Wolf Recovered Park Trails Reopened to Public
KINGSPORT – Kawoni, the female wolf that escaped Saturday has been returned back to the wolf habitat.‚ She was the last of the wolves that remained free after a large limb from a green (live) tree fell breaching both fences of the enclosure.‚ Following her recovery, park officials reopened all trails and park roads used for hiking and mountain biking to public access.
Kawoni was located in field on a farm just outside park boundaries.‚ She was then successfully darted with a tranquilizer allowing the search team of staff and volunteers to approach and secure her for safe transport back to Bays Mountain Park.‚ Upon her arrival, Kawoni was placed in a separate enclosure from the other wolves where she underwent a close physical examination by park staff and is doing very well.‚ After allowing her a couple of days of rest, park officials will then begin to reintroduce her back to the pack.
Park officials estimate this most recent breach occurred sometime during the night on Saturday resulting in the escape of five of the parks seven wolves.‚ Following a phone call by a resident living on park grounds advising of a possible problem, staff arrived by 9:30 a.m. Sunday and immediately began recovery efforts.‚ Within three hours, four of the five wolves had been successfully returned to the habitat.
This latest incident occurred as park officials were preparing to begin the introduction of planned measures designed to improve the security of the wolf habitat.‚ Following the December storm that resulted in similar fence damage and also resulted in the wolves escaping, park staff with the aid of certified arborists identified and addressed trees in and around the wolf habitat that needed to be removed and trimmed.‚ Trees identified as immediate threats or dead were then cut down and removed.‚ ‚ Further plans call for the addition of utility poles around the perimeter of the habitat to help provide greater strength and resistance for the fence.
One of the nations largest city-owned parks with 3,550 acres, Bays Mountain Park features 38 miles of hiking trails, a state-of-the-art planetarium, wildlife habitats, fun exhibits, a 44-acre lake, trails for mountain biking and much, much more.