Wolf at Voyageurs continues to be in good health nearly 2 years after losing use of its front paw

The Voyageurs Wolf Project(VWP) is sharing details about a lone wolf who has been able to survive for almost two years without the use of one of its front paws, despite how debilitating the injury can be.

According to VWP, the wolf was first spotted around 2023, when its front left paw appeared to be permanently injured or disabled for an unknown reason.

The injury can be fairly debilitating, according to VWP, since a wolf’s power and balance come from their front legs, where most of their muscle is.

However, the wolf, according to the VWP, appears to be in a decent body condition and has been resourceful, finding a way to live for several years.

“We can only guess how this wolf would find enough food,” VWP said in a statement. “We suspect it likely does quite a bit of scavenging.”

For almost 2 years now, this lone wolf has hobbled around the Voyageurs area on 3 legs. The wolf’s front left foot is permanently injured/disabled for some unknown reason.

We shared a post about this wolf in 2023 and since the wolf is still around, figured we would just share an… pic.twitter.com/MypsGZMqwq

— Voyageurs Wolf Project (@VoyaWolfProject) December 16, 2024

VWP suspects the wolf has been eating from the remains of other wolf kills, road kills animals, trapped beavers, and possibly has been catching hiding fawns and beavers who are unable to run away.

They don’t believe the wolf is capable of hunting most animals, like adult deer or older fawns.