Maya May 3, 1998 - March 6, 2002  Maya died suddenly and wholly unexpectedly around the middle of the day on March 6th. At about mid-morning Monty Sloan and Gale Motter were in with the pack doing a program for a school class. Marion, for some reason, decided not to come over so Maya got lots of cuddles and tummy rubs. Neither Gale nor Monty noticed anything amiss with her - she appeared to be completely normal. At about 1:00 p.m. Peggy Marsico went up to the observation deck and looked out the window at the wolves. Maya was lying on her side with her tongue hanging out, unresponsive as Erin stood beside her and tugged on the side of her neck, even walking back wards. She appeared to be trying to get a response from Maya. Peggy hurried to get help but Maya was already gone. She had no external wounds but it did appear that she had bitten her tongue hard enough to make it bleed. Amanda and Monty and Peggy all thought that it looked as if Maya had a sudden seizure. Maya's body was taken to the Animal Disease and Diagnostic Laboratory at Purdue for a post mortem. To date we have received word back that she was not suffering from any of the usual canine viruses. We are still waiting the outcome of some other tests. I strongly suspect that Maya suffered a severe neurological incident. Recalling the intense seizures she suffered when she was five to seven months old, I suspect we were lucky to have her for as long as we did.
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Though Erin grabbed at Maya's tail when Monty picked up her body, it was not done in an aggressive way - it is common for a wolf picked up by Monty to have its tail tweaked in a playful way by other wolves present, and that was what Erin appeared to be doing. Marion was also present and Amanda commented on her complete lack of aggression, saying that Marion seemed confused. 
In addition to the shock and sorrow of losing Maya, I find myself regretting that she did not get to experience more of the mellow season. But, I can't predict the future and my assumption that the spring would have been a nice relaxing time is only that - an assumption. It might not have been. So I am trying to focus on the fact that we had Maya for three and a half years longer than we expected to in the fall of 1998. Maya was a very special little wolf, overcoming many obstacles in the course of her short life. She was able to remain in the pack and mated each year after she became sexually mature. She feeling well and showed reasonably good to effervescently goofy good spirits in her last winter, despite Marion. Maya was one of those individuals whose talent seems to lie in being able to enjoy what they have to the fullest, without repining over what they do not have. She made a great deal of her time here in spite of the restrictions imposed by Marion. By the accounts of Gale and Monty, Maya had a very nice last morning. I am going to concentrate on that, and on memories of her joyous, buoyant personality, rather than dwelling on futile "if onlys." 
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