Cheyenne's Howl

Printed in Mountain Messenger on Friday May 9, 1997

Raising Pups

---

At last it looks like Spring might have finally arrived. We are only a little over a month away from summer, but better late than never. The sun is out, the temperatures are in the 60's and 70's, and I must admit it was hard to come in to write my weekly column. I much rather would have stayed outside stretched out on my favorite rock, and do some more snoozing. It's part of my job you know. I wonder if I could talk Dad into getting me a laptop computer. At least then I could still be outside while writing my articles.

Two weeks ago on April 24, my birth mother had a litter of puppies. I now have six more brothers and sisters and they sure are cute. Of course all wolves are cute when young and we turn into handsome and good looking animals when we get older. No brag, just fact. I must admit that I am glad that my mom has to take care of them and not me. They are a lot of work to take care of. I will probably go visit and spoil them and then turn them back over to their parents.

If I had not selected my new Mom and Dad here in Colorado, and I had stayed with my birth mother, part of my job as an older sister and member of the pack would be to help raise these new pups after they come out of the den. The first time they come out is when they are about three and a half to four weeks old. Now that they have left the den, they are the responsibility of the whole pack. Even though they will still sleep in the den and be nursed by their mother until they are about eight weeks old, the rest of the pack helps out by protecting these youngsters and bring them back if they wander too far. The biggest concern at this time is predators such as the eagle. An eagle could swoop down and snatch up a pup in their claws and be out of reach in no time. Isn't that something? An endangered species attacking and eating an endangered species. I guess the eagles haven't heard of the Endangered Species Act. What is Fish and Games phone number anyway?

The pups can start eating solid food at about four weeks, and man do they become little beggars. They soon realize that when the rest of the pack comes back from the hunt that they are now surrounded by four-legged kitchens. All a hungry pup has to do is to excitedly greet one of them, nibble on them, nuzzle against them, and lick their mouths, and the adult knows what is being asked for; FOOD. The adult will then regurgitate some of its partially digested meat from its stomach and share it with the pup. If a pup is not eating or sleeping, it is playing. They run, they chase, they pounce, they fight, and they chew on everything in sight. We will discuss the importance of these activities next week. See you then

Cheyenne

P.S. Thanks to Smedley at the Ravin Hill I finally got to have some apple cobbler. Do you guys have any buffalo burgers?