Wolf Timbers - Keeley's Photo Album

Keeley

Was born April 21, 1997 at Wolf Park to Orca (then alpha male) and Karin (then beta female). She was the last of five pups born to Karin, but she was also the biggest, at least when the puppies were small.

She came to live at Wolf Timbers July 5, 1997 along with Nira, her half brother. Being the only female, she automatically gets the position of being the alpha female.

Keeley has never been a large wolf, but when Ingo was introduced to the pack in the summer of 1999, a problem was gradually noticed. Keeley weighed 75 pounds on August 14, six days after Ingo`s arrival. By the 31 of August, she had dropped to 64 pounds. We also noticed that she had some slight drainage around her left eye. We were concerned about her and through the guidance of Wolf Park, sorted out what was happening. Since Ingo's arrival, Keeley was rarely observed eating. When she did eat, Ingo always effusively greeted her, frantically licking at the corners of her mouth. This 'food begging' would stimulate her to regurgitate. Over a period of weeks, this caused her to loose weight. We also thought that she might have an infected tooth or diabetes or some other illness. After several visits from our veterinarian, Dr. Duerr, and a battery of tests, it was decided to have a good look at her teeth and mouth. Keeley was examined under the guidance of Dr. Duerr and Monty Sloan. Keeley's personal "nurse" that day was Jennifer McDougal. After evaluating her teeth and mouth, which were in tip top shape, our conclusion to why she was loosing weight was that Ingo, having possibly learned that a warm meal is better than a cold meal, would persist in mobbing Keeley to the point of stimulating her to regurgitate. Wolf pups, and even yearlings and some adults, will occassionally do this to other adults.

We then changed our feeding pattern to facilitate Keeley`s weight gain. As can be expected, Nira and Ingo also benefited from this as well. As of October 2, 1999 she had gained 3 pounds (67) and on October 13 she was around 70 pounds.

Now, Keeley continues to keep on weight and also is also showing signs that she is getting tired of Ingo constantly having the "run of the house". We have been noticing that Keeley is beginning to discipline Ingo a bit more for taking liberties around food.


	When I visited Wolf Timbers on February 10, 2002, though it was a dark, overcast and somewhat wet day, it was great for photos. Wolves are at their best when it is cold, and can be quite active. With my Nikon D1x digital camera, I was able to capture quite a few photos of Keeley and the pack interacting.

Keeley, the pack's alpha female (c) Monty Sloan


	I also found a bunch of older Keeley photos taken way back when she was just a pup at Wolf Park and as a young wolf at Wolf Timbers.

Keeley, a young pup at Wolf Park (c) Monty Sloan

Keeley, and her sister Ittiko at Wolf Park

Keeley, about seven months old (c) Monty Sloan

Keeley, about 5 1/2 years old. Taken 2/23/2003 (c) Marty Huth

These photographs were taken by Marty Huth & Monty Sloan and are copyrighted. They can be used by permission only. If you are interested in using *these, or other wolf photographs on your website. Please check out Monty Sloan's Wolf Photo Resource Site

*To use an image from the Wolf Timber's web site, you must follow the rules laid out on the photo resource page AND add a link to www.wolftimbers.org.