Young wolves put down after escaping from zoo enclosure

Four young wolves at Camperdown Wildlife Centre in Dundee escaped their enclosure twice before being put down over fears that they could attack the public, it has emerged.

The pack was euthanised earlier this year after becoming stressed when alpha male Loki failed to recover from surgery on an abdominal injury.

The decision led to criticism from members of the public, who questioned why the healthy wolves could not have been saved.

It later emerged that some people had threatened workers at the zoo, which is run by Leisure and Culture Dundee.

Our sister paper, The Courier, has now obtained minutes of a meeting of the zoo’s ethics committee, which details the process staff went through to come to the decision to euthanise the animals.

And it reveals that the wolves – Bear, six, and fiveyear-olds James, Frank and Fenrir – had breached their enclosure on two occasions while Loki was unwell.

That led to concerns that they could attack visitors to the centre.

The ethics committee met on Monday March 27.

According to the minutes, supplied through a freedom of information request, five people appear to have been present at the meeting.

The document reveals the following timeline:

● March 15 – the wolves were “engaged in a training session” during which Loki was “happy” when he suddenly walked away and did stretches, “indicating abdominal discomfort”.

A vet was contacted and Loki was later seen to be lying on his side with “exaggerated movements of the abdomen”.

The vet arrived late that afternoon but was unable to dart Loki because his offspring were too close.

Keepers left the enclosure at 5.30pm as the youngsters were “showing signs of stress” and returned at 6pm, when they successfully darted Loki.

The small tear in Loki’s intestine had started to leak and cause him discomfort. This was repaired and closed up, and Loki was returned to the enclosure but confined to his house overnight.

● March 16-21 – Loki received and took his medication but on the sixth day of his recovery there was “what looked like a flap of bloody skin protruding from the surgical wound”.

The vet was called and plans for an operation put into place, including dosing each wolf with trazodone and gabapentin, including Loki, to keep them calm.

This worked for “a couple of hours but did not have a lasting effect”.

● March 22-23 – following Loki’s second operation, the wolves “breached their enclosure” on both March 22 and 23.

It is not confirmed how this happened or whether any members of the public were present at the time.

They were returned to the enclosure but “it was clear that without Loki, the wolves would either damage themselves on fences or injure members of the public and dogs”.

● March 27 – Loki again had a “flap” hanging from his wound. The stitches had failed and “he would need to be euthanised”.

Staff at the zoo then considered the options for the remaining four young wolves, given Loki’s role in providing “stability”.

There was deemed to be a danger of escapes, putting people and other animals at risk of attack.

The decision was taken to euthanise the pack.

Alpha male Loki was put down after the failure of emergency abdominal surgery at the wildlife centre.