A litter of rare Hudson bay wolves can now be found at Devon wildlife park in the UK. The said brood is said to be the "first of its kind" in the country and was welcomed by the park after mother Naira gave birth to seven wolf pups.

The births of the animals came as a surprise to the park officials. "This is a rather large litter for a first time mum. The average litter size is between four and six and not all of them generally survive," park director Dawn Gilbert says. "It is still early days yet but the pups are making strong progress and mum Naira is carrying out her role brilliantly." Officials say that they always plan for the mother wolves to have at least one pup, as their class is naturally social and lives in strong familial bonds.

Niara first came into the park with its sister Saskia in July 2013. The father of the pups named Maska followed in February 2014. Naira came from an animal park in Germany and Maska from Amsterdam. The park personnel were not sure if the birth of the new pups would happen this year because the couple was still very young.

What became more surprising for the staff is that the number of litter were more than what is usually expected. With this, it is now necessary for the park to make the necessary adjustments to enlarge their enclosures and provide enough lodging for the entire pack when all of them become adults. The park is looking at taking and selling pictures of the pups to help them raise funds for enclosure expansion projects.

The Hudson Bay wolves originated from central and northeastern Canada and Alaska. The park officials cannot confirm if their are some more left in the wild at present. There is another group of the same types of wolves in a park near Lincolnshire, UK; however, it is highly likely that no offspring have been born in the said location.

The healthy newborn wolves are currently settling in their new home at the Combe Martin Wildlife and Dinosaur Park in Ilfracombe.

Photo: Shankar S. | Flickr