Saint Francis Wolf Sanctuary
Adjacent to Saint John’s Retreat Center is a wolf sanctuary, a 4 – 5 minute walk away, and the sanctuary runs tourist visits most days of the week at a very small charge.
Started in 2002 by the founder of Saint John’s, The Rev. Jean Le Fevre (who was asked to care for an abused wolf dog which had escaped, been trapped, then shot by misinformed locals), it is now a thriving rescue facility for 16 wolf dogs. Mystery, that first wolf dog, passed away some years ago, after living for 18 years. In the wild, life is now so hard for wolves they rarely live beyond 7 years, and the average life span is 4 – 7 years. You can visit the sanctuary’s own site and learn more about its residents.
Here is Mystery, the trail-blazer!
After such success with Mystery, Jean became known all over the country, and other wolf dogs started arriving, and so began the sanctuary!
Each animal at St. Francis’ has 1,000 sq.ft. to live in, with straw for warmth in the winter, and air conditioning or cold spray in their huts in the summer.
Very social animals and emotional, wolves must have a social bond, even if that bond is to a human, and the sanctuary tries hard to pair these animals up, or even put three together. But these residents are very fussy, and a dominant male is usually only happy to be with a submissive female, and the females like their mates to be dominant males, or else an age-suitable female. No Women’s Lib here! An older female is sometimes happy to take the role of mother-boss with a young or ‘teenage’ wolf.
Meeko, Taylor and Kia share space. Taylor is the ‘mother’ and Kia, ‘the teenage daughter’ (one year, in human years). Both females love being in the same space with Meeko, the black, handsome male!!
Wolves eat a lot! Here at St. Francis they are fed 2 1/2 to 3 lbs raw meat a day – mostly raw, frozen mice (a specialized food business for wild animals in sanctuaries).
This is another handsome animal, and a full wolf . Achilles is a 6-year old Arctic wolf. He belonged to a rich owner in Montana, who wanted to keep him as a prize piece and show him off to friends. But he had not reckoned with the care a wolf requires and soon gave him up!
Alex is from Montana and was owned by a girl with whom he had a strong bond. He even slept on her bed! However, when the girl started college she left home and Alex grieved. Each time the girl returned Alex was overjoyed and recovered his spirits. But, finally, with each departure of his mistress, Alex began to lose trust in her, and depression took over. He even killed a dog in a dog fight. Yes, wolves (and dogs) have emotions just like we do, and suffer from depression as we do. So, depression and violent behavior was what brought Alex to St. Francis sanctuary.
Meeko loves people, but his keepers, who understand wolf dog behavior, are vigilant all the time.
With Mystery and Big Boy it was love at first sight! Then Rose, a very nervous female, was introduced to them, and they tolerated her, and a threesome was formed.
When Mystery died, all the other wolves howled and cried for days. Wolves go through grief, just as we do.
Rose is now grieving for Big Boy who died some weeks ago. She is disturbed and anxious and paces round her pen. She will be given depression medication.
Lobo and Luke undergoing their ‘enrichment’ training program and leaping for a dead rabbit. Enrichment training is activities aimed at helping them ‘remember’ their wild, natural skills.
Here is poor Rose! She is desolate and lonely without Big Boy. Wolves are sociable by nature, mate for life, and need company.
Altogether, you will find the afternoon here very interesting; you will learn much about wolves, and, perhaps, by extension, about human needs and behavior!