WEST ASHLEY — After Matt Lauer and three college classmates devised a method for monitoring the weight of endangered red wolves, he sought the help of a pair of scientists to execute the idea.
Not just any scientists, but a pair of talented techies who just happened to be his father and older brother.
The development and installation of the Health Observation and Weight Logger, or HOWL, at Charles Towne Landing State Historic Site earlier this year has very much been a Lauer family affair.
Besides the three Lauer men, the family’s dogs even played a role in the project, with the pets used as stand-ins for the red wolves during a test phase.
As Don Lauer, Matt’s father, explained, red wolves have “teeth and attitude.”
Red wolves prefer to avoid humans, too, and will typically trot to the far side of their enclosure when visitors come to their home in the Animal Forest section of the state park, which also features a live cougar, black bear, otters and more.
This aversion to human contact helped inspire the invention of HOWL, a device which allows veterinarians to obtain the weight of Ferdi and Val, Charles Towne Landing’s two 8-year-old red wolves, without having to handle the animals.
Todd Heldreth, a veterinarian for the Charles Towne Landing Animal Forest (left), Donald J. Lauer III (center) and Matthew Lauer (right), look into the red wolf enclosure as animals move about during the day, Tuesday, Oct. 13, 2026, in Charleston. The Lauer brothers and father built a scale that weighs red wolves moving back and forth between the enclosure and their den and feeding area with minimal impact on the animals.
Henry Taylor/Staff
Previously, veterinarians needed to tranquilize the red wolves in order to place them on a scale and perform health assessments and treatments, such as administering vaccines and cleaning teeth.
Now, thanks to the collaboration of the Lauer family, students at Charleston Southern University, and the Navy, the red wolves’ weights can be obtained easily and often, without any human disturbance.
Last spring, Matt Lauer and three fellow seniors at Charleston Southern — Esdras Juarez, Harrison Majors and Piper Reid — designed a customized scale and placed it in the red wolves’ enclosure.
Specifically, the scale, whose top panel is made of aluminum, was situated in a tunnel that connects an open area of the enclosure to a shelter for the red wolves. The wolves cannot help but step upon the scale as they go back and forth between the two rooms of their open-air home.