20
Apr
Wolf Conservation Center Mourns Mexican Gray Wolf F837
It is with great sadness that we share the news of the death of a special wolf that many of us “knew.” Mexican Gray Wolf F837 passed away on Monday. She died suddenly of a uterine infection or pyometra.
The Wolf Conservation Center (WCC) was first introduced to F837 in November of 2004 when she and her three sisters were transferred from the Minnesota Zoological Garden to the WCC as yearlings. Although the wolves are identified by alphanumeric labels — F836, F837, F838, and F839, we called the sisters “the Minnesota Girls.”
F837 outlived her three litter mates. F838 and F836 were given the gift of freedom but sadly their lives in the wild were cut short by poachers in 2006 and 2008. F839 died suddenly a few years back of cardiac arrest. After the loss of her sisters, F837 was introduced to Mexican wolf M805. They met during the fall of 2010 and although they never proved fruitful, the pair was well bonded.
Like most of our Mexican wolves, the pair resided off-exhibit in a natural environment where these most elusive creatures can reside with minimal human contact. Thanks to our WildEarthTV webcams, however, a global audience was able to watch the beautiful couple in real time. Mexican wolves M805 and F837 had a growing group of fans, webcam-watchers enjoyed tuning in to observe M805?s lack of table manners (he never believed in “ladies first” when food was concerned”¦) and to behold the beautiful F837 bask in the sun in her favorite spot upon the wooden platform.
F837 would have been 10 years old in May. Our hearts go out to her mate and those of you who F837 had unknowingly touched.
This annoncement was made on the Wolf Conservation Center website.
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Photo credit: Wolf Conservaton Center
