• Tail Troubles
• Powder Pack Perils

• Wild Spirit Calendar
• Van Fundraiser

We've been pretty lucky so far in this winter season. Our neighboring cities have received up to 20 inches of snow, but we have sneaked by with only half a foot. With the recent warm temperatures, most of the snow has melted, making our tour path quite the mess. Be sure you bring boots and jeans you don't mind getting dirty if you plan to visit.

The Wild Spirit Team is doing final preparations for our annual Present Toss enrichment, where we gift our animals with meat and treats hidden in wrapped boxes. We have a few more steps we have to finish before the big day, but keep your eyes open for Present Toss photos on our website in the next few weeks.

Finally, don't forget to purchase your Wild Spirit Painted Calendar! All images were painted by Hannah Leigh Jones, who has been a supporter of our since she was eleven years old. These are beautiful paintings that would look great hanging in your home or office. Plus, all proceeds will go to help the wolves and wolf-dogs of Wild Spirit! Order you calendar today by visiting Painted Wolves Calendar on our website or by calling at 505-775-3304.

Oh, the troubles we have been having with vehicles. It all started when a few days before Christmas, our meat transport van broke down twenty minutes outside of Albuquerque with over 1,000lbs of scrap meat and bones, just before a snowstorm was about to strike. George and Rory made the drive through the blizzard to rescue the cargo using a borrowed trailer. The meat van was officially dead. All of our other vehicles are not fairing well either: the meat transport truck has over 300,000 miles on it and a bad transmission, and the other vehicles have over 200,000 miles. We have to begin planning for their inevitable demise, so we decided to purchase a new van. Since our primary animal transport vehicle is on its last legs, we know it would be safer for the animals to dictate the new van as the new animal transport vehicle, and make the old animal van the new meat van. It is all very confusing, but the important thing is that the animals will be safe in a brand new vehicle.

We will be getting the new vehicle in a few days after we received a no-money down Ford credit loan. Payments begin in March, and we are already planning fundraiser to pay off the bills. However, we have the dream of finding five wonderful members who can make a one-time donation of $5,000 to pay off bill in full. We understand it a large chunk of money, but it will go to vital cause. We need a safe vehicle to transport animals to outreach events or the veterinarian.

If you would like to make a contribution, please visit the Donations page on our website or call the Sanctuary at 505-775-3304. We appreciate your generosity!

Catch a Kat-rina by the Tail

It is not uncommon for our animals to get into dominance spats and small arguments in their enclosures; we have seen almost every injury imaginable by these disputes. However, NOLA Pack (Saint, Katrina, Azteca, Juno, and Goldie) have proven to us that nothing is predictable at the Sanctuary.

Tasha was handing out vitaballs during 10:30 rounds when she heard a large commotion coming from the far side of the Sanctuary. Sprinting over to see what was wrong, she saw the four members of NOLA Pack pinning Katrina to the ground. Tasha's shouts were ineffective and had to rush inside to break up the group. During the commotion, she could see the members attacking Katrina's tail. It wasn't until the group calmed down that Tasha could see how bad the injuries actually were. Over the radio, the rest of the staff could hear Tasha proclaim, "Katrina is missing part of her tail." Well, we weren't quite sure what to think of that. Surely, Tasha wasn't seeing things clearly, or perhaps it only appeared that part of Katrina's tail was removed. Angie and Robin went to investigate, and sure enough, they located what was a few inches of Katrina's tail lying on the snow. Our peaceful day took an abrupt turn towards chaotic as we began planning the next steps.

Let me take this moment to interject a worthwhile note. Katrina and the rest of her group are low-content wolf-dogs, if not pure dogs. Do you have a dog at home? What do you do when you have to examine your dog? Typically, you can just call it over and examine the injury. It may not be happy about this fact, but they will normally let you do it. If you have to take your dog to the vet, you hook up its leash and drive it to the vet office. Unfortunately, this is not how NOLA Pack acts. Because they were classified as high-content wolf-dogs before arriving at the Sanctuary, it appears they did not get the socialization they deserved. Instead of being comfortable around humans, they still are naturally timid around our volunteers. When we once tried to walk Katrina and Saint, the two animals panicked, assured that their leash and collar was an elongated noose. This is one of the notions we teach at Wild Spirit: do not misclassify your dog as a wolf-dog. People treat it differently because they are afraid and the poor dog ends up timid or untrustworthy of people. We have had many low-content wolf-dogs or dogs remain at the Sanctuary instead of being adopted out because the animal never full accustoms to being a dog.

On that note, you can now understand that examining Katrina's injury was no easy task. Due to the stress of just being attacked, she wouldn't come close to us. Our attempts to isolate her in the sub-enclosure failed as she wouldn't enter. Our only option was to capture her. We assembled our team and were able to quickly catch her in the net, allowing us to examine the injury. Our worst fears were realized; parts of the bone were exposed, which poses a huge health risk for infection. The only option was to take her to the vet. Leyton arrived back on property just in time, and Angie and him loaded up Katrina and took her to the vet's office. She came back happy and healthy, only now with a docked tail.

Our next fear was reintroducing Katrina back into the group. It is possible that the argument started due to the rest of NOLA Pack wanting Katrina gone. The entire team was up at the enclosure when the time came to reintroduce Katrina. Luckily, the group seemed glad to see her and quickly licked her lips in apology. We still monitor the situation, but it seems that everyone is pushing to stay on Katrina's good side and continue to submit towards her.

We're sorry to see Katrina with her permanent injury, but overall, it's nice to have a happy ending. The animals are great at keeping us on our toes.

Powder Pack Perils

NOLA Pack is not the only group going through a rough patch. For the past few months, we have been closely monitoring Powder Pack's behavior, on the look out for anything wrong that could happen.

Long-time members may remember that Powder Pack is an odd group due to the constant hierarchy shifts. Five years ago, Dakota and Sabine reigned supreme. Then, Sabine and Nimoy began to duke it out for who would be alpha female of the group. Nimoy was kicked out, and wasn't long afterwards that Sabine fell to the lowest position on the social ladder. Powder began to grow more in charge, but still submitted to Dakota, especially during feeding time. However, six months ago, something changed. Dakota was harshly demoted to omega status where he has remained ever since.

It's tough to be the omega in a wolf pack, but it is a necessary role. The omega helps to relieve pack tension by being the 'scapegoat'. The omega will get picked on, but serious harm is rarely inflicted on the animal. I'm sure Dakota would rather be top wolf in the enclosure, but falling in rank is a part of life. Still, it is important for the staff and volunteers to closely monitor the situation. In the wild, if an omega wolf is harassed too much, the wolf can escape the group's wrath until things have calmed down. Due to fences, Dakota is unable to remove himself from a potentially dangerous situation. It is up to the humans to decide when it is time to break things up.

At first, the only sign of Dakota's new, lower position was Powder dominating him more. As time went on, the dominance rituals became more severe. Soon, as Powder Pack's caretaker, I was unable to interact with Dakota without Powder dominating and chasing him away. Concerned, I brought it up with Leyton and it was decided that the staff should conduct a meeting about it. We were not as concerned about the dominance inside the enclosure; out biggest fear is when Dakota goes out to meet tour guests. Right now, Dakota is our on-site ambassador. He is still learning, but he loves to meet guests. After the meet-and-greet, I take him for a walk before placing him back inside his enclosure. This is where the danger is. Forest, Dakota's brother and one of our off-site ambassadors, is the dominant animal in his group. When Forest arrives home, Thunder and Alice immediately submit and lick his lips. If, for example, Thunder tries to dominate Forest when he returns home, Forest quickly puts Thunder back in his place. Dakota, on the other hand, is the omega of the group. When he returns home, he is in big trouble. Dakota is not high enough in the hierarchy to leave and return without retribution. The situation of Dakota coming back home after meeting guests is where we fear a huge fight might erupt.

The staff discussed the problem thoroughly and came up with a plan of distraction. While I am out walking Dakota after his meeting with the guests, our volunteers enter Powder Pack's pen and begin socializing the remaining wolves. Sometimes we will bring in treats to keep Powder, Sugar, and Sabine's mind busy. I will come back with Dakota and quickly release him back in the enclosure. With so many volunteers in the enclosure, Powder Pack is too busy keeping an eye on us to worry about Dakota's return. So far, this has worked exceptionally well. Even better, it seems that Powder isn't as harsh on Dakota anymore. Dakota is still the omega in the enclosure, but Powder doesn't find it necessary to constantly dominate him. I, for one, feel much more relieved about the situation; I no longer worry if today will be the last day Powder Pack can remain together. If the worst happens and Powder attacks Dakota, we will certainly remove Dakota from the group. However, a lone wolf is a miserable animal, and Dakota may end up becoming depressed after being separated from his family of almost six years. Removing Dakota is a last resort that we hopefully will not have to contemplate.

I hope that as spring draws closer, many of the dominance issues will resolve themselves. As much as I want to interfere and scream, "Can't we all just get along?", I know it is not my place. Wolves are wild animals and I must let them do their own things. And who knows, maybe this time next year, I'll be writing about how Sugar is now on the low end of the totem pole with Dakota ruling the pack with an iron paw. It wouldn't surprise me anymore.