Tunyan

sex: female
born: 27 April 2002
birth place: Arizona

 

given sanctuary: 23 May 2002

 

 

 

Tunyan's Story

Tunyan's (pronounced Too-Yawn) life has been pretty short to have much of a story. She is a beautiful, black Mackenzie Valley wolf mix and was the first born of an unexpected and unplanned litter of five. The guardian of Tunyan's mother would regularly visit with a friend who had an intact male. Tunyan made her first appearance on April 27, 2002 at about 2 pm. She was pulled from her mother at 10 days of age. This is done by breeders so that the young, when their eyes first open, will imprint on humans and not their biological parents. She opened her eyes 2 days later and immediately began learning how to stand and walk. Five days later she was wrestling with her siblings and stalking her toys.

Wolf picked up Tunyan on May 21, 2002. Pat and a volunteer, Arly, flew to Phoenix and returned with the precious carry-on package that squirmed. She weighed approximately 5 lbs, had beautiful deep blue eyes and was a typical wolf pup. In other words she was a holy terror. All of the other pups had been placed and one would remain with its mother. At this time the pup still did not have a name and we did not know her well enough to give her one. Also, because she was so small and required bottle-feeding, she would need to stay in a confined area on Frank and Pat's deck. As we got to know her it was decided that her name would be Tunyan, which is Lakota for BRAT!

Approximately two weeks after she arrived we noticed that she was ill. She became very lethargic and stopped eating. After a full day of testing it was determined that she was suffering from iron deficiency anemia. Tunyan's red blood cell count was 7. Normal would have been 40. Tunyan was rushed to the hospital and over the next two days, received two blood transfusions and injections of iron. It is not known exactly what caused the deficiency. Tunyan could not be placed with Spirit and Indigo. She is once again eating like a wolf and steadily gaining weight and generally growing like a weed. She still needs to be monitored so until we are sure she is totally healthy she will remain close to the house.