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Hi Lunatics! Many of you know of my love of wolves and I'm always interested in reading, viewing, hearing "wolf stories". I hope this link works (for those of you who might also be interested in the story of "Lobo"). It's a long one -- nearly an hour, but if there's nothing else on tv and you don't mind watching, you might enjoy it. I'll give it a try:

I guess attaching the link would be a key point here : http://youtu.be/DmjC8bajylM

And for any possible misinterpretation of anything I write here in the future, I will add the following statement: The documentary I've pasted a link to is about wolves, which is a very interesting topic to me, one in which I'm often fascinated by (wolf behavior, that is) and always seeking to learn one more thing about them. If you do not wish to view the documentary, don't -- it's really that simple. If you don't like wolves, good on you, you're entitled to your values, etc. I hope you enjoy it if you watch it. Kind regards, as always, No disclaimer needed

I was finally able to see this entire documentary. It's @ 1 hr long and for some reason, it would stop in the middle and I had to take several times to get it all in. I must say that they did a very nice job and I managed to learn something from it -- which is all I ever expect whenever I read/watch/hear about wolves -- it seems as if there is always something new that is learned. I'm glad there are organizations and people dedicated to learning more about wolves and wildlife.

Keeping it in the "wolves" topic, I am so very excited ... the two year old wolf whom I sponsor at Wolf Park (my favorite Wolf Education and Research Center in Battle Ground, Indiana -- www.wolfpark.org ) has given birth to a new litter of pups -- yesterday, April 6, 2012 -- on the day of the full moon -- even wolves get into the legends Dharma is a two-year old wolf who was able to become Alpha female this year when the folks at Wolf Park "retired" some of their older wolves from the main pack. There was one older female, Kailani, who has been the only female, so alpha by default, but she was most likely not going to produce any pups and she certainly wasn't going to allow Dharma to get any action from the boys. Wolf Park is a research and educational center and they gave it much thought and made the move a few months ago. (When any of their wolves are "retired" they are only separated by acres of land and always paired/grouped with other wolves -- wolves are very much family units and social within their groups -- a "lone wolf" is not a good or common thing, although it might sound intriguing, it's actually very rare and sad for the wolf). Okay, so back to Dharma -- she gave birth to at least 3 pups (there might be 4) and they all appear to be healthy and nursing. She is being brought food by the Wolf Park staff, so she's got it fairly nice right now. The two males, who are brothers -- Wolfgang and Wotan have been hanging outside of her den and are listening to the sounds of the pups and adding their own voices. Either Wolfgang or Wotan is the father of the pups, but all the wolves will join in the celebration -- very big deal for wolves -- they all love puppies and all take on a role (in addition to the Wolf Park staff/interns whose role will be to socialize the wolves to humans as well as wolves). This is taken from the Wolf Park's Photos of the Day site yesterday, April 6, 2012: Great news. Somewhere around 8am and noon Dharma gave birth to her puppies! She also allowed Dana to enter the den, but mostly had her back turned. Dana was able to see that Dharma has at least 3 pups. To make things easier, we let the boys into the back Eastlake enclosure (pen # for the day. When we let them out in the afternoon, Wotan and Wolfgang came over to listen to puppies and make squeaky noises themselves. Dharma stayed in the den with her pups, but we did bring her some food which she appreciated. Not too many wolves get served meals in den. Check out the site if you're interested in more . . . www.wolfpark.net or www.wolfpark.org I'm happy for Dharma and can't wait to see the pups and watch them grow . . .

Surprise! Surprise! Dharma actually gave birth to six (6) pups! It's been over the past few days when the staff person (Dana) has been able to get closer -- and even inside the den -- that they realized that Dharma has 6 healthy, nursing pups. It will be soon (I'm not sure how soon) when the staff at Wolf Park will be taking the pups from Dharma (aaaah, so sad, I know, but it's okay, they'll be returned to her). Because no one is exactly certain at what age a wolf would not socialize with humans, Wolf Park has always taken the pups very early. During this time, several humans will act as puppy mothers and will live with the pups, doing everything a mother wolf would do for the pup, yet establishing a bond with humans at the same time. The pups never go far -- they can still hear the other wolves and vice versa. Over the course of time, the wolf pups will be re-introduced to the main pack (including their mama) and that is how they will be able to act as wolves, yet not afraid of humans. Of course, there are often times that it doesn't work out exactly as planned -- some wolves will never really feel comfortable with humans and unfortunately, some some wolves may not always be fully accepted into a pack. Wolf Park does a wonderful job with all of this -- it is what they do, after all. I am seriously considering visiting Wolf Park sometime in the early fall, now that I know there will be many pups to see. It's definitely something that will really be fun and I enjoyed it so much when I visited a few years back, so I'm sure I won't be disappointed this year.

Over the past week or so, Dana (staff person at Wolf Park) and others have been able to visit the pups more often and Dharma (the new momma) became more increasingly easy with them being there -- so much so that she would leave Dana to "puppysit" while she (Dharma) went off and out on the town (well, the wolf enclosure). During the puppysitting time, Dana and others were able to identify the pups more closely -- there are 4 boys and 2 girls (the exact opposite of what I had predicted before Dharma gave birth). They all appear to be very big and healthy and are now ready to be taken and hand-reared by "human wolf pup mothers" -- This excerpt was taken from Wolf Park's website from yesterday, written by Monty Sloan, Photographer, Tuesday, April 17, 2012: Today was the day. We pulled Dharma's pups for hand rearing. A somewhat bittersweet moment, but necessary to have socialized wolves which are comfortable around people. Dana did one final visit to the den in the morning. I believe she has more photos for me to post, but I forgot to grab them before I headed home for the day. I can always post them later. .... Dr. Becker also came out to check the pups (all are quite healthy, Dharma did a great job).... On the website, there are photos of Dharma back with the boys (Wotan and Wolfgang, who are both most likely her "puppy's daddies"). I hope that all goes well for both sides of the wolf enclosures over the next few weeks and soon enough, Wolf Park will have one great big happy family again!

Just wanted to post one last thing in this discussion with myself -- Wolf Park is having a contest and asking people to submit up to 5 names for the wolves. They'll vote on them and then select the pups names in a few weeks. BTW -- I continue to write here because I miss the moon and the lunatics. I'm probably going to give it up tho because it's certainly no fun "talking to yourself" -- although I must admit that it's worth doing if you need expert advice! LOL! Good day all!

Well, you have had 79 views, so perhaps not talking entirely to yourself. Names. um, Fuzzy Butt, Wiggles, Silly, Sweets (my generic name for dogs on route that I don't know their name. dogs seem to like it so...) Winter (in honor of a really cool, if a bit quirky, German Shepherd Dog.

Hi Zen, You know, I never even had looked at that -- the number of views but now I will have a look -- and people will probably stop looking I'm just so smitten with the pups -- they removed them from mama the other day and although she (Dharma) is howling a bit more than usual, they're watching her closely and report that she's doing very well. Wolf Park has done this for 40+ years and seem to have it down to a science (which is good, because that's what they do -- research!). As of now, they have reported that they're calling one of the Tank II as a nickname, but they just are using Grey Girl, Black Girl, Grey #1, #2, etc. -- there are 4 males (3 grey and 1 black) and 2 females (1 black and 1 grey). From the photos on wolfpark's site -- the pups are very healthy looking and large (Wotan and Wolfgang are large wolves and they are the fathers). Wolf Park reported that they think this was the smoothest transition ever and they credit that to the fact that Dana (a staff member) was in the den so often and Dharma really was comfortable with her. So, taking the pups was bittersweet, but at least the pups are comfortable with humans already -- enough to readily nurse from a bottle. Their eyes are just beginning to open and it won't be long before they are up and about, wreaking havoc in their manmade dens! I like your names for the wolves (dogs) -- I have always given nicknames to my animals (and even people without their knowing it). Dusty was "Dusty, the Radioactive, Heavy-Metal, Remote-Control-Eating Dog" shortened to Dustydog, even further shortened to Dusty. Harry has already earned some nicknames from me -- "Harry Houidini" after his first few weeks here and managing to tear himself out of the crate. "Happy Harry" just because he is a very "happy" dog. But I especially like the names he has acquired from other folks who remember that he has a man's name, yet cannot remember it readily, so he's been: Harry, Henry, Frank, Peter -- Harry Henry Frank Peter Pawter Parker! yeah, that's his name alright!