Akyra - Featured Resident

Akyra's story is extreme. Although not very pretty to think about, it does occur more times than we would like to acknowledge. Considering that most of the information we receive about the past of an animal is second-hand, we can only put pieces of facts together with reported occurrences, to draw conclusions as to what was actually true. In telling her story we will try to distinguish between documented fact (shown in Bold face characters) and 2nd hand reports (shown in Italics).

Akyra was born to an ex-breeder who wanted one more litter to continue the blood-lines of a particular animal that she was extraordinarily fond of. She kept two of the puppies and placed the other three from that litter. She told two of the families that received two of the pups that they were only 13% wolf. They both had to sign a contract that had some stipulations that seem very bizarre.

"If for any reason I am unable to care for said animal it will be euthanized, not sold, given away, traded, or released to a shelter."

"I will not use or give (breeders name) name or address to anyone inquiring about said animal, how to obtain a like animal, or said animal's origin."

Although there were stipulations in this contract that required the individual to provide a large, secure enclosure and that this enclosure would be inspected by the breeder, Akyra was placed with a couple that lived in an apartment and had no yard at all. Indeed they lived on the second floor of their building. Evidently there was no education given about the temperament and special requirements of wolf-dogs. Akyra's new owners reportedly ran into problems fairly early on in her life and on 18 May 95 (Akyra was not even 4 mos. old) she was brought in to the vet with a very bad fracture of her left front elbow. It required extensive surgery to repair and was placed in a cast. Reportedly there were discrepancies in the reports that each of her owners gave as to what had occurred. It was believed that she was hit with something similar to a baseball bat. However, there was nothing that could be proved. On advise from their vet the owners started Akyra in obedience classes, in order to help them deal with her energetic and independent behavior.

On 03 Jun 95 Akyra was taken back to the vet after jumping off the second floor balcony of their apartment. It was believed that she was trying to escape from her owners. The vet had even more trouble trying to repair the same site as before due to the extensive amount of damage. Towards the end of May beginning of June Akyra's owners moved to a residence with a yard. Almost immediately complaints were lodged with the Humane Society against Akyra's owners by a neighbor who witnessed acts of neglect and abuse. A compliance form was issued by the Humane Society on 24 May 95 instructing her owners to change some of their practices. The instructor of the obedience classes became concerned about Akyra's well-being after noticing the approach used by her owners during these classes and discussions with Akyra's vet. She contacted Wolf and began to champion Akyra's cause. She was convinced that Akyra must be placed at the Wolf sanctuary. Although there was little anyone could do to accomplish this task the vet and training instructor began to work on the owners to help them understand the needs of Akyra and the possibility of placing her somewhere that would be more conducive to her best interest.

Regular complaints continued to be made by Akyra's neighbors and finally on 29 Aug 95 the neighbors took Akyra to the Vet Teaching Hospital at CSU after finding her running loose. Animal Control was contacted and took Akyra into their custody. After documenting numerous sores and suspicious wounds Animal Control issued a summons and complaint to Akyra's owners for Cruelty to Animals on 30 Aug 95.

Although the Humane Society is not supposed to release animals to owners under investigation, somewhere early in September Akyra was released back to her owners. At that point their vet, the training instructor and the district attorney purportedly convinced Akyra's owners to place her at Wolf. She was received and eventually placed with one of her siblings, Sabastian, (who had been turned over by his owners to Wolf for being uncontrollable) and a stray from the Walden, Colorado area named Kai.

Akyra is doing very well physically, although her elbow is permanently malformed and her jaw has a tremendous under-bite due to what is suspected to be a combination of genetic inbreeding and some sort of injury. She has formed a very strong bond with Kai as the Alpha pair. She craves attention and love from the humans in her life even to the point of being somewhat psychotic in her jealousy of their affections. She has a beautiful spirit that is very loving and does not seem to hold a grudge against our species.

"Let no one be discouraged by the belief
there is nothing one person can do against
the enormous array of the world's
ills, misery, ignorance, and violence.
Few will have the greatness to bend history,
but each of us can work to change
a small portion of events.
And in the total of all those acts
will be written the history of a generation."

(Robert F. Kennedy)