Shadow was able to find serenity in the face of chaos.
Shadow and his littermate, Malik, were born on May 8, 2000. Shadow had a quiet intensity as a pup. By 2002, he led the testing and deposing of the 1993 litter, leaving him as the dominant male to greet future pups. His time as a pup with MacKenzie was reenacted with the 2004 and 2008 litters of pups. Even when these pups matured into yearlings and started to test his status, Shadow’s facial expressions showed a remarkably calm and serene response to some of their bold behaviors. Due to this testing along with his aging body, he was retired in June 2010 where he was reunited with Malik and maintained his dominant status for the remainder of his life. Wolf care team members noted an acute and significant physical decline in Shadow’s overall condition. He was humanely euthanized on July 2, 2014 due to quality of life concerns. A necropsy revealed that the cause of Shadow’s rapid decline was a ruptured mass on his kidney that resulted in internal bleeding. Many years after his passing, we still continue to see his “Serenity Now” expression mirrored by current wolf ambassadors in response to maturing juveniles.
