Texas Rescue
(North American Wolf Association in Shambles)

Wolf is currently up to its eyeballs in a massive rescue. Our involvement with this tragic story began in the Fall of 2002. The facts in this situation are not always easy to discern, so we will only report those elements that we have first-hand or very reliable information about. Our goal with reporting this story is two-fold; one, to give you a good idea on how difficult and time-consuming it is to help animals in need and two, to provide a caution to all about checking out the organizations that you send your donations.

In the middle of October a frantic and angry email went out from the Executive Director/founder of the North American Wolf Association, Rae Evening Earth Ott, located in Conroe, Texas. The email was explaining a situation where several of the animals at the facility had contracted some strange disease. They were very sick and Rae was convinced that they had contracted the disease while in the local animal control shelter.

Wolf did not know the organization well, but had provided a donation the previous year to help save a young female that was scheduled to be euthanized in a Texas shelter. The little nameless female was saved and we never heard anything else about her. She is also not at the facility currently.

Wolf had also been involved with a situation in Concho, Arizona, in March of 2002, trying to help save 17 animals, where the owner was being evicted from property and the animals had no where to go. Rae had jumped in and indicated that she did not need any help except money. The money was needed to build a half-acre enclosure.

With NAWA's current situation, Wolf immediately responded and inquired how we might be able to help. Did she need a team to help set up isolation and disinfecting protocols, or expertise in diagnosis that we may be able to find at CSU Vet School, or general medical support. The response was very short and to the point -- indicating that they just wanted money. Wolf considered sending a donation that would have equaled what we would have spent to send a support team to help. However, due to a shortage of that stuff and an uneasy feeling about the situation, Wolf could not help.

As the reports continued, animals started dying. The diagnosis came in from Texas A&M, it was distemper. After getting over the initial shock, the reality of the situation hit home. Distemper is a preventable disease -- obviously these animals had not been vaccinated. Why not? What was going on here? As more and more animals died over the next several months, Wolf was receiving emails from concerned volunteers and other animal welfare groups. The volunteers were desperate, feeling that not enough was being done to help the sick animals. The deaths were horrible and lingering because Rae evidently did not believe in euthanasia. The other animal welfare groups wanted to know how this could have happened and what the organization had done that may have caused the problem. Both groups wanted to help the animals, but their hands were tied by unreceptive management. Their goal then became to remove the current management. Wolf provided what little information we had and tried to put concerned parties in touch with each other, but cautioned that removing management would leave the remaining animals homeless. Where would they go?

Information was received by these groups that indicated NAWA was in serious trouble as an organization. Evidence indicated that they had forfeited their Texas corporation status, in August of 2000, by not filing proper paperwork. This made their IRS 501(c)(3) status non-existent as well. On top of that it became apparent that NAWA had never filed a 990 with the IRS, which is required by any 501(c)(3) that raises over $25,000 in donations per year. Their profit and loss statements given to potential donors indicated significantly more than $25,000 per year in donations. Evidence also indicated that NAWA was radically in arrears on their property lease, vet expenses, and had never paid for the transport of the Concho animals from Arizona to Texas.

These groups also tried to account for all of the animals that had purportedly been rescued by NAWA. The analysis was staggering. Out of 75 that had been reported by NAWA to have been rescued only about 43 could be accounted for. From those 43, approximately 18 had died from distemper, 20 were still alive at the facility, two had been placed at another small sanctuary and 3 that had escaped enclosures had been captured and placed at another small rescue. What happened to the remaining 32 animals?

Finally on January 17th 2003, after NAWA failed to show up for 3 court hearings on eviction, the animals were classified as abandoned property and NAWA was evicted. The local constable gave custody of the animals to a small wolf-dog rescue in the area. Hooray, you might say! However, this is the very beginning for Wolf.

Over the next two to three weeks it became apparent that the custodian of the animals was having problems getting medical treatments done on the animals. Wolf established a disinfecting and isolation protocol and sent it to the group. Exams were difficult for them to do due to the fear of the animals. Wolf felt it was imperative to get the remaining animals examined and treated immediately.

The following account of what transpired next was compiled by the team that was formed by Wolf and Indigo Mountain Nature Center.

Indigo Mountain Nature Center (IMNC), another sanctuary in Colorado and Wolf were both in contact with the custodian, Sam, and during conversations with him, assistance was offered and he gladly accepted.

Day One (Tuesday, January 28th): We were receiving calls that the situation at the facility was deteriorating. The animals were still not inoculated, no veterinarians had been to the facility and the sick animals were not receiving treatment. Sue Cranston from IMNC, and Pat Wendland and Cheryl Budler from Wolf, formed the team that would head to Texas to help dart and inoculate all the animals against distemper (a 5 in 1 vaccine), rabies, giardia and bordatella. It was also decided to draw blood from each animal to run a heartworm test, diagnostic panel and a CBC. Revolution would be applied to each animal (pending heartworm test results) and penicillin and worming medication administered. To accomplish all of this, vaccines, blood tubes, antibiotics, Revolution, heart worm tests, syringes and knock down drugs were needed. Due to the distemper that had ravaged the compound, sterile conditions would need to be maintained. Therefore disposable gloves, booties, bleach, foot baths and spray bottles would be needed to set up a quarantine protocol. Medical charts for each animal were also required so proper documentation could be kept. Food was also in short supply for the animals so half a ton of good quality dog food would have to be loaded along with food bowls, buckets, collars, leashes and muzzles for safety. Drugs had to be ordered and donations collected before we could leave.

Day 2 (Wednesday, January 29th): All day was spent manning phones and making urgent calls for help and efforts to find foundations and organizations to donate money, drugs, inoculations, materials and medical supplies for our trip. Since we did not know exactly what we were getting into we had to get the necessary materials for any eventuality. Thanks to all the wonderful people and organizations that we contacted, much of the needed supplies were donated:

Heska: heartworm tests.
Mountain Vet & Vet Line: discounted cost on vaccines, donated rabies vaccine, rubber gloves, blood tubes, penicillin and booties.
Alameda East Vet Hosp: some tranquilizing drugs.
Aldytha Stewart: $1,250-to go toward the cost of meds and blood work.
Dr. Sharon Cleghorn: $600 worth of penicillin, needles, syringes, worming medication.
Pfizer: vaccines.
Wolf Rescue Center: towels and canned dog food.
Petco: leashes, collars, treats, antiseptic and muzzles.
Nestle-Purina: 1,000 lbs high quality dog food.
Doug/Kathy Joslyn: $900 for blood tests.

Day 3/4 (Thursday/Friday, January 30th/ 31st): We finished up packing, getting medical charts ready and loading everything into the truck to rendezvous with Sue in Colorado Springs. After running around in Fort Collins picking up the remaining drugs and donated materials, Pat and Cheryl headed south around 5:30 PM. We arrived in the Springs and loaded everything from the Wolf truck into Sue's truck, in the dark of course, and headed for Texas around 9 PM. We drove all night, through dark and fog, alternating driving shifts and finally arrived in Dallas around noon.

In Dallas, we were planning on picking up some donated materials from Dr. Sharon Cleghorn at her vet clinic. After driving in circles for about an hour, we found the vet hospital, collected the supplies, and were then off to Conroe where the facility was located.

We had hoped to get out to the facility, meet the animals and form our plan of attack, but by the time we arrived in Conroe and found a hotel, it was too dark. Sam (the custodian), Pam (a concerned individual) and Lisa (a volunteer) met us at the hotel to discuss the game plan for the following day.

Day 5 (Saturday, February 1st): At 7:30 am we headed out the door and were met by a wall of dense fog. There was no way we would be able to get started in such conditions. After stalling for the weather, we finally arrived at the compound around 10 am.

The road into the compound was full of deep ruts filled with muddy water. The compound was located in a low lying area and surrounded by swamp lands. Since there were no storage areas located on the property, we asked an incredibly nice neighbor, Donna, to store the 1,000 pounds of dog food in her shed. After unloading the food and then pulling Jerry's (a volunteer) vehicle out of one of the deeper holes, we opted to haul the remaining supplies the half mile into the facility by hand. We had carried 2/3 of the supplies in when Donna offered to bring in the rest of our supplies in her large 4X4 pickup. Thank you Donna!

Once all the supplies were unloaded, Sue, Pat and Cheryl went around with Tina, one of the full time volunteers, to assess each animal. Upon an initial overview of the compound we were relieved to see clean pens and sufficient drinking water (food had been with held for the day since animals were being tranquilized). While we did not find the compound to be as bad as we expected, we did find large standing puddles of stagnant water and tiny cages, some of which Sue (5'1") and Pat (5'2") could not stand up in. Almost all of the cage roofs were laden with debris causing them to sway under the weight. This was causing the animals to constantly be stressed and apprehensive about what was hanging over their heads. The pens were so small many animals were pacing in an almost frantic state. The one enclosure we found to be tolerable, was approximately 50' X 50', housed only two wolves. However, we learned that it had been the home for fourteen animals (the Concho Pack) and the remaining two were the only ones that survived the distemper outbreak. We were told the other twelve had suffered horrible deaths. They suffered with the distemper for days and no attempts were made to humanely euthanize the dying animals.

Regardless of the conditions and facility, we were pleasantly surprised at the number of animals willing to attempt contact with humans. This is a testament to the loving, dedicated care provided by the remaining volunteers. Tina had stayed with the animals, 24/7, in attempts to nurse the dying animals back to health. Due to her efforts a few of the animals did survive the relentless virus.

After assessing the animals we went to work setting up a staging area with the help of volunteers. The MASH unit was officially open! With the exception of Max, one of the geriatric animals on site, we started on the healthiest animals first. We completed the darting, blood draws, administration of antibiotics and inoculations on nine of the twenty animals. During this process we discovered a common trend. Almost all the animals were running fevers, their blood was incredibly dark, thick and difficult to draw and most of the animals were dehydrated and underweight. The animals also had diminished muscle mass. We hypothesized that this was due to the small enclosure size, which restricted activity, and the inconsistent diet they had been receiving.

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