Enriching Pumpkins

The pumpkin patch at Crescent Wolf Hallow had proved to be rather substantial with its turn out. There was plenty to sell at the store and also to save back for carving, canning and baking, anything left after the season would be given to the livestock at the farm. For the time being though, Demeter was out in the patch loading some of the pumpkins into a wheel barrow.

The young girl was at the age of sixteen, she had a rather average body with no distinguished features or scars, save for her rather pale skin for one of Native American blood. Though it was more common for them to be of a darker skin, the Darkmyr tended to run pale. The young woman's naturally raven black hair was currently dyed a bright purple with two blue streaks framing either side of her face. Her eyes were a bright crystal clear blue that glinted in the autumn sunrise. She breathed in deeply and sighed contently as she continued to load the pumpkins.

Demeter was planning on taking some out to Wolf Hallow Preserve and offering them as a sort of interactive snack. Though she planned on doing a bit of doctoring to the pumpkins before offering them to the wolves. Nonetheless, she had finished loading the pumpkins and wheeled the barrow over to the old farm truck she had been given for her 16th birthday. She didn’t mind the old rusting square body chevy and in fact, she loved it. She had grown up in that truck and now it was hers. She loaded the pumpkins into the bed of the truck and then put the wheel barrow away.

The old truck started with a loud roar, by now the animals on the farm were used to it and no longer spooked at the sound of the truck. Demeter put it into gear and rumbled down the drive, gravel crunching under the tires as she headed towards the pavement. Once on the main road, Demeter drove to Wolf Hallow Preserve, a large education zoo owned by members of her family which focused on the study of canid creatures, mainly wolves. 

She pulled in and drove around back, parking up by her uncles homes and shutting off the truck. She then walked over to one of the buildings and grabbed a wheel barrow and headed back to the truck to load the pumpkins. 

It was a bit of a chilly morning and Demeter pulled her black hood up over her unnaturally colored hair. She was wearing her usual black Jack Skellington hoodie, however underneath she wore a black crop top depicting a cartoon ghost. Her pants were light blue and distressed, tight against her skin. Today she was wearing black Doc Martens rather than her usual Nightmare Before Christmas themed shoes she had designed and painted herself from purple shoes.

Once the pumpkins were in the wheel barrow Demeter brought them over to the building where the food prep was done. It was a rather small building as the majority of the animals here were given the ability to live hunt for themselves. Though at times there are circumstances that need the prepping of meat and other food items. Such as animals in quarantine or in the veterinary pens. Meat is also often offered up by the viewing fences to entice the animals closer for the public. 

Demeter carved out the pumpkins, pulling the insides out and scraping it. Once empty she filled the pumpkins with a meat and fruit mix gelatin she had mixed up and placed frozen mice inside. Once the pumpkins were filled they were placed in the freezer to set. While Demeter waited she decided to go and try to find either one of her uncles or her aunt and let them know she was here. She had called Ares the night before and let him know her plans, but he hadn’t answered her call this morning. 

Demeter was unable to find anyone however she had found a note in the main office from Ares stating that they had all left to go see some wolves that would possibly be coming to the preserve from another in a trade. She then decided to walk around the various paths by the viewing fences, looking to see if any wolves were close to the front. There were also two Alexander Archipelago wolves in quarantine at the moment, a male and a female. Ares was hoping that they would pair up and begin their breeding project for the species as well as the beginning of their study on the species. 

Demeter walked along one of the main paths that was currently decorated for the Halloween season. There were various large decorations of stacked pumpkins and animals in costumes, large figures of witches and skeletons. The safety fence was adorned with purple, orange and green garland with fake spiders, bats and pumpkins decorating it. Demeter smiled softly as she walked, she loved the Halloween holiday and the whole season of Autumn. By the time the pumpkins were ready, Demeter had ended up seeing a couple of wolves up by the viewing area.

Demeter grabbed the pumpkins out and placed them on a cart, rolling it out and entering the fence. She never worried when entering the preserve, she knew the wolves would not attack her. She pulled the cart into the fence after her and closed the door. She then began to grab pumpkins off the cart and place them spaced out on the ground. Once she had placed all but two of the pumpkins, she wheeled the cart out and headed over to the quarantine area where the two wolves were in separate pens as they had come from two different places and needed time to acclimate before meeting and being let loose into the preserve. 

Demeter went in and placed a pumpkin in each of the wolves pens and then left, leaving them to their enrichment treat. Alexandria was the first one to check out the pumpkin that had been left, enticed by the smell of it that drifted towards her on the light autumn breeze. She cautiously trotted over to the pumpkin and gave it a sniff before she licked it. She wagged her tail, whining softly as she began to paw and chew at the pumpkin. Demeter had cut a couple small holes around all of the pumpkins to give the wolves a little help with opening them and to entice them to the pumpkins.

The small black female Alexander Archipelago wolf shook her sleek winter growing coat as her skin rippled with excitement. She had broken a nice chunk of the pumpkin off and was able to lick and chew at the delicious mix inside. She soon had chewed enough to reach a mouse and her excitement grew even more. The wolf tossed her slim head back, peeling her black lips to reveal white canines as she gave a joyous howl. She had not had treats like this at her previous home. Though well taken care of, she had not felt challenged, the enrichment was not quite like it was here. 

In the other pen Alexander, the male Alexander Archipelago wolf had heard the females howl and grown curious. He soon began to lope around his rather spacious pen, wondering what she was excited about. The male was a bit older and larger than his female counterpart, his legs were long and stocky, his tail a dark bush while his middle and underside looked like a dark burnt brown. He was growing in rather nicely to his winter coat. Alexander soon found the pumpkin which had been left in his pen.

Alexander too had never had an enrichment treat such as this, though this time last year he had just been born and wouldn’t have been able to have a pumpkin yet anyways. Alexander approached the treat and began nosing it around before he began to chew on it, trying to get to the tasty inside. Similar to Alexandria, Alexander gnawed at the holes first, trying to tear the pumpkin apart.

Demeter watched the two from a distance with a smile, she was glad they were enjoying the treat she had thought of and made all on her own. She wondered if the others had found the pumpkins and decided to head that way, leaving these two to eat their pumpkins undisturbed.