Two grey wolf pups named Highlander and Sassenach have arrived at Discovery Wildlife Park in Innisfail from Safari Niagara. They were born on Mar. 23. (Supplied)

By Sheldon Spackman

Too Cute

Discovery Wildlife Park celebrating fuzzy new arrivals

Apr 24, 2020 | 12:44 PM

Staff at Discovery Wildlife Park in Innisfail are ecstatic with the arrival of a cuddly pair of newcomers to the facility.

Two grey wolf pups named Highlander and Sassenach have arrived from Safari Niagara, and are just over one-month-old.

Head Zookeeper Serena Bos admits there’s nothing more enjoyable than baby animals.

“Every single employee just wants to stop working and spend all their time with them,” laughs Bos. “But of course that’s not possible.”

Discovery Wildlife Park already has two orphaned wolves at the facility, six-year-old Nissa and Lupe, who both arrived in Innisfail at just 10-days-old.

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“They had been orphaned from the wild, their pack had been shot, but there was only the two females,” explains Bos. “Thankfully they’ve always had each other, and they’ve always been extremely happy and content. But wolves do thrive in a pack and we just always thought, man it would be great for them if they had a larger pack, more dynamics, more interaction, but because we focus on orphans, sometimes good things come to those who wait.”

Highlander and Sassenach were born into a litter of six on Mar. 23, but mom is said to have struggled nursing all of them. Safari Niagara then contacted Discovery Wildlife Park in hopes of providing them with a forever home.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic however, Bos says they’re in need of some help to assist with the cost of looking after the animals.

She says a GoFundMe campaign launched on Apr. 11 aims to help in that respect, with over $2,715 raised of the $75,000 goal so far.

“Because we’re not open, we don’t have income coming in,” she explains. “We have not limited any of the care that the animals are receiving, we haven’t limited any of the medical needs that they require, and so us as staff felt that by starting the GoFundMe page, it was another way we could continue to help.”

It’s anticipated it will take some time for the new grey wolf pups to grow, but staff are said to be excited to work towards introducing them to Nissa and Lupe in the future.

“We knew that taking in these pups at this time was a bit of a risk without truly knowing what the future holds, but the quality of life for all the wolves involved outweighed that risk and we just could not say no,” adds Debbi Rowland, co-owner, in a press release. “Your support is needed to help us help them. We truly appreciate everybody that has already sent in donations.”

Rowland encourages those who are able, to please consider donating to their GoFundMe campaign, noting they also accept e-transfers.

“Even things like bottles or frozen meat donations are truly appreciated at this time.”

Although Discovery Wildlife Park is not able to open May 1, as they normally would, Rowland suggests they are hopeful to open this summer and look forward to everyone meeting the newest members of their family.