Saying Good-Bye

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but I must tell you that our beloved furry friend, Vangogh, has gone to join the big pack in the sky. He was a lovely animal that enjoyed guarding his water bowl, and that I miss the most. I miss seeing Vangogh on my way home at night, but I am glad that he went so quickly and peacefully. The other volunteers miss Vangogh barking and watching us from his enclosure, and him chasing them around the enclosure bothering them for more food. He was quite a little bathtub with feet, needless to say he was not starved. Waya, who was Vangogh's mate, is very saddened by his passing. Since he has left us, she has been very skiddish and easily scared. We are hopeing that she will not be heartbroken for very long, but she has all the time she needs. Many of the volunteers' go to see her, just to try and make her feel better, but it seems as if it would be better if we left her alone to grieve. Waya's picture is to the right.

Once again, I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but our beautiful wolf-dog, Rain has lost half of her left ear about a week ago. Apparently she was fence-fighting with her new neighbors and they got a lucky bite in during the fight. Her ear was found in the neighboring pen. Even though she has lost part of her ear, she is just as beautiful as she was before. I do not have any after pictures, but Rain's picture is at the bottom of the blog.

Since The New Arrivals

Not much has changed since my last post. Our new kids (wolves) are doing okay. Axel is still not sure of any of us yet, he still paces and sounds the alarm when he sees a volunteer or a tour go by, but he is slowly getting better. Sierra and Yukon are doing well. Yukon will come sniff my hand through the fence not. We are very pleased with this because it means that he is getting used to it here. Lani and Nakota are doing great. They are definatly not as shy as the other new additions. Lani likes to play with her visitors and she seems to enjoy going for the ankles if you try to walk away.

Last weekend, Forest and Storm went to the Scorpions Hockey Game and walked across the ice. It was amazing! I really enjoyed watching them be so brave. They had encountered all of the things that frighten wolves, and they did great! There were lots of people, loud noises, icy floor, things flying above them, all of this would normally scare them, but Storm and Forest were not phased. I know that I had a good time at the game and I think it is safe to say that we all did. I hope we can go there more often.

New Additions To Our Family

We have some new additions to our family, both the furry and the not-so-furry. We have 2 new volunteers that came to us a few weeks ago. They're Maya from CA and Jason from England. Maya will be staying with us until May or so and Jason will be here for a year. All of us are happy that they are here, and we hope that they are happy to be here also.

As of yesterday we went from having 56 animals to having 61. That's right! We aquired 5 new animals. We have 3 arctics; Sierra, Yukon, and Axel; as well as 2 wolf-dogs named Lani and Lakota. Yes, we have another Lakota, and for that reason we are going to change his name to Kota or Nakota. If you have any suggestions, please feel free to let me know about them. We are trying to make sure that the new name sounds very similar to the old one. The picture at the top left of the page is Lakota. I know he looks a little ragged, but he is shedding and he also had just gotten out of a kennel after a 2 day drive. The picture to the right of Lakota, is Lani. She is Lakota's girl. Sierra and Yukon are the parents of the 6 Arctic pups that we got last summer. I am happy to say that there is one less wolf breeder in the US. Axel is their son and is the older brother of the Arctic pups. This picture just to the left is Sierra. The picture in the middle is her husband, Yukon, and the picture that is to the bottom right, is Axel. Check our website for additional pictures and info.

www.wildspiritwolfsanctuary.org

Becca@wildspiritwolfsanctuary.org

NEWS!!!!

After 9 months, we are finally uploading our web-site!!! It should be up some time this week. We are very excited to be able to announce this after so many months. Many long hours were spent on the computer by our Web-mistress, Allison Bailey, and now her efforts and hard work can finally been seen by others. She did have helpers (Angel Bennett and Georgia Cougar) during those long nights, and they are also just as responsible for how amazing the website looks. I myself have not had the pleasure of looking at the site as a finished whole, but I am sure that it is everything that was expected if not more. The volunteers' and the staff members here at Wild Spirit helped in one way or another to make this possible, and we are all wondering what you, (the public), think of it. Hopefully, it is very educational, informative, and nice on the eyes of the person who views it. Myself and the rest of us here ask you to please go to our website and learn about us, read about our animals, and what we do for Outreach events. If you have any questions, you are always welcome to e-mail me at Becca@wildspiritwolfsanctuary.org and I will do my best to answer them accurately.
www.wildspiritwolfsanctuary.org

Latest News

In the past week, the snow had begun to really melt. Then a few days ago, it decided to snow again. This time we got about 8-10 inches. It is possible that we may have gotten a foot. The snow is very hard to walk in, but we are managing.

Sometime within the next month and a half we are going to have our annual Turkey Toss fun'raiser! This is where many of our wonderful members donates money to buy a turkey for an animal of their choosing. Then, in the late winter, early spring months we go around the entire compound and toss the turkeys' into the enclosures. Those animals get to chew and eat the entire thing all to themselves. We also call this part of the enrichment programs that we hold throughout the year. It helps the animals use their brain so that they are not bored.

We are looking forward to this year's Turkey Toss and we hope that you do too. Please feel free to send a dontation for a turkey for an animal that has not already received one. I know that the wolves would enjoy it.

Recent News

The last snow fall gave us another 8 inches or so, right when the snow before that was just beginning to go away! Even with all this snow the volunteers' trudge right through it to get the random projects of the day finished. The past few days have been much warmer than the average winter day, which has allowed the staff and the volunteers' to wear just a sweater instead of 2 shirts, a sweater, and 2 jackets! If it has been that warm then obviously the snow is melting rather quickly. There is a lot of slush, ice, and mud everywhere on the compound, but we are all managing well; except for some of the vehicles that like to get stuck in the mud.

The animals all have muddy, brown bellies from running in their enclosures throughout the day. Although the 2-legged are anticipating the arrival of the summer months, the animals are still enjoying the snow. The cold weather is much more fun for the wolves, considering they have a double coat the winters do not feel as cold to them. The summer months however must feel 3x as hot to the animals because of their extra coat.

As the winter volunteers' begin to end their time here, we are all excited to see the newcomers for the Spring and Summer months. This is always a big thing out here. What is this new person's name, what do they like, will they make it here? There are just a few of the questions that we ask eachother before a new volunteer comes out. Last summer we had a staff of 2 men volunteers and 6 female volunteers. It was a lot of fun to just go to the lake and make wolf pup food and other tasks that were to be done.

Please dont forget that there are a few internet sites trying to help us become more known throughout the country:

1. wildspirit.myphotomax.com
2. youtube.com search wswolves (to see videos of the pups last summer)
3. Goodsearch.com (search engine that donates money everytime someone searches with us listed as the charity)

If you have any questions, you can call us at 505-775-3304. Or you can e-mail me at Becca@wildspiritwolfsanctuary.org

What's Happening...

In the past few weeks, we have lost a few of our furry friends to old age. The oldest was about 18 years old. We as volunteers get quite attached to the animals we care for and see everyday, so when one of them joins the "big pack in the sky" it is always hard to say good-bye. We almost always cry (being human) and go about our work day a little differently than we would on a normal day. It is always sad when an animal passes away, but we remind ourselves that he/she had a nice long life. We have in the past, gotten special things to help the volunteers' grieve a little easier by purchasing things such as paw castings.
Even though we have lost some friends, all the other animals are doing great. The 11 nine month old wolf pups are growing faster than I can describe. Heck, they might be bigger since I started this blog. The animals that have recently lost a partner are slowly being paired up with someone else. This process takes a little bit longer because we have to make sure that their personalities are compatible, as well as make sure they like each other of course! The most recent widow was paired up with a male that had been alone for many months now. They met each other today and are showing signs of accepting one another. All of us here are hoping that they will love each other til death do them part.
With the winter weather dumping loads of snow on top of us, it is harder to get things done. While projects are still completed, it's just been a little more difficult. We all are looking forward to the spring and summer months.