Volunteer Spotlight
Steve Wolfsong

This Steve has been a volunteer with Wolf since January of 1999. Living in Brighton and working in Denver, he was not one of our regulars. In the fall of 2002 he accepted a somewhat regular position at Wolf and relocated to the area. Since then he has become a regular fixture at Wolf and part of the family. Recently Steve chose to live on site and be even more involved with the everyday running of the facility.

Steve was raised in Minnesota and has master mechanic qualifications as well as having worked extensively in the construction industry. These skills and talents have been extremely beneficial to Wolf as all of our vehicles are fairly old and in need of constant repair -- not to mention all of the construction work that goes on with enclosure building, repairing and general storage requirements. With his guidance a group of people that have never built an enclosure before are able to complete the task efficiently and with very few problems.

Steve has also proven to have a wonderful understanding and special connection to the animals. His instincts with them are very rare and a blessing for Wolf. He intuitively picks up on their feelings and physical problems and has formed a deep bond with most of the animals at the sanctuary.

Since becoming a full-time volunteer/staff he has been primarily responsible for assigning tasks and supervising the volunteer work groups that come up to the facility. He has also traveled on several occasions to rescue animals whose lives were in jeopardy.

In addition to our cofounder Pat, Steve is the other person on site that does our darting when we have to tranquilize an animal. He has become very proficient at darting and has spent a significant amount of time establishing the technical specifications necessary to calculate pressures and distances. It’s essential for there to be more than one person that can fill this roll, unfortunately it’s not a job that people fight for. Most individuals don’t want to jeopardize their relationship with the animal by darting them, because that animal may loose some of their trust for you. He has managed to maintain a relatively stable relationship with the animals he has had to dart. It is a necessary evil, and thankfully we do have people like Steve, that will step up and do the job.

We feel very blessed to have Steve at Wolf and the dedication he demonstrates for the well-being of the animals.

Just as point of interest -- his last name was chosen by him before he became involved with Wolf.

Featured Resident
Ghost

Ghost was a stray in LaPorte, Colorado. He made his appearance in a fashion that earned him his new name. A young couple who raised rabbits were awakened in the early morning hours to the sounds of a screaming rabbit. As the man looked out his window to see what was going on he saw the faint apparition of a ghost wolf, in the dim moonlight trying to pull a rabbit from its cage by one of its feet. As he turned on the lights to get a better look, he discovered that it was not an apparition at all. There in his backyard was a 150 lb. animal that looked to him to be a wolf.

His wife approached the animal and was able to put a leash on him and give reassurance that no one was going to hurt him. Even though the man tried the move before his wife, Ghost wanted nothing to do with him and even took a snap at him. The couple chained him to a tree and gave him food and water.

The next day they contemplated the fate of the animal and what they should do. Unlike most individuals they wanted to know more before they proceeded. They called Wolf and asked if we would mind taking a look and giving our opinion. Looking at Ghost we could see some wolf traits and so informed the couple. They explained that they were considering keeping him and were instructed as to what they would have to do in order to keep him secure and protect their two other dogs. Wolf also explained what occurs with wolf-dogs that are turned over to the humane society and left the couple to their deliberations.

After several days they asked Wolf to take Ghost, realizing that he would not be happy in their environment and potentially could cause them problems with their other animals. The young man also explained that he was the activities director of his fraternity and would provide the labor necessary to build Ghost a suitable enclosure. The decision was made and Ghost was moved to the Wolf sanctuary.

True to his word, the young couple showed up with approximately 15 young, strong, individuals on the appointed day and built the new enclosure. Wolf provided a barbeque and the event became the beginnings of a long relationship with the Triangle Fraternity from Colorado State University. Every semester the fraternity comes to Wolf and provides a day or two worth of labor to accomplish general tasks or the building of a new enclosure.

The thoughtfulness of these individuals was an emotional lift for the founders of Wolf. In a world where Wolf deals primarily with individuals who are looking to shirk responsibility and dispose of their problems in the quickest, easiest fashion, no matter what the consequences, it is amazing to see this young couple and their associates accept responsibility for an issue not of their initiation.

Ghost has been at Wolf for 10 years and is beginning to show his age. He suffers from arthritis in his hips and legs. He is in an enclosure with Jazzy who he gets along with very well. Several years after he came to Wolf we discovered that Ghost had been the focus of a Division of Wildlife search. It appears that his excursion to the rabbit hutch was not a one-time event. Several other families had reported a white wolf who was taking down pets and livestock in the surrounding area. Luckily for Ghost he was an excellent escape artist and managed to elude the authorities a number of times before. It seemed to us that he chose to be captured by the young couple and is still alive today because he did.

Aerial Hunting of Wolves Continues
Alaska

Experts Slam Plans To Kill Wolves, Bears

Protest: State's predator control approach called "recipe for disaster."

By JOEL GAY - Anchorage Daily News
(Published: January 7, 2005)

More than 100 wildlife professionals have slammed state efforts to produce more moose and caribou by killing wolves and bears, saying the new predator control programs ignore the best advice developed by the National Research Council…

(Read the rest of this article and sign a petition on the Alaska Wildlife Alliance web site at:
http://pressroom.akwildlife.org/objects/view.acs?object_id=5248)

Wolf Advocates Take Alaska Boycott Drive to the Internet

Friends of Animals introduces the first Virtual Howl-In. The Virtual Howl-In will complement Friends of Animals community-based Howl-Ins and enable wolf supporters to enter their names and addresses into an online form on the Friends of Animals website. Friends of Animals will then mail a physical postcard to Alaska’s Gov. Frank Murkowski on behalf of each signatory…

(Find out more about Friends of Animals and The Virtual Howl-Ins at: http://www.friendsofanimals.org/howl-in/)

Wolves In Alaska: Overview

Latest News - February 2005

More than 100 wolves have been killed so far this season, including a pack of wolves that had been studied for decades. The Board of Game meets in March to consider a number of additional proposals calling for the expansion of wolf and bear killing…

(Read more from Defenders of Wildlife and sign a petition at: http://www.defenders.org/wildlife/wolf/alaska.html)