The Wild Spirit Wolf Sanctuary

The Wild Spirit Wolf Sanctuary is a sanctuary that saves wolves from nearly all over the world. They have about 60 wolves and wolf-dogs. Some of the wolf-dogs and wolves come from abusive situations. For example, a wolf dog named Cody came from a home were people kept him in a cage so small that he couldn’t even stand up or turn around. Three other wolves were locked up in a horse trailer with no food or water for almost a week. The sanctuary rescues the wolves and wolf-dogs and nurses them back to normal health.

All wolf species fall into two categories, the gray wolf and the red wolf. The Arctic and the Timber wolf are part of the gray wolf family and the Mexican Red Wolf falls into the red wolf family. The wolves’ cages are almost an acre and the fences go five feet into the ground. The fences are 15 feet high with barbed wire pointing in. Wolves can jump super high. They also have a bite pressure of more than 1500 pounds per square inch.

-TB

Our Visit to the Wolf Sanctuary

 At The Wild Spirit Wolf Sanctuary, we saw over 30 wolf and wolf-dog crosses. The tour guide was constantly reminding us that “ You should never own a wolf or wolf dog as a pet.”  Through the whole tour she kept telling about the ritual wolves perform to become alpha, and how horrifying it is to witness. It was surprising to imagine some of the animals jumping on you and nipping at your face. One of the wolves was pure wolf, but acted like a rottweiler puppy. There were the heart wrenching stories of wolves who were horribly abused, and then there were the stories of wolf dogs that were found illegally, and the stories of people getting the wolf dogs as pets then not being able to deal with their behavior and giving them to the  sanctuary.           

At the end of the tour, the tour guide took us to see some wolves that were heart-wrenching. The first one added new meaning to “puppy love.” The couple was a pure wolf and a pure dog that was mistaken for a wolf in puppyhood. The dog was brought to the sanctuary when she was a puppy, but after a couple weeks it was clear she was just a husky, and she was going to be put up for adoption. But someone had a great idea to put her in with a wolf that had just lost his mate. He decided as soon as she was in the cage that she was his, and to prove it, he ripped her ear off. Another was a pair of wolves who were nearly dead, in such bad condition that they could barely stand up. With another wolf, the guide showed us what real wolf aggression looks like. The wolf looked as though she was going to rip through the fence. The last case did make me cry. The wolf had been left to die in an abandoned shed and survived by eating his fur and feces and drinking his urine, for nearly two years.

All these wolves are now living fabulous, pain free lives, including the ones who were nearly dead. And they are being taken care of well.

-KM