Kasha

sex: male
born: 13 May 1999
birth place: Columbia, NJ

given sanctuary: 29 May 1999

 

 

Kasha's Story

On Memorial Day weekend in 1999, we were speaking with some friends of ours from New Jersey. These folks run a wolf preserve, and received the Governor's Award for the work that they have accomplished. Due to circumstances beyond their control, three separate litters were born to three of the four wolf packs at the preserve. Severe snowstorms had prevented their veterinarian from arriving at the preserve in time to sterilize the adult animals. Most of the cubs had been placed in the care of people with USDA licensing, while some remained at the preserve, and it was agreed that two of the small pups would come to live at Wolf.

The cubs were 2 ½ and 3 ½ weeks old, and needed to be placed quickly. Here begins the story of Kasha and Shaman, two pure bred captive wolves. Neither story can be told without the other, so we will tell you both at the same time.

Airline reservations were made very quickly for Frank to fly to New Jersey and pick up the cubs. Because the cubs were still so very tiny (one weighed approximately 2 pounds, and the other 2 ½ pounds, and were being bottle fed), they could not be put in the cargo section of the plane the way most animals are made to fly. Special arrangements were made with the airline, and these two little fluff balls suddenly became carry on luggage! Carry on luggage, as I’m sure you know, must be run through the X-ray machines before it can be taken on board, so the babies had to be removed from their small, soft sided carrier. Frank carried the two cubs through the metal detector, and they were then placed back in their carrier. Frank was also carrying canine milk replacement, sterile water, baby bottles, nipples etc., all needed to feed the babies on the trip home. People on the flight home had no idea they were flying with an arctic wolf and a tundra wolf. When Frank prepared their formula and fed them, a few comments were made about the cute tiny puppies but no one ever realized what they really were.

Meanwhile, I waited anxiously with several volunteers for the new additions to arrive. The excitement began to build when we knew Frank would be home in a few minutes. When he pulled into the driveway, he and the cubs were greeted with great enthusiasm. We had prepared a nursery for the cubs in our bathtub! Blankets and sheets had been placed inside, and a cover of wire mesh would be placed over the top to keep the house pack away from them if Frank and I were not right there with them. We had no reason to be worried, though - the house pack adopted them within hours. Of all the animals, Mesa and Sara, following wolf pack structure, took over as the cubs’ baby sitters. Both of these animals took their responsibilities very seriously and, to this day, still continue to teach the cubs and protect them.

Our lives were taken over with the care and feeding of these two little balls of fluff with teeth, very sharp little teeth that went through nipples as fast as we could replace them. First, we had problems making the holes in the nipples large enough so the babies could suck the milk through. Then, we had the opposite problem - as they started to grow, they sucked so hard that the milk would pour out and they would choke. We finally got it squared away and the baby wolves and human parents both survived our initial attempts at being a mama wolf.

Everyday was a new experience and a tremendous amount of work. Human babies at least wear diapers! Cleaning up their temporary home (our tub) and the babies was labor intensive, to say the least. In between cleaning and feeding, there were still 40 other animals that needed to be cared for. Frank and I began to wonder how a mother wolf was able to keep up with 5 or so babies, and if we would survive. Our volunteers played a very important role in the lives of these two cubs. They took over the feeding and cleaning of the adult animals and helped with the little ones, to the point of sleeping with them, which kept Frank and I sane.

We had decided to name the cubs Kasha, for his real mom Sasha and his real dad Kazan, and Shaman, because we felt he had the potential to be a healer. In the beginning, as the pups grew, Kasha was the friendlier of the two. Kasha took to human handling and Shaman remained very shy. We had hoped to teach both wolves to be educational animals but, as usual, they surprised us. When we started taking them to educational programs, we noticed that Shaman was becoming friendlier and Kasha was becoming distressed by the experience. Not willing to put the pup through any experience that might traumatize him, it was decided to leave Kasha at home when Shaman, Nanook and Mesa were taken on field trips to schools, etc.. Shaman and Kasha continued to be the best of friends, and Kasha would jump all over Shaman when he returned to the rescue. We are convinced that Shaman told Kasha of all his experiences outside of the Wolf facility, and this ritual continues even now.

Within weeks, they were both so big that they no longer could be left in the house, let alone in our bathtub! Frank built an outdoor run for them on our porch, and they were moved outside, where we could still watch them continuously, but in a much larger area. At this time, we started introducing the pups to solid food. What an experience! We would grind up (in my blender) human baby rice cereal, various meats, assorted vitamins and mix it all together with the liquid canine baby formula. This wonderful concoction was kept very thin at first, and fed to the pups from their bottles to see how well their tummies could tolerate it. The baby wolf food was gradually thickened, until it could no longer go through a nipple. Now the fun really began, teaching the pups how to eat and drink out of a bowl. Frank took photos of Dana Reynolds-Sakowski, one of our volunteers, and me as we tried to show the pups what to do. The results were a hysterically sticky mess! Both pups, Dana and myself were covered with this goo. It was on our hands, our clothes, on our faces and in our hair. The picnic table was covered with it, the deck a slippery mess; the pups must have wondered if we were really losing it as we laughed and tried to teach them to eat. Frank was doing a pretty good imitation of an adult wolf as he “howled” in laughter watching the two cubs cover us in baby food. The cubs must have thought what he was saying was pretty funny and joined him in howling at these two silly humans playing mama wolf.

As the pups continued to grow, so did their antics. They turned into petty thieves and pickpockets. They would steal glasses off of your face, hair ties were gone in seconds, a watch could be removed without a person realizing it was gone, items would disappear from pockets and not be missed until they were needed. In the house, they would take food off the table or counters. They would work as a team, one of them distracting you, and the other running out the door with a chair cushion, or possibly the remote control for the television. Nothing was safe from these two juvenile delinquents! Houdini would have been proud of them.

The pups continue to grow. Kasha is large for his age, as is Shaman. Unfortunately, Kasha developed a growth defect in his front legs, and is severely handicapped. Kasha doesn’t understand that he has a problem, and so it does not affect his quality of life at this time. Our veterinarians tell us that Kasha will be a prime candidate for arthritis as he grows older. Until then, we continue to watch him for any signs of pain or inability to walk and run. All of the animals in the house pack treat him as they do anyone else. Shaman, who is his constant companion, plays with him and, we believe, understands that Kasha is special and therefore needs gentleness. All of his humans love him dearly, and try to make his life as good as it can possibly be.

Shaman has turned out to be a marvelous ambassador for Wolf, delighting children and adults alike, everywhere he goes. Traveling in the Wolf mobile around the state of Colorado with his companions, Nanook, our original ambassador, and Mesa, his guardian, he helps people to understand that wolves are not the vicious animals portrayed in movies and fairy tales. Shaman, Nanook and Mesa also help people to understand that wolves belong in the wild, that they should not be bred to dogs, and that they do not make good pets.

We personally believe that wolves are teachers and healers. We have been taught invaluable lessons by these two magnificent creatures. We have seen the emotional and physical healing of people whose lives they have touched, and we know, as is the way of wolves, that Kasha and Shaman will continue to teach and heal all who come in contact with them.

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