SUAMICO (NBC 26) — Friday, the zoo's new female American Red Wolf, Ajana, could be seen for the first time in her new habitat after arriving Thursday night from the Sioux Falls Zoo in South Dakota.
- Catch a glimpse of Suamico's newest resident
- Zoo staff hope Ajana and her mate, Blade, have pups to help repopulate their species
- American Red Wolves are critically endangered
(The following is a transcription of the full broadcast story.)
I've spent some time here at the NEW Zoo lately reporting on the return of one half of everyone's favorite otterly-cute team of escape artists. I'm your Suamico neighborhood reporter Pari Apostolakos. Friday I got to see another animal here, literally, meet his perfect match.
Watch Pari Apostolakos' full broadcast story here:
Last month Ophelia the otter escaped from the NEW Zoo with her partner Louie. Louie is still on the run. But, Ophelia has returned home. The zoo hopes to reunite that couple. But, in the meantime, they're helping forge a new relationship.
On Friday, the Zoo's new female American Red Wolf Ajana could be seen for the first time in her new habitat getting acclimated to her new mate, Blade, after arriving Thursday night from the Sioux Falls zoo in South Dakota.
Visitors like Amandah Szymanek were excited to see them.
"I was like oh my gosh, I'm so happy I can finally see one," Szymanek said. "It's just like so beautiful and so pretty, I love it so much. Like, look at it go!"
Zoo Education Coordinator Angela Kawski says with less than 20 American Red Wolves in the wild, they are one of the most endangered canidae species in the entire world.
"Because of poaching and like human-animal conflicts people saw them as competition like for their livestock," Kawski said.
Ajana and Blade's good genetic match will hopefully bring healthy pups in the future to help repopulate the species.
"Red wolves do kind of stay together in family packs for quite some time," Kawski said. "We definitely try to make sure to always mimic like the situation that they would have in the wild. All of our animals, their social, their emotional, their physical well being is very important to us."
Meanwhile, the zoo is on the hunt for a lioness to move in with Loid the lion after the death of his long-time mate in February.
