Letter from the President

 

Life just doesn't seem to get any easier. This last quarter we have experienced the passing of three very special spirits. At the end of July a long-time volunteer and very dear friend lost her battle with breast cancer. At the end of August and middle of September both of our primary ambassador animals, Mesa and Sara, passed. Please read their stories on pages 8 and 9. Unfortunately, when Sara passed Pat was in New Jersey tending to her mother who had to undergo open-heart surgery. We also have spent a significant amount of time and energy trying to gather support to overturn proposed changes by the Colorado Division of Wildlife (see page 1). We lost that battle.

On the positive side -- the outpouring of emotion from our email supporters on the recent deaths has been extraordinary and reaffirming. We thank all of those who have shared their thoughts. We have concluded the Texas Rescue very successfully (see page 1). We also had a well donated by Precision Waterwell, Boulder GNC Water Well and Lockman Excavating. These guys did a fantastic job in a very professional and efficient manner. Their care and concern for the animals was also very evident. We can't recommend them enough. If anyone needs their contact information, please let us know. This donation will save us extreme amounts of time and energy hauling water from the spring. We can't thank these companies and the individuals involved enough.

We continue to struggle with the number of animals that need to be placed. We are receiving dozens of requests every week and realize that the majority of them are being euthanized. The situation mentioned previously about the pure wolves in Idaho that need placement is reaching its breaking point and there is still no sign of reasonable options for them. The other situation mentioned previously in Oregon is being resolved by one dedicated volunteer who has been getting them placed, one or two at a time. Our hats are off to Kim Kahl who has persevered and only has two left to accommodate. We have sent her a donation so that she can build an enclosure to save these last two.

The one-acre enclosure that is being built for the Spirit, Indigo, Matoskah & Kiki group is just about complete. We have unfortunately had to hire some casual labor to help with this endeavor. We are confident that once complete, it will set the new standard for containment at Wolf. We will be enlarging some of the smaller enclosures and then shuffling some of the packs into better accommodations. Our long range plans are to provide one-acre enclosures for all of the packs.

In that vein, we have hired an attorney to work with us to get the county commissioners to adjust some of the conditions of our special use variance in order to allow use of more of our land for the Sanctuary. This will take some time and we will keep you updated on our progress.

Otherwise the rest of the animals are doing great, even though some of our geriatric residents exhibit typical ailments for their ages. Thanks for all your support!

"There will be no justice as long as man will stand with a knife or with a gun
and destroy those who are weaker than he is."

(Isaac Bashevis Singer)