Angus & Brianna
Angus, (meaning: Unique Strength) on ground in picture, died peacefully the morning of July 12th 2004. Brianna (meaning: Strong One) died on July 20th 2005 at the ripe old age of 16 years. I traded the engine out of a 2-ton bread van for them when they were 5 weeks old. They ran free until they were 6 months old. At that time they decided my chickens looked tasty and ate 5 out of 10 of them. The only evidence was a foot and a few feathers. At that point I put up an electric fence to contain them. In the 14 years they spent in their compound they became quite accustomed to their boundaries and even though trees occasionally fell across the fence, they never wandered far. In 2003 I moved them to a smaller, sunnier space so they had more opportunity to warm their old bodies. They were very healthy all of their lives, with Angus seeing a vet twice and Brianna once.
They made a formidable pair the few times a neighborhood dog entered their pen. Angus fought with gusto while Brianna jumped in and out, nipping the rear and sides of the offending animal. I'm sure the only thing that saved the pitiable creature is that my wolves woouldn't chase them beyond their wire boundary.
Angus was confident, aggressive and rarely met a human he didn't like. Brianna was shy, sweet and wary of all humans she didn't know.
I brought them inside the house sometimes but they prefered being outside and would start dancing at the door within minutes of coming in. They were extremely intelligent animals but their independence could easily be mistaken for stupidity by those not in the know. Wolves are only as trainable as they choose to be. I felt very fortunate in that my pair cared very much for me (Ginger) and usually liked to please me. *G*
They made wonderful parents, though I had a bit of a problem at first with Angus's game of picking the babies up and tossing them in the air. I freaked out until I realized they weren't being hurt (amazing to watch). They were the best "watchdogs" we'd ever had. Their hearing and sense of smell seemed to be better than a dog's. They had different "songs" for different occasions and knew the difference between the sounds of trucks and cars that had been here before and those that hadn't and were good enough to tell us which was coming before we even saw it.
They were noisy, lovable and a bit rough and I wouldn't trade the experience of having been their "Mom" for anything.
I'd like to point out that unless wolves are domesticated from birth (or very soon after), they will likely be skittish and human-shy all their lives. It's prob'ly a survival thing. Don't ever get a wolf and expect them to adapt to your lifestyle. You'll be disappointed and your wolf will be miserable, misunderstood and lonely. They aren't the drooling, snarling stalkers Hollywood (and Disney) makes them out to be. They're very loving, sensitive individuals with a myriad of emotions and should be treated as such.
Angus and Brianna never knew fear, hunger or the weight of a chain (okay... once) and had very little physical distress in their lives. They got their shots and were worm and flea free.
All they traded for these positive things was a more limited amount of space to move in and they still had more space than they utilized usually. They were respected and loved members of our pack and we'll miss them the rest of our lives.
If some ranchers have their way, this will be the only way people will see wolves in the future... in captivity. Have you heard about the mass murder of wolves for their pelts in the Northwest Territories of Canada? Click on this sentence to read about it.