I Love Them so Much it Hurts!

Every once in a while at wild spirit wolf sanctuary we end up rescuing some really tough characters. Many of the animals we save have had rough lives up until meeting us.
Even though they get the best of care, habitat and canine companionship they still remain troubled.
Nikki is one of our troubled souls.
In spite of a beautiful girl friend and a large enclosure to romp and play in. in spite of fine canine neighbors on two sides of his enclosure.
In spite of great meals and fresh water daily.
Nikki remains a tough guy to care for.
Perhaps he just has poor social skills?
Maybe he was weaned to early?
Maybe he had brothers and sisters that picked on him when he was little.
Whatever the reason, it is painfully obvious that Nikki is just not right!
Nobody wanted to feed him or clean his pen, he was just to scary.
Each time a volunteer or staff member would go in his habitat to feed or clean he would always be rowdy
OK, rowdy might be a little soft. Down right nasty might fit his description.
So, since I am the boss and self proclaimed wolf man. My staff decided that I should be Nikki’s caretaker.
No problem, after all I am the wolf man!
All you have to do with Nikki is keep your eyes on him at all times, watch you backside and play chase with him when you are done cleaning.
Unless his previous owners show up to visit!

Just two Saturdays ago august 11 Nikki’s previous owners showed up.
Volunteers stood all around in amazement as the hard core I am going to bite you butt Nikki turned into a puppy as Cecilia and her son Johnny entered his enclosure and played.

Allison ran to get her camera to document the extreme behavior change as Nikki’s “family” interacted with him.

It was truly amazing to see the transformation in personality that took over him as he romped and played with seventeen year old Johnny.
Not wanting to interrupt their fun I stayed out of the enclosure and watched.
Cecilia came over to the fence and asked if Nikki still had his old toy.
I stepped into the pen to show her where he stashed his playthings.

I guess Nikki felt a sudden surge of extreme bravery since his “family” was now with him or perhaps it was “stay the #*%$#@ away from my family Mr. wolf man!

Suddenly he was a raging bull or better yet a wolf with an agenda!
That agenda was bit the crap out of Leyton!
Like lightning he stopped playing with Johnny and tore into me.
First my hand and then my right leg then my left leg and back to my right. I ran around his dog house hopping to instigate our regular play but he was in no mood to play. I jumped on to of his house which then began to collapse under my weight. Nikki then grabbed my left ankle and pulled me. Loosing balance I fell on my butt on top of the dog house when he then grabbed my left calf and began to yank on my leg.
Now I was on the defense knowing I was being seriously hurt I tried kicking him with my right foot never seeming to connect.
By now Johnny came to my aid and pulled Nikki off me.
You never saw anyone run as fast as I did running for the gate.
Once out the gate I saw blood shooting out of my left leg, never before have I seen blood squirt so far out of ones body.
I jammed my thumb into the hole as I heard Angel exclaim what do I do you’re gushing over here. Looking at my right leg my jeans where shredded and blood was pouring out of a three inch long gash.
Jam your hand in the wound I told Angel.
Get a car I yelled Mary jumped up and ran to get her car. I grabbed a radio and radioed Allison to get the med kit and some scissors.
It seemed like only seconds went by before Mary and Allison were back with medical supplies.
“What do I do?” I heard Mary ask. Jam gauze in the hole and wrap it tight I replied. Someone cried how I can help! Cut my pant off above the knee and pull off my boots.
I think it was Allison and Angel that got my pants cut and my boots off.
It took three or four of the girls to lift me to the car then Mary rushed me to Zuni Hospital.
Holy cow that hurt!! My legs felt completely broken. Mary said, “you ran out of the pen so fast we thought nothing really happened”.
“I was running for my life,” was my reply.
I must admit I let a more that a few explicative’s pass my lips on the way to the hospital and while the Doc was patching me up.
Wolves have 1500 pounds per square inch bite. That means not only did I get punctures and tears on my muscles but both my calves experienced serious crushing wounds.
Today, two weeks later my hand works well but my legs hurt like hell.
I walk a little each day; however all the staff and employees laugh at my old man shuffle and want to video me using my walker.
Nikki? He is back to being his butt head self it take four people to clean his poo and change water. (There is safety in numbers)
I am sure Nikki is patiently waiting my return perhaps even plotting his next move.
That’s all right, I still love him and hold no grudge as long as he lives at wild Spirit Wolf Sanctuary he will be loved and well cared for!

Me with my best buddies Storm and Savannah

Belly of the Beast "Tormenting Forest"

Hear Leyton and Raven on the radio!

I have been busy on the radio this past month!

Here is an hour show Raven and I did last week.

Raven always makes for great talk!

CLICK THIS LINK: http://www.wildspiritwolfsanctuary.org/audio/interviews.htm

SO MANY PICTURES!

Over the years at Wild Spirit Wolf Sanctuary we have collected hundreds possibly thousands of photographs of the many animals that have lived at our facility. Some photos of course are not very good but many are fabulous!
We have had quite a number of professional photographers come to the sanctuary many have given us the pictures they taken on their visits.
Just about all of us that work here and half the volunteers spend a good amount of time with cameras in hand.
Last December we bought a couple of external hard drives and Ihave slowly begun to categorize them and hopefuly get them stored safely and secure.
While going through the pictures I got the fun idea to create a screen saver with some of the pics I had come across. As I made the screen saver I realized there are some great stories within many of the animal photos I was looking at.
I love to go through our wolf puppy photos. Seeing the kids today at nine months old and nearly 75 pounds is such a contrast to the little grubs they were at two weeks old. Just watching my screen saver makes me smile or chuckle to myself.
Seeing some of the amazing moments in time that have been captured by the lens can send shivers up your spine. Knowing how sweet and friendly some of the wolves are with me and then seeing them in one of their serious "I am a wolf" moments caught on camera reminds all of us that we are privileged to be around these powerful creatures.

Realizing that we were sitting on a virtual gold mine in pictures got me to thinking. It dawned on me that maybe other people might get the same joy from our pictures that I do. But how could I share these unforgettable moments in time with other people?
If I could share them, I would want to do it for free…but if it were possible I would also like to raise money with the photos as well.

Not knowing how in the world that could be done I put the idea on the shelf for a while. Then, along comes my friend Dan Latrimurti with the perfect solution!!!
He showed me how we could sort and store all our precious pictures and video that we have collected over time in a secure place. Safe from fire, flood and most any natural disaster, for life, best of all for free!
Then he showed me how we could share all our photos the great and the not so great (but fun ones) and make money as well!!
Sounded hard to believe at first but after he showed me how simple it was. It was easy to see, that sharing our photos with anyone that would like to see them and giving those people the opportunity to create their own unique gift items with our pictures would be a great way to raise money for the wolves and be sharing at the same time.
So today, Dan and I are preparing to launch a PHOTO filled fiesta of fun called PhotoMax, your new best friend and way to help the wolves of
Wild Spirit Wolf Sanctuary!

If you want to find out more about this great way to help our wolves log on to our website and fill out the opt-in box on our home page and I will set you up with your own FREE PhotoMax web-site and pre-load it with some of our great pictures. Then I will show you how you can help our wolves by sharing those photos with others and making some cool gifts!

www.wildspiritwolfsanctuary.org

EATS AND SLEEPS WITH WOLVES

I have always thought that if you want to really get to know an animal and build a quality lasting relationship with them you must sleep with them, eat with them and play with them often.
So you can bet I have spent my fair share of all of the above with the pups we got last spring.

At our out of town Education Outreach programs with Storm, Forest And Savanna and I got lots sleep and snuggle time with the kids.

We received a call from a woman that had two rams battle to the death.
Volunteer Greg drove into Albuquerque and picked up the loser of that battle.
We then took it into our one acre exercise enclosure and let 7 of our 11 pups come in and have lamb buffet.
Web-mistress and photographer extraordinaire Allison Bailey stayed with them taking pictures through out the carnage.
Me, being the weird wolf Dad that I am, got in there with the kids. I wanted to see how well they would accept me around their exciting food find.
Forest and Dakota were extremely comfortable with me being there. Dakota gave me a few growlee warnings; forest could careless of my presence. Timid Thunder was the most challenging of my presence snapping and snarling at me and even charged me twice.
The rest of the kids gave varying responses from indifference to snaps and growls.
The feast lasted about 2 1/2 hours with the all the kids taking play breaks in between snacks.
I must admit the energy of 7 wolves feasting on an animal was quite the rush. I can’t wait to do it again!
These young pups are growing up fast they certainly may not ever allow me to interact like that again…I guess I will see.