Merlin

sex: male
born: 28 April 1997
birth place: Vermont
champion: Shanti Kantha

Almost every animal at Wolf has had a champion,   someone who connected with them and their plight. A special person who went the distance to find them a home at Wolf.

given sanctuary: 24 September 1997

 

Merlin's Story

At 5 ½ months of age, the same time after birth that he arrived at Wolf, Merlin was one of the largest pups we had ever seen. His size and energy level were the main reasons why Merlin had lived in a small kennel from 6 weeks of age until he arrived at Wolf. You need to understand that the people caring for him did the best they could. A woman in Vermont, believing a wolf-dog was what she wanted to have as a pet, had purchased Merlin when he was 3 weeks old. The lady who owned Merlin loved him, or he probably would have met the fate of thousands of other wolf-dog pups in the United States. Many wolf-dogs are euthanized. The unlucky ones are beaten, chained, or, the worst fate of all, abandoned in some wooded area and left to starve to death. Merlin was one of the lucky ones. At 6 weeks of age, his owner realized she had made a serious error in purchasing Merlin. The woman just could not handle him. He was big and full of energy, knocking things over, breaking knickknacks, chewing on everything in the house, escaping from the yard and, in general, being exactly what he was. A puppy.

Merlin’s owner knew that if she could not control him at 6 weeks of age, she would never be able to take care of him when he was older and would more than likely weigh over 100 lbs. He was taken to her veterinarian’s clinic, where he lived until his new caretakers found Wolf. Merlin had two champions at the clinic: the veterinarian and the vet-tech who worked with her. These kind people loved and cared for him, making sure he was fed, watered, exercised and played with. The vet-tech even took him home with her on occasion, and had she been in a position to keep him, we are sure she would have.

At approximately the same time that Zeke and Artemis were grieving for the loss of their companion, Sasha, arrangements were being made to fly Merlin to Colorado and his second new home, Wolf. When he arrived, he was placed in the enclosure where Zeke and Artemis lived. The three animals bonded very well, and eventually Merlin went on to be one of Wolf’s ambassadors, traveling with the educational team to schools and programs over the entire state.

Merlin has grown to approximately 110 lbs. and exhibits a very mischievous personality. He tests every individual he encounters, two-legged and four-legged. His overtures are of a playful nature, pulling and nipping at anything he can. Humans have lost tie-strings on jackets, ball caps, shoe laces, hair ties and, in a few cases, a drop or two of blood. Remembering that these playful overtures have a very serious implication in the wild is important. This playful testing establishes the dominance structure within the pack. This premise is why Wolf has a policy of never “playing” with any of the animals at the sanctuary. Playing establishes an equal status that can then be challenged through that playful exercise. Even if the play never elevated to an all out dominance challenge, just the form of play used by wolves is more extreme than most humans can handle comfortably. Merlin still resides with his companions at the Wolf Sanctuary and gives all the signs of being healthy and happy.

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