The End of an Era - International Wolf Center Retired Pack

Lakota was born on April 24, 1993, at Bear Country, USA, near Rapid City, South Dakota. She represented the great plains subspecies of the gray wolf (Canis lupus nubilus), as an ambassador wolf for the International Wolf Center in Ely, Minnesota. She was euthanized on November 11, 2008 due to a declining metabolic system.

Lakota outlived all of her littermates and during her last six months of life, she had a unique management situation as a lone pack member. Wolf care staff developed new management strategies to ensure that Lakotas physical and behavioral needs were met. These strategies included: access to the wolf yard and lab, specialized diets, staff visitations and enclosure improvements.

The access to the wolf lab was most significant as she became acclimated to the indoor kennel, which would later prove important for veterinary care. But, having a wolf in the lab did have its management issues; she became quite fond of taking items from the lab and running back into the Retired enclosure. Her list of larceny items included: pillows, backpacks, water bottles, bags of dog toys, sweatshirts, pizzas, block of cheese, compass, stuffed moose and a bag of grass seed, just to name a few.