Kiki

sex: female
born: April 1999 (est.)
birth place: Alaska

given sanctuary: 25 July 2000

 

 

Kiki's Story

Kiki's story begins in Alaska. A few families in a fairly remote suburb of Anchorage noticed a young wolf crossing their frozen lake. Although they thought it somewhat out of the ordinary, they did not give it a lot of thought. This kept up for several days, and they began to pay more attention. Finally, they noticed that she had a collar around her neck. This was not a free-ranging wild wolf.

Unsure of what to do about the situation, a representative from the Alaska Wildlife Alliance was contacted. The process began to find a way to capture this obviously young animal. Kiki's first champion became the Assistant Director of the Alliance, who would spend hours at the lake trying to get Kiki to come to her for food. Weeks were spent trying to get Kiki accustomed to the friendly food provider. This is how Kiki received her name. When Kiki's champion would show up with food, she would make a loud calling sound to attract the animal's attention. She tried different sounds; however, "ki-ki-ki-ki-ki-ki" worked the best, and that became the standard operating procedure.

After several weeks it became obvious that the collar was much too small for the animal's neck, and plans were made to dart her in order to accomplish the capture. Several attempts were made and, finally, success. She needed immediate surgery, as it became apparent that Kiki had been free-ranging for some time. The collar was embedded up to an inch into the skin around her neck. It was infected and threatening her life. There was so much damage that plastic surgery was required once the collar was surgically removed. Now what?

Kiki's champion made a call to a good friend of hers, a supporter of the Alaska Wildlife Alliance, who lived in the San Francisco area. This individual had experience and a previous long-term relationship with a wolf-dog. It was decided that Kiki would be shipped to San Francisco. This kind lady became Kiki's second champion.

She had a new enclosure built, and began the process of trying to establish a meaningful, well-adjusted environment, with appropriate social fulfillment with another animal and the humans that would be her new caretakers. Kiki was ready for the relationship; however, every animal that was tried with her wanted nothing to do with the obviously pure or high-percentage wolf. The new champion was concerned for Kiki's quality of life, and had the first champion start looking for other alternatives.

It just so happened that one of the Board members of the Alaska Wildlife Alliance was an old friend of the Wendland's at Wolf, and been to the sanctuary before he moved to Alaska. He suggested a call to Wolf. The timing was one of those not-so-coincidental situations that seem to happen frequently at Wolf. The facility had just gone through the grieving process for the loss of a young male (Cherokee), who died from stress after an evacuation due to a forest fire. Cherokee's companion animal, Bear, needed a new companion. Kiki's age, sex and percentage sounded like just the answer. Frank informed the individual that if it were needed, Wolf would consider the placement. Several more attempts were made by the second champion, and some thorough investigations of Wolf, before arrangements were made for Wolf to pick up Kiki.

Pat spent three days in San Francisco in the enclosure with Kiki, and then transported her to Colorado and the Wolf Sanctuary. Everything went well, and Kiki began her isolation period to insure her health, while allowing her to become accustomed to her new environment and new caretakers. There was some concern about the age differences between Kiki and Bear. Sometimes, the younger animals are so energetic, that they get the older, dominant animal too protective of their space and leisure lifestyle. 

Fate stepped in again: an individual showed up at the facility, unannounced, with a young male, Matoskah, who was fairly high-percentage, and needed a home immediately. Although Wolf does not encourage or usually accept animals in this fashion, it did seem to be the answer that was needed for Kiki and Bear. Again, an isolation period was established for Matoskah, and an introduction period for Matoskah and Kiki. Everything was going extraordinarily well. They took to each other very quickly and began bonding. 

The day came for them to be introduced to Bear. The two pups were crated and put into Bear's enclosure and their doors opened. They all seemed to know exactly what to do, and it became a parade. Bear leading, first Kiki, and then Matoskah. They followed his every move, and he would periodically check to make sure they were doing it correctly. Obviously, they were, and have bonded very well. Kiki and Matoskah expend their energy on each other, and follow Bear's lead on how to act like a responsible and stately wolf.

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