nearby which causes them to howl.  It was unclear whether she meant the wolves were glad that people were near, or if they didn’t like it!  Either way, we were the only people outside the gift shop at the time so we felt extremely privileged to hear those howls. 

Right at 1:30 all visitors are led to a set of bleachers adjoining the main wolf enclosure.  We also noticed two other enclosures off to the side.  The main enclosure houses a pack of about seven wolves including the Alpha male, Weebel, and five one-year-old pups.  The pups are practically full grown and about the same size as the full grown females.  The individual wolf personalities really stand out after observing them for a short time.  For instance, two of the pups were shyer than the others and would always keep the other wolves between themselves and the people on the bleachers.  Z, the director of Wolf Hollow, stayed right in the enclosure with the wolves during the presentation and he’s obviously respected as a member of the pack.  However, he did mention that Weeble has asserted his authority on occasion.  It was unclear how exactly his asserts authority but he did mention losing a t-shirt not too long ago.  It was fun to see the wolves acting affectionately towards him by licking his face and begging for belly scratches. 

Z gave us an hour-long presentation about wolves in the wild and the wolves at the sanctuary.  It was really interesting stuff and a treat to see these magnificent creatures up close.  He also introduced us to the wolves in the other enclosures which included Weebles’ sister, Jelly, and a wolf-dog hybrid named Bear.  Bear had been discovered living in a 3-room apartment in downtown Boston; but luckily he was rescued and moved to Wolf Hollow where he lives with a female wolf named Osa.  At the end of the presentation all the humans were encouraged to do their best howl to try to get the wolves to respond.  Most of the pack was unimpressed with our feeble attempts but Weeble did respond with his own half-hearted howl.  The hour seemed to fly by and everyone left with a new found respect for these wonderful creatures.