Cherokee

sex: male
born: January 1998 (est.)
birth place: Colorado

died: 29 April 2000

given sanctuary: 13 July 1998

 

Cherokee's Memorial
see Newsletter - Summer 2000 (click)

Cherokee's Story

Cherokee came to Wolf in July of 1998. At the time he was approximately 7 months old and had never been touched by a human being. An unlicensed breeder who had been ordered by the State of Colorado to place a large number of animals, due to the conditions at her facility, had surrendered this beautiful pup to Wolf.

After being darted and tranquilized, Cherokee was placed in a travel kennel in the back of Frank's pickup truck. The trip to the Wolf compound was made without any problems and Cherokee was placed in the isolation run. He remained there until we were sure that he had no illnesses he could pass on to the other animals at the facility. As it turned out, while putting him through the usual indoctrination, it was discovered that he was infested with fleas. Fleas had never been a problem at the compound before and measures were taken to rid Cherokee and the isolation run of this nuisance.

As time progressed and we were deciding where Cherokee would be placed permanently, it became very obvious just how terrified of humans he was. A few short weeks later, Cherokee was moved into his permanent enclosure with Bear and Cheyenne. Bear loves puppies so we knew that he would take this frightened little guy under his proverbial wing. Bear proved to be an excellent wolf dad and Cheyenne also became attached to Cherokee. The bonding between the three animals was going well, to the point that he became Bear's shadow. However, Cherokee still remained extremely shy around humans, going so far as to hide under tree limbs in his enclosure. We did not force contact with him, deciding to let him come to us in his time, as we do with all new animals.

Cherokee became the focus of a tremendous amount of attention at the rescue; every volunteer wanted to help this little guy become socialized. An enormous effort was put forth to make the connection. We could tell he wanted to become friends but was afraid to actually initiate it. Eventually, Cherokee chose several humans that he allowed to touch him for very brief moments and he would come and take treats from their hands.

Cherokee was with us for a little over one and a half years. He never progressed very much beyond these brief encounters but was very loved and we believe happy in his time with us.

We are unhappy and very distressed to tell you that Cherokee passed away from the stress of the move caused by the forest fire. Approximately 24 hours after returning home with the other animals he could no longer deal with the physical effects of the fear he suffered from most of his life. We hope Cherokee is with Sasha, Cody, and Lara and if such a thing as reincarnation exists, we hope he returns as the beautiful wolf that he was, only this time unafraid. We miss you Cherokee.

Death by Stress

In order to confirm our vet's (Dr. Priscilla Dressen) suspicions as to Cherokee's cause of death we had a necropsy performed on him. Dr. Dressen and Dr. Spraker (head of pathology at CSU Vet Teaching Hospital) concluded that all of the indications were consistent with Dr. Dressen's suspicions. Not understanding what physically occurs with stress to kill an animal we requested and received the following explanation. Well, sort of, we kind of interpreted into everyday words what we believe we heard her say.

When an animal is stressed over a prolonged period of time the adrenal gland is over-worked and finally shuts off. The steroids that are currently in the system continue to do their job for a while which is to provide a proper level of tension or support to the body's cellular structure. As they are used up the cellular structure begins to fail and leak fluids. Eventually the body shuts down and death occurs.

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