The small enclosures were only designed to be temporary. Well, the Universe works in mysterious ways. As we were worrying about how winter would go at WideAwake, the Universe decided enough was enough.

Near the end of September, our paid staff member at WideAwake, Karen, showed up to find that the property owner, Charlie, had brought in 3 animals from a horrible breeder in that area without consent from Wolf. We were aware the State of Colorado had inspected the breeder’s facility and again found her in violation of court orders limiting her to a maximum of four animals, all of which were supposed to be sterilized. She had 14 at the time of the inspection, some of which were not sterilized or vaccinated. These animals had been placed in enclosures made of our property, next to our animals who were now very stressed. After Karen explained how dangerous this was for the six remaining Wolf animals at WideAwake, Charlie called Frank and demanded Wolf volunteers not return to his property until further notice. Charlie’s acceptance of these animals to hide them out for the breeder broke a number of State and County laws, not to mention presented a serious health risk to our animals.

Wolf Founders have been involved with this breeder for years. They visited her facility when seeking information about wolf-dogs before starting Wolf. What they learned was what they needed to fight against. Her breeding facility was out of control, so Wolf tried to help her in 1998. She finally agreed to stop breeding and signed a contract with us. There were over 80 animals breeding indiscriminately in too small of a space. Animals were stressed, switching enclosures at will, attacking and killing each other because of over-population. Puppies were being ripped apart by other females and vet care was non-existent.

When the 6 vets, 12 vet techs and 20 volunteers showed up for the ‘mash’ operation, there were 2 puppies in the bathroom dying from Parvo, feces over a foot deep in some areas, urine over ¼” deep in the sun room, and an old male dying a slow, horrible death in one of the enclosures. He was nothing but skin and bones, bleeding from his nose and could not move – the breeder would not let us euthanize him. We were all horrified, but spent the day neutering 24 males, while examining and vaccinating every animal we could catch. We arranged with a vet hospital in Denver to spay all of the females for free; all the breeder had to do was take them in, but this never happened.

Soon after, it became clear this person had no intention to stop breeding. The State Vet did an inspection, took her to court and won a court order requiring her to stay under 24 animals. Wolf again assisted to help her place animals. Within a year she was above her limits again and the State Vet confiscated and killed over 40 animals. Over the next eight years, this pattern repeated itself. Undoubtedly this woman is certifiably insane. Every time she gets caught, she hides animals at other locations until the State Vet backs off.

We obviously could not leave our animals in this type of situation. Their lives and well-being were in serious jeopardy, especially without their daily medications and rehab. We switched our enclosures around to keep space between the Wolf animals and others. This actually caused more problems, as the next day there were 4 more animals in one of the buffer enclosures. Now we were in true emergency mode. It was only a matter of time before a fight injured or killed one of our animals or a disease was transmitted. Plus we had no way of knowing if the animals were even getting food and water regularly, much less medications.

One volunteer who delivers meat was still allowed to WideAwake every couple days. He arrived to find 3 more animals one day, making a total of 10. We had already cancelled one emergency trip to evacuate our animals and property while waiting on the County, but how much longer could we wait? The stress was killing our animals, and us. The WideAwake guys were severely agitated and pacing. A few days later, our volunteer found the enclosures rearranged. Our animals had been forced into smaller areas, there were 7 of the breeder's animals in one enclosure, which is a disaster waiting to happen, and the breeder’s animals were trying to dig under the fence to get in with our animals. We could not wait any longer. Although we didn’t want to break any rules, we could not sit by and let our animals be killed or endure a situation like they were rescued out of.

Half-acre enclosures at the Sanctuary were already built for them, but we were still trying to get our County to approve our request to add additional animals. We filed an emergency request to bring these six remaining animals to the Sanctuary, but it was not happening very fast. Fortunately, Commissioner Randy Eubanks, who voted in favor of our original expansion request, understood the value of these beings. He took the time to understand the nature of the emergency and pushed the other Commissioners to consider and approve an emergency dispensation of the current limitations Wolf is under. We are very thankful for his support and that of the other Commissioners.

A rash of emergency calls went out, and our amazing volunteers stepped up to the challenge. Wolf arrived early in the morning of October 12 at WideAwake. The Gilpin County Sheriff’s Department and Animal Control were in attendance as well. Teams of volunteers were ready to catch-up the six remaining Wolf animals and get them moved to the Sanctuary as quickly as possible. Other teams arrived soon after to also remove our property, including an Airstream, shed, ATV, snowmobile, snow blower, various tool and supplies. Our last goal was to disassemble the empty enclosures to prevent WideAwake from becoming a new breeding facility. Charlie and his wife were not receptive to our goals, extremely angry at everyone for the duration of the day. The Sheriff Deputies and Animal Control were indeed instrumental in allowing this emergency evacuation to happen.

Our animals were extremely scared; we were fortunate to catch them up with only one bad incident. Gina and Hammer were easily loaded up first, left quickly and were immediately released upon arrival at Wolf. The next four, JJ, Atlantis, Lance and Luna, were a challenge. Our volunteers did an amazing job, especially with the hostile work environment. They received exams and vaccinations before being released, but our volunteers pulled that off without a problem.

The next team went to work loading up trailers and equipment. Everything except disabling the enclosures was accomplished. Due to protest by the property owner, the Sheriff recommended leaving the fences and settling the situation by other means. The ride home was full of challenges. One truck could only go 35 mph, another had trailer brake issues requiring the emergency brake to stop the truck. Another blew its transmission and had to be towed. By the time everything was unloaded at Wolf, freezing rain was falling causing problems for everyone travelling. It was a miracle everyone made it through the day safely.

The WideAwake animals are doing amazingly well in their new enclosures. Fear in their eyes has been replaced with curiosity. Their enclosures are so large, there is no reason for them to be afraid. This is the best blessing we could ever hope for. Having them at Wolf, knowing they are safe and not stressed, is enough to bring you to tears. All the hardship and struggles we go through are worth it to see the difference it makes in the life of a rescued animal. None of this would be possible without your support. Thank you for helping care for these animals from their rescue in 2006 and beyond.

THANK YOU is really not enough to all who helped save these animals. We are forever in your debt. This includes: Randy Eubanks and the other Larimer County Commissioners, the Gilpin County Sheriff’s Department, the Clear Creek/Gilpin County Animal Control and the OUTSTANDING Volunteers of Wolf. In fact, instead of having a single volunteer of the quarter, we would like to give that distinction to ALL the people who helped at WideAwake:

Karen S., Jessy H., Heather H., Kris I., Jim M., Brandy R., Debbie S., Rich S., Rich W., Dave M., Michael T., Joanne T., Dan A., Patrick M., Michelle P., Jesse H.