Wolf Sanctuary

Visiting my parents has been so much fun and they have found the neatest places to take the children and I too. This time we went to a Wolf Sanctuary about an hour from where my parents live. My daughter claims that wolves are her second favorite animal.



The rescue center also has a bed and breakfast attached.












This is the gentleman who spoke to us about the wolves. He was quite knowledgeable and told us many stories of how the wolves go to be here.

I was surprise to find out that most of the wolves here were hybrids. Breeders often mix real wolves with husky's and other large animals and then sell them as exotic pets. The problem with this is these animals still retain their wild nature and therefore do NOT make good pets




If I remember correctly he said if an animal has 25% of wolf bred in it then it is considered a wolf and there fore you need permission to own them. Unfortunately that doesn't stop people from trying to own them:( He had lots of stories of people living in apt buildings being caught owning these animals.














While they do try to keep these animal in pack as that is what they feel most comfortable with. It can be difficult introducing a new wolf to a pack. So some animals were kept in solidarity cages
until a wolf pack excepts them.

This is the largest wolf pack in the sanctuary with a total of 11 wolves.





The center often gets calls about road kills and are able to retrieve the dead animals to feed the wolves. We heard that wolves will eat till full and then bury the rest of the meat and then pee on it to mark it.











One of the wolves we saw was blind but still manages to maneuver around it's enclosure. It is in a wolf pack of 3 and the guide said the pack really looks after the blind wolf.














The kids were excited to hear the wolves howl while we were there for the tour. I thought the tour was great as it lasted 90 minutes and the guides had some very interesting stories about the different wolves we saw. I thought same enclosures were on the small side most were large and had plenty of shade for the wolves to hide. The guide mentioned that most of the wolves were slightly over weight compared to the ones in the wild. He mentioned that in the wild the success of a kill for a wolf was only 10%. While he cautioned against owning a wolf as a pet he also said in the wild wolves avoid humans at all cost. Wild coyotes were more dangerous to humans than a wolf and that their are more documented cases of coyotes attacks on humans then wolves. While I have no personal experience of either I prefer to give both creatures a wide berth:)

Another great field trip. I am linking this up to the Home school field trip hop...see button on side bar:)