On the Tuesday before Christmas, Ted and I took our CASA kids to New Mexico and the Wild Spirit Wolf Sanctuary near Ramah, NM . We had been here before, in the summer when the wolves are hot and reluctant to move around their quarter acre enclosures. When the kids wanted to go in the winter, we jumped at the chance to see the wolves, and wolf dogs, in their element. This is a sanctuary, and wolves and wolf dogs are rescued from all over the country. Many people breed wolf dogs to sell, and the new owners quickly find that raising these pups in their homes is problematic. They are very destructive and do not take on the "dog" behavior characteristics. So, they either destroy the animal, or find a sanctuary.
This is Robin, our tour guide. He explained he was from Sweden and apologised for his "English." (He spoke perfect English with only a slight accent.) I asked him what brought him way out here to work at the sanctuary. He explained that in Sweden there had been only 200 wild wolves left in the country. His government sanctioned a wolf hunt last year that killed approximately 50 wolves of that 200. He is an animal activist and wanted to come to this sanctuary to learn all he could about the wolves so he could return to Sweden armed with information to fight his government if they sanctioned another wolf hunt next year.
Many of the wolves are white or cream colored. They are arctic wolves. Three of the wolves are "ambassadors" and may be petted by the staff. Here Robin was giving the wolf a piece of jerky as a treat. He held the jerky in his flat hand as any fingers poking through the fence may disappear!
Each enclosure is a quarter acre in size and has the extra fencing at the top to prevent the wolves jumping over the fences. It allows the animals to run and exercise to some extent. They are fed five times a week, each feeding being 3-5 pounds of meat. The meat is frozen into "loaves" as it takes longer for the animals to eat the frozen loaf that it would take for fresh meat. The local stores donate their out of date meat to the sanctuary and sometimes hunters donate meat as well. They also encourage sponsors to help support their mission.
This dark colored animal is a wolf dog. It is easily identified by the brown eyes. Wolves have yellow/amber colored eyes. Also, wolf dogs wag their tails, can learn to "sit" etc., and can carry their tails curled over their backs. Wolf dogs also can bark.
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Wolves carry their tails either straight back or down and cannot learn to respond to commands. Wolves cannot bark, though they whine, whimper and cry like dogs,
This red fox is "Romeo." He is also a rescue though I didn't hear his story.
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The most thrilling moment happened as we were walking among the enclosures. Something set off the dogs close to the buildings and they started to bark. Then the howling began and all 54 animals joined in. You have never experienced anything like it. The largest wolf pack is in Yellowstone and it has 30 some animals. Only here can you hear 54 animals howling and singing together. It gave me goosebumps!! It is a memory I will never forget. The children were not afraid, but stood and looked at the animals and .....listened. As did I.
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I highly recommend a visit to the sanctuary. They have an educational outreach program and bring an "ambassador" wolf to schools and wildlife festivals in NM and AZ. We have seen and petted these wolves in Show Low several times. We were at festival in Show Low in September and the wolf was on a leash. He rubbed his head all over Ted's legs and the handler asked Ted what he had on his legs. Bug spray-lemon and eucalyptus oil! Memories live on!!!
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This is probably my last post on this blog. Thank you to all my readers and I wish you many memories of your own!
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