Sky

sex: male
born: May 1997
birth place: Colorado
champion: John Lehner

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: 03 January 1998

 

Sky's Story

Frank and Pat Wendland, co-founders of Wolf were away on an emergency in Wisconsin, leaving the rescue in the care of one of the Sanctuary’s capable volunteers, John. The Wendlands checked in with John every day to make sure all was running smoothly at the compound, and had spoken to John once in the morning of January 1 st . So it was unusual for him to be calling them for a second time on this particular New Year’s Day in 1998.

The Wendlands were slightly apprehensive as they took the call, hoping nothing had gone wrong at the facility . But John was calling to let the Wendlands know that an animal needed help. It seems that a couple in the Denver area had a 7-month-old wolf-dog that they needed to place. You see, they were moving to Texas and didn’t want to be bothered taking him with them. John wanted to know what to do, should he take the pup or not ? The owners said they would deliver him along with a temporary dog enclosure he could stay in until it was decided wh at pack he would be placed with permanently.

Frank and Pat told John to make the arrangements and bring Sky to Wolf. On January 2 nd , John again contacted the Wendlands. He told them that the owners called and said they did not have enough time to bring the pup to Wolf. So , they were just going to have him euthanized. If Wolf wanted Sky, arrangements would have to be made to pick him up. John said he would make the trip to Denver if it was okay with Frank and Pat.

On January 3, 1998 John made the trip to Denver, kenneled Sky and returned home . Sky arrived at Wolf still a pup. You could already see what a magnificent adult he would be , pure white with the most beautiful yellow eyes you have ever seen, but he was very, very shy of people as most wolves are. Sky was eventually placed in an enclosure with Ahzeem and they bonded very well. Although Ahzeem was significantly smaller than Sky, Ahzeem was the dominant individual in the relationship. Periodically , Ahzeem w ould demonstrate his position by pinning Sky. However he never causes any injuries. The majority of the time they play ed a game we call ‘chase me, chase you’ which consists of taking turns chasing each other at high rates of speed over the entire enclosure. To watch this activity and the apparent lack of aggression or animosity with such an outpouring of energy is truly amazing. We have seen this same game played by a number of the groups at Wolf and wish we could find a way for humans to enjoy this same type of relationship.

A few months later, Wolf rescued a young female named Nugget. We thought she would make a great addition to the pack of young males, and were sure right. She quickly established herself as the boss, but was very caring and mothering to Sky. The trio enjoyed many happy years together until Ahzeem’s unfortunate passing in 2005. Nugget and Sky grieved for their lost mate, but remained very close.

In mid 2006, another male at the Sanctuary named Indigo was left alone after his pack mate passed. As it is intolerably cruel to keep a social animal like the wolf alone, we decided to place him with Sky and Nugget. At first, things did not go so well. Sky had become used to being the alpha male, and did not want to give that position to the more dominant Indigo. But after a few days of adjusting, the two became best of friends. Indigo did take over the alpha position, but Sky is now okay with it. The two run and play like they’ve known each other their entire lives. One of their favorite games is to tag team the volunteers to steal tools. The three remain together happy and healthy.

It took months of caring attention for Sky to bond as well with people as with his pack mates. Sky is still a little shy, especially with new individuals, but has improved as time has gone by. Sky is now one of the favorites of visitors to Wolf and continues to live happily with Indigo and Nugget. Every time we look at Sky and see the magnificent wolf he has become, we wonder, how anyone could even think of putting an animal to death because it was more convenient for them!

 

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