Meet Selkirk (Kirk)!

Meet Selkirk! He is one of the male calves born in the Central Selkirk Caribou Maternity Pen in 2023. Selkirk (or “Kirk”, for short) was born to a two-year-old cow, on July 1^st .

At birth, Kirk was smaller than the other calves (4.4 kg instead of 8-12 kg) but he seemed to be bright, alert, and was seen following his mother for the first couple of days.

A few days after birth, he was found lying by himself and was very weak. He was immediately taken to the local veterinary clinic where he received care for failure of passive transfer, dehydration, and hypothermia.

Ungulates are not born with an immune system and must develop their immunity through the transfer of their mother’s antibodies in the colostrum they receive in the first 24 hours of nursing. Kirk’s mother may not have been able to feed him the necessary colostrum within the first few days of his life, and therefore he was not able to develop an immune system and he was very dehydrated from not nursing properly. After immediate treatment, an attempt was made to reunite Kirk with his mother but it was unsuccessful and he was not healthy enough to live in the pen without his mother’s care.

Maternity pen managers, veterinarians, and government wildlife biologists collectively established that his chances of survival in the wild were extremely low given the imminent release of the rest of the caribou and that it was best to take him to a wildlife rehabilitation centre in the short-term. The calf was transferred to the BC Wildlife Park in Kamloops on July 13^th where he continues to do well.

ALCS is thankful for the help from veterinarians, biologists, and the BC Wildlife Park for giving this calf the best chance at survival. Although there are many success stories within maternity penning, there are challenges such as this calf’s story to be met with this type of recovery work. For Kirk to continue to thrive at the BC Wildlife Park, we are asking the public to contribute a donation towards his care and feed. You can donate to or support Kirk by visiting the BC Wildlife Park website.