How does the care that you offer the animals involved in the SSP program differ from the “non-SSP” animals?
The animals that are part of the SSP program are managed very differently from the other residents at Wolf Haven. The SSP animals are managed strictly hands off, the reason being is so that they don’t become accustomed to human interaction. Socialization would not be conducive to the goals of the program, although we are required to enter their enclosures on a daily basis for fecal clean-up. With the Mexican wolves that are slated for release it is imperative that these animals do not become habituated to the presence of humans. Occasionally, some individuals who exhibit interest in their caretakers must be aversively conditioned to reinforce their innate wariness of people. All program animals are also maintained on a different diet and feeding regimen than our permanent residents. Rather than bi-weekly chicken and beef feedings they are maintained daily on high quality dry kibble. Our pre-release wolves are maintained on the same dry food formula, however, they are fed larger quantit
