By North Devon Journal
A LITTER of wolf pups born in North Devon are the first of their kind in the UK.
Combe Martin Wildlife and Dinosaur Park is celebrating the birth of seven Hudson Bay Wolf pups.
The breed is rare and it is unknown how many of the wolves are left in their natural habitat of northern Canada.
Park director, Dawn Gilbert, said: “This is a rather large litter for a first time mum. The average litter size is four to six and not all of them generally survive.
“It is still early days yet but the pups are making strong progress and mum Naira is carrying out her role brilliantly.”
Naira and her sister, Saskia, arrived at the park in July 2013 and Maska, a male wolf, joined them in February 2014.
Dawn said: “We always intended to allow them to have one litter because they are social pack animals that live in family groups so it is better for their welfare. We weren’t sure if it was going to happen this year as they are all still fairly young.
“What is more surprising is the size of the litter, so it is really imperative that we extend their existing enclosure to accommodate them all as adults.”
The park is hoping to raise funds to build this extension by selling photos of the pups.