The Thuja Pack: a pup in rough shape
This pup in the Thuja Pack has an uphill battle in the coming months. Sometime during February or early March, the pup broke its back leg. The leg has started to heal as evidenced by the calcified mass the size of a tennis ball.
However, this pup has lost substantial body weight since January and looks quite emaciated (check out the comparison of this pup in Jan vs March toward end of video). We would guess this is because the injury has prohibited the pup from traveling with pack members to kills.
Wolves who enter the spring in poor body condition have a tough road ahead. Spring is the start of a prolonged lean period for wolves in our area and most wolves, even those entering spring in great body condition, lose body weight throughout spring to fall.
This is especially true for grown pups who have become yearlings in April. Importantly, in April, the breeding pair has a new litter of pups and most of the pair’s efforts are focused on rearing those new pups. And for the first time in their life, yearlings are largely on their own.
Most yearlings without broken legs struggle to kill prey because they have no hunting experience and often go long periods without a kill. As a result, many yearlings often resort to scavenging old carcasses, which provides some calories but almost certainly not enough to put on body weight.
All this to say, this pup is in a tough position.
As for broken legs, we have seen several wolves with similar injuries over the years and most that we are aware of healed and survived. However, the healing process can take a long time.
For example, the breeding female of the Windsong Pack broke her back leg in early Winter 2022 and was still hesitant to put weight on that leg at times in October, 9 months later. But she survived and is still alive today, the injury fully healed.
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