NK, alpha male of the Mini Pack, was euthanized on Friday April 20, 2001, when exploratory surgery showed that the greatest kindness we could offer was not letting him wake up. NK was born to Betsy and Sirgei, former members of the main pack, after they had been retired to East Lake. He is survived by his litter sisters, Chani and Sierra, and their half-sister, Trillian.

Betsy whelped during a typically wet and stormy April. Her den flooded, but instead of digging another she brought her litter outside and tucked them between her hind legs. She directed dirty looks at her mate Sirgei, and slightly less dirty ones at Monty when he approached to photograph. Thanks to the weather, a photo of a tiny infant NK, resting on Betsy's flank and poking his head over her thigh, hangs in the observation deck. When we removed the litter for hand raising we thought we were raising the pups for some one else. Then first one and then the second offer of homes for NK Chani and Sierra fell through. Having added five pups to the main pack in 1988, we wanted to let things settle down a bit there, and decided, once NK and his sisters were socialized to humans, to put them back with their parents, and thus the Mini Pack was formed.

From the beginning, NK was big and outgoing. When he and Chani and Sierra were yearlings, their group nickname was ICBMs (Intercontinental Ballistic Muzzles). Even with his fondness for hurtling, NK was the most laid back of his litter. It was not until his father Sirgei was in the final months of his life that NK began to show any "expansionist tendencies" indicating that he might try to increase his rank. Even then it was nothing so overt as threatening Sirgei; NK just stopped spontaneously offering him submission. He never challenged his dad directly.

When Sirgei, Emperor of the Universe, died in 1992, he left the universe to his son NK. NK underwent a profound change in attitude. Both wolves and humans were treated to his "muscle poses" and assorted posturings. We humans were stalked, stared at, and threatened with growls. "How does he manage to stay on all fours?" wondered his human mom, Ginny Kunch. "His head is so big and swollen (with visions of his own greatness) that he should be too top heavy to stand much less walk." His Majesty often performed lateral threat displays by strutting stiffly along the fence, staring and growling. When he was in this "look upon me and tremble" mode, his hackles were usually standing on end, making a big wolf look larger still. In fact, in winter coat, the hackles over his shoulders were so long that we could easily imagine him sporting a dorsal fin, and hum the shark's leitmotif from "Jaws." Betsy, Chani, and Sierra came in for a little of his posturing too, though it quickly became obvious that in Betsy's presence, NK's aggressive behavior was meant to show off his male grandeur. He was courting her.

During this time we worked with NK by taking him for walks, and letting him visit the bookstore in the old farmhouse where the garden is now. The main pack was, at that time (fall 1992) still in the old Wolf Woods West enclosure. NK approached them. A couple of wolves came up and stared at him. NK's hackles stood on end and he stared back and growled. The rest of the pack of eight approached and stared...and stared...and stared. NK, apparently in search of moral support and back up, stopped growling, backed up and velcroed his rump to my leg. From that vantage point he growled at them again and then turned around and indicated his desire to make an orderly retreat.

That winter he threatened us all through the fence. We had separated him from Betsy and his sisters so there would not be an extra litter. NK looked forlorn when I shut him up alone, but that did not stop him from threatening us as time passed. The trick was never to reinforce the threats by feeding him. Since he threatened at feeding time, as if guarding the meat before it was actually given to him, it was easy for people to accidentally reward him for staring and growling. Two weeks after he was shut up by himself, I was feeding and he threatened me. Taking only the effort and distance to go to pitch food in to the wolves into account, going down that particular corridor was the most efficient way to feed, but it put the feeder in an ideal situation to become part of the stimulus configuration of fence fighting between wolves in pens on opposite sides of the corridor. At first he may actually have been threatening Kesho across the corridor. When NK growled at me I did not feed him but said "No" and turned my back on him.. I attempted feeding him in different locations, away from Kesho. At first my intention-to-feed movements were triggering growls from NK. When this happened I said "No" in calm tones, and walked away or turned my back on him for a couple of minutes before trying again. When he stopped growling and gave me a "soft look" instead of a hard stare, I fed him. Occasionally he needed a behavioral tune-up. I remember him "earning" his five pounds of Nebraska Brand a mouthful at a time in return for "soft" eye contact, grins, and ears back waggy-wiggle greetings.

When we reunited him with his sisters, we found him the next day, touchingly pleased to have human visitors. He had a tooth mark right on top of his head. I strongly suspect Chani of puncturing his conceit - and his skin.

NK reached the point of needing to be leashed even in the summer "mellow season" after he had gotten a really interesting response from a human whom he sniffed vigorously where the legs fork away from the torso. After this one-trial learning experience, he was alert to possibilities of intimidating other humans, with possibly equally entertaining results. At that time we did not have any readily available holding pens so NK was kept leashed. If his facial expression was relaxed he might be, depending on the season, allowed to approach humans in addition to his "core" group of humans: his human mother Ginny Kunch,, Nancy Stewart, Monty Sloan, and myself. He was also very fond of Mark Woodcock - until Mark spent his first winter here.

In winter, wolves' hormonal profiles dispose them a bit more towards aggression. NK specialized in testosterone production and during the winter his attitude, on a continuum stretching from Tweety Pie to Ming the Merciless, was definitely to "Ming of center." After that first winter he consistently threatened Mark too. Mark was very sad to have lost his special buddy, and a little hurt, but he resolutely retained his special license plate: NK, and continued to love him from a distance. For the rest of his life NK continued to threaten new interns and volunteers - with a few noticeable exceptions including: Billy Avoletta, and Gale Motter, our newest staff member.

NK used to be extremely fond of Monty Sloan, but eventually that was replaced with aggression possibly related to events that led to my giving NK the nickname of "Peanuts." We will draw a veil over that. Don't even bother asking... In fact, NK may hold the record for the most nicknames of the wolves here at the park. The N stood for Niko Tinbergen and the K stood for Konrad Lorenz, two Nobel Laureate ethologists. But pronounced Enn Kay, it could be short for Enkidu, and ancient Assyrian(?) wild man who was raised by wolves. We took to calling the big puppy Enki and Enkidu or, when he was naughty, Enkidon't. Enkidu eventually morphed into Enkidoodledoo then into both Doodlebug and Doodlebutt. From there it truncated into Mr. Bug. Harking back to Sirgei, I occasionally called his son by the endearment of Sweetpea . Puff., his newest nickname, Nancy Stewart and I used when he was very hackled up. If he was not showing aggressive behavior other than his "dorsal fin" we used to address him in dulcet tones as Pretty Puff, Sweet Puff, and Good Puff... The following winter NK was much easier to work with during the breeding season. Perhaps he had taken to heart the lesson "It is Better to be Rubbed than Snubbed."

Like many captive wolves, NK managed to have some unscheduled adventures. In the summer of 1993 his sisters decided to climb in with Akili, a member of the main pack whom we had removed for health reasons. Akili, a very debonair individual had a marked effect on most female wolves. We found NK pacing frantically while Chani rested in Akili's pen wearing an expression I can only call "smug" even if it is anthropomorphic. Sierra we had to rescue from the sheep enclosure - the guard dogs Daphne and Dieter had her penned in a corner. Since the girls wanted to be with Akili (who didn't mind in the least) we decided to see if NKwould like to live with Trillian. Trill was pleased to receive him but NK looked dazed.

That night was a howl night. That evening intern Lara Luke and artist Jill Moore went over to check on things at East lake. They came back to say that Sierra was in the corridor, lying against the fence and growling at them. We went over in the darkness to sort things out. Yes, there the white rascal was, limned in the moonlight. I did think the head looked large for Sierra - and in fact it was NK. Monty went to Trill's pen and found NK had lifted the gate off its lower hinge and yanked it in far enough to let himself out. We let NK in with his sisters, ending our only "experiment" in breaking up the family and trying to get them to live with others.

In the spring of 1994 NK, Chani, and Sierra created a small hole in their enclosure fence one nice April Sunday, and went exploring in the bison pasture. I arrived just after our caretaker Joe Wolf and artist Jill Moore spotted him loose - and neither could go in with him safely. It wasn't hard to catch and leash him, but he grumbled at being leashed, so I took him to stalk Canada Geese. We put the Minis in a holding pen, and before April was over, a tornado had ripped through the park, and did serious damage in the enclosure the Minis would have otherwise been occupying. Dr. Klinghammer and I drove around to check the devastation and saw the Minis trotting around with eyes like saucers. It was as if they wanted to say "You should have seen what just came by here!"
 

In the fall of 1995 we had NK vasectomized. This meant he could stay with Chani and Sierra through the breeding season - we were without any spare enclosures at East Lake if we separated him from the girls during the breeding season, and we could see that it might be necessary to take Vega, say, out of the pack before winter was over. Once NK was prepped for surgery, Dr. Harper was surprised to see that the pertinent parts of NK's equipment was so small for the rest of his size. "Oh, he's not fertile," I explained. Dr. Harper gave me a look that plainly inquired why, then, we were gathered together for this operation. "But he will be in a few weeks and then he will be much larger" I concluded the explanation hastily. This operation allowed NK to spend the next six breeding seasons with Chani and Sierra. From the little we saw he appeared to be a faithful mate to Chani for these six years.

On the morning of April 20, 2001, NK did not want his meatball and did not greet his friend Billy Avoletta with his usual excitement. He was happy to see Billy and happy to see me but acted lethargic. Friday was the first day of Members weekend and I was slated to help sponsors visit wolves until 4:30 PM that day. Luckily Billy was there and could keep an eye on NK. He was able to assure me that NK was not simply having a late morning sleep-in together with a little constipation. For months I had been keeping an eye on a benign tumor to one side of his spine well a bit less than midway between his shoulders and his tail. What worried me was that this kind of tumor is a fairly common culprit in rectal blockages in older dogs. I was afraid that NK had been growing a blockage which did not show from outside. For a vet to examine him safely and thoroughly, NK would have to be sedated.

Taken out on a leash to be tranquilized and doze off in a holding pen, he perked up visibly at the prospect of a walk. He paced slowly by my side, in textbook heel position - another indication of lethargy. But he was smiling and looking around and sniffing things, just going slowly. When he was unconscious, Amanda, Karin, Billy, and I loaded him on a stretcher and, Karin drove him, with Billy and me, to the vet clinic while the rest of the staff carried on with the first day of Members' Weekend.

From the first I had a very bad feeling about what we were going to find out. Forebodings aside this was also an opportunity for a thorough, hands on, medical exam. Blood work, urinalysis, and x-rays, a tooth check, an all over check for tumors, and a toenail clipping were in order. Dr. Becker examined NK, checking his rectum for blockages and found him tumor free there. She was worried though, because he seemed to have fluid in his abdomen even though he did not look distended. On the plus side, his heartbeat was strong, his color was good, and the blood work cheered us unexpectedly. Despite NK's age, his vital signs were good enough for me to feel that surgery was warranted to find out if the internal problem was fixable.

Then we began to have technical difficulties with the x-ray developing equipment. The first x-rays were not very distinct. After Dr. Dave belabored it with a wet sponge , the developer yielded a pretty plain x-ray. It indicated there was probably a rupture, possibly fixable, at the anterior end of NK's bladder. I okayed exploratory surgery and the results were bad. The bladder appeared to have ruptured from end to end and the edges of the rip were necrotic, indicating that this had been going on for some hours. I told Dr. Dave not to let NK wake up. Dr. Dave said he did not think sutures or staples could hold the bladder together even if the necrotic tissue was trimmed away. NK appeared to die right after I told Dr. Dave not let him wake up - but we found his heart was still beating though more slowly and less strongly, so Dr. Dave euthanized NK with an injection. Everyone had been psyched up, if the prognosis was hopeful, to fight death for NK, only to find that the outcome had been determined hours before. As if he could hear and understand, we told NK we were sorry.

In a case like this, one of the things I always ask myself is, how much the wolf suffered. In NK's case I am sure he felt some discomfort or he would have been more excited over Billy's arrival and at the prospect of going out of the pen on leash. I don't think he was in horrible pain, though, because he did respond to Billy, and to me and to going out on a short walk. His expression was pleasant though he did growl once while we were taking him out. That was very much like NK too. He was reacting as usual to his environment, but in a muted fashion. Billy's watchfulness kept me from letting NK go a day to see if he felt better. It was extremely fortunate that on one of the busiest, most distracting weekends of the year, that NK had a good friend who could watch him and confirm that something serious was going wrong.

All his life, NK was a dominant, confidant wolf, a huge Eminence Blanc at East Lake. Chani and Sierra often seemed to run to him as if for reassurance when they were frightened of something and he started a lot of rowdy games in which they willingly joined. His voice is missing from the East Lake chorus, and since his death, his sister Sierra rarely does her signature "squirrel shriek howl." Life goes on, but we will never forget NK.
 
               Pat Goodmann