Bear in the Back Seat I and II: by Kim DeLozier & Carolyn Jourdan

Author:Kim DeLozier & Carolyn Jourdan [DeLozier, Kim & Jourdan, Carolyn]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: Biography & Autobiography, Nonfiction, Personal Memoir, Retail, Travel
Publisher: Zo'o Media
Published: 2014-06-11T04:00:00+00:00

“You look at their neck,” Chris said. “If there’s radio collar around it, it’s a wolf. If not, it’s a coyote.”

Crying Wolf

During the time the red wolf reintroduction program was in full swing, we were working in Cades Cove darting and capturing whitetail deer as part of a surveillance program for Lyme disease, an infectious tick-borne illness caused by bacteria. We caught nearly fifty deer with the assistance of Dr. John New, a veterinarian from the University of Tennessee.

Dr. New was our go-to vet. He advised us on caring for free-ranging wildlife for many years. He educated us about wildlife diseases, especially the ones that could affect people, like rabies. He also gave us guidance on animal welfare and was our frontline consultant for treatment of sick and injured wild critters.

One January, he was with us in Cades Cove off Sparks Lane when I darted a deer with one of our Pneu-Dart immobilization rifles, which is basically a modified .22 with a barrel large enough to shoot small darts. When we dart a deer, it normally takes five or six minutes for the animal to go down and fall asleep. The drug we use to capture deer is a combination of Telazol and Xylazine. When everything works as it should, the drug knocks the animal out to the point that we could do surgery on it, if we needed to.

This particular adult female deer, when I darted her, ran toward the woods but stopped right at the edge of the field. It was a few minutes before dark and I couldn’t see the deer very well from where I was standing. An intern in our group could see her better than I could. I got a radio call. “Hey, Kim,” he said, “there are a couple of wolves watching what we’re doing.”

“Okay,” I said. “Keep a close eye on em.”

As soon as the drug started taking effect and the deer began to sway and stagger, a young red wolf took off after her at warp speed. “Kim,” the intern said, “a wolf’s chasing the deer!”

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