One of Canada's seven black wolves was found just a few miles from Alpha Park, where it escaped in the October 2 floods.
One of the seven wolves who wander since the destruction of their enclosure in the floods of October 2 was captured Monday in the Mercantour park, above Nice, we learned from the French Biodiversity Office ( OFB). The animal, a black wolf from Canada, was found only a few kilometers from Alpha Park, told AFP Eric Hansen, regional director of the OFB. It is an Omega wolf - who has a very ungrateful position in the pack but helps to ease tensions between the wolves - who has moved away from the rest of the pack since Sunday, ”said Hansen.
OFB agents, who located Canada's wolf pack, are now seeking to capture the six remaining stray mammals. The Mercantour park has wolves in the wild, and the OFB wishes to avoid any encounter with this different breed. In addition, the canines in Alpha Park are used to “waiting for food to be fed,” notes Hansen. On Monday, a caretaker from Alpha Park managed to get the wolf out of the woods by tranquilizing it "because it recognizes its voice", then the animal received a hypodermic arrow.
How he was captured
“The capture is a delicate technical operation which requires anesthesia by means of a hypodermic gun by agents specially trained for this purpose. The challenges are both to avoid the dispersal of these captive animals in the natural environment and to ensure their survival, while respecting animal welfare, ”said an OFB press release. As he fled, officers had him tracked by a dog. “The product takes 5-10 minutes to work so during this time the wolf can travel a great distance,” explained Hansen.
In "good general condition", the wolf was transported by helicopter and will be kept in an approved center, like three other wolves in the park, gray wolves from Central Europe, which had to be captured Thursday because their enclosure - the only one to not to be destroyed - was no longer electrified. The enclosure that was closest to the water, that of the arctic white wolves, was completely washed away by the flood. Two wolf corpses were found, "but we don't know what happened to the third," Hansen said.
