Awesome Animal Experiences.

[zongtseng]

So, I am bumping a pretty old thread here, but it is relevant to my post.

Last week, I took a Saturday off of work and got up at 7AM (I normally go to bed around 7AM) and took an hour's drive to a wildlife sanctuary in Indiana. This is a private facility that primarily rescues wild animals from, err, idiots that think they would be good pets. Occasionally they are animals injured in the wild as well. It is called the Red Wolf Sanctuary, though they currently have no red wolves. They have 13 grays though, as well, as coyotes, foxes, bobcats, black bears, a mountain lion, and several raptors.

We first headed for the black bear area. These are indoor enclosures, but quite spacious. They are working on a large indoor/outdoor area now. The photo is terrible, but it was bad lighting, and the bears were moving a lot.




We then went on to the big cats area. They have a single mountain lion, or cougar, and a bobcat. The bobcat is below. I got to scratch it's ears




From there it was to the multiple red fox enclosures they have. They are of many colors, but they are all red foxes. Here is a white one:




From there we went on to the (quite large) coyote enclosures. They had several of them. The coyote is kind of my spiritual animal, so I really looked forward to this part. They moved very quickly, and photos were difficult, but they were very cool




OK. Now is where the most awesome part of my "awesome animal experience" happened. The owner motioned for quiet, and a low sound could be heard. This grew louder and louder, and I soon realized it was a low howl of a wolf. Others from all over the area started to join in, and I was soon virtually surrounded by about the most incredible sound I have ever heard in my life. The coyotes even joined in with their yipping howls. It lasted a good five minutes. It may have been the most spiritual five minutes of my life. Here are a couple of photos of the wolves. They appear nearly white, but they are still gray wolves.





The entire album can be found here:
http://www.tree-of-souls.com/members...ary+visit.html

I plan to visit more places like this. I want to volunteer, but my work hours make that nearly impossible (I work nights, sanctuaries work days). At the very least though, I am making significant monetary contributions. The Red Wolf Sanctuary is truly extraordinary, and the man who runs it is utterly dedicated. We need more people like him.

[Human No More]

Looks amazing

I've always liked wolves, but only ever seen them at a distance...

[Elyannia]

We had a small wolf santuary in Colorado up in Estes, it was a few acres and there were only two wolves, a female and a male. When I was little me and my family would visit them every summer and we got to pet them and feed them. It was amazing and I won't forget them. Eventually though, the male wolf bit a someones child and he had to be put down. They didn't want the female to be lonely so they had to give her away to a different sanctuary in another state.

[zongtseng]

It certainly does feel like a privilege just to be in their presence. This sanctuary is quite large, over 450 acres in size. There are several different fenced areas for the wolf "packs", each of them very large, with wooded areas, grassy areas, all kinds. I believe the owner occasionally has contact with them, but visitors are of course not allowed to due to liability issues.

And Estes Park is amazing The gateway to one of the most beautiful national parks in the country.

[Elyannia]

Originally Posted by zongtseng

It certainly does feel like a privilege just to be in their presence. This sanctuary is quite large, over 450 acres in size. There are several different fenced areas for the wolf "packs", each of them very large, with wooded areas, grassy areas, all kinds. I believe the owner occasionally has contact with them, but visitors are of course not allowed to due to liability issues.

And Estes Park is amazing The gateway to one of the most beautiful national parks in the country.

Agreed Estes Park is amazing

[zongtseng]

Estes Park is certainly more the type of area I would expect to see wolves, rather than in southern Indiana It can get up near 100F in the summer, with lots of humidity. The owner of the place said they don't even do tours except in the early morning and the evening then, because the animals just hide from the heat, and no one would see them.

[Elyannia]

Originally Posted by zongtseng

Estes Park is certainly more the type of area I would expect to see wolves, rather than in southern Indiana It can get up near 100F in the summer, with lots of humidity. The owner of the place said they don't even do tours except in the early morning and the evening then, because the animals just hide from the heat, and no one would see them.

Dang thats hot for wolves. The ones in the pictures you posted were truly beautiful. The ones in Estes were Gray wolves, which are pretty common here. But I've only seen white wolves in the zoo. And since wolves are well loved here they get a VERY big exhibit lol.

Edit: It seems so odd to me to see the picture that you posted of the Coyote in the sanctuary, because here we have literally hundreds of Coyotes and red foxes running around wild. I see them everywhere and there was even one sitting on the side of my HS one day lol.

[Cynegen]

Originally Posted by zongtseng

Estes Park is certainly more the type of area I would expect to see wolves, rather than in southern Indiana

Wolves used to inhabit the entire USA before we shot them all.

[zongtseng]

Originally Posted by Cynegen

Wolves used to inhabit the entire USA before we shot them all.

Well, yes they did. It is sad that good people have to work so tirelessly to keep them from dying out for good now, but they do. They still have hunts for them routinely in Alaska, and they are even being threatened in formerly somewhat safe places like Montana and Oregon now. There have been killings of wolves on sanctuary grounds in North Carolina as well. There's a lot of fear and hate against them, mostly from ranchers.

[Cynegen]

Originally Posted by zongtseng

There's a lot of fear and hate against them, mostly from ranchers.

Who could easily protect their herds with a couple big dogs in the rare cases that predation actually happens, but prefer to believe that they're some sort of rustic pioneers of the West despite having utilities, 4WD pickups, and government-plowed roads....if they're not already ranching on public land.

That sanctuary looks wonderful. I see and hear wild coyotes all the time where I live, but I've never seen a wild wolf...just one at a preserve, like you did.

[Elyannia]

Originally Posted by Cynegen

Who could easily protect their herds with a couple big dogs in the rare cases that predation actually happens, but prefer to believe that they're some sort of rustic pioneers of the West despite having utilities, 4WD pickups, and government-plowed roads....if they're not already ranching on public land.

That sanctuary looks wonderful. I see and hear wild coyotes all the time where I live, but I've never seen a wild wolf...just one at a preserve, like you did.

I've never seen a wild wolf either, but I do know we have wild ones here. I go camping with my boyfriends family all the time and we go way, way back into the woods,basically we 4-wheel it to our camp spot lol, and I can always here them howling at night.Plus, Wolves mostly hang out at night time, unlike Coyotes who are mostly out and about during the day.

[zongtseng]

The wolves in my photos are also grays, they just happen to be nearly white in color. The owner said they were much darker when they were younger. And there are coyotes in the wild around here too, though nowhere near as numerous as out in the Rockies. The ones in the sanctuary were either kept as pets, or were injured. Either way, they would not survive in the wild, hence living at the sanctuary.

One of the black bears, her name is Pocahontas, is 30 years old. They rarely live to 10 in the wild. Pocahontas was chained to a tree outside a drug dealer's house. She could not stand upright, and as a result her paws are curled and she actually walks on the side of her legs now. That was the worst of the stories, but most all of them came from situations where people thought they could keep wild animals as pets, and eventually found out why that was a bad idea.

[Elyannia]

Originally Posted by zongtseng

The wolves in my photos are also grays, they just happen to be nearly white in color. The owner said they were much darker when they were younger. And there are coyotes in the wild around here too, though nowhere near as numerous as out in the Rockies. The ones in the sanctuary were either kept as pets, or were injured. Either way, they would not survive in the wild, hence living at the sanctuary.

One of the black bears, her name is Pocahontas, is 30 years old. They rarely live to 10 in the wild. Pocahontas was chained to a tree outside a drug dealer's house. She could not stand upright, and as a result her paws are curled and she actually walks on the side of her legs now. That was the worst of the stories, but most all of them came from situations where people thought they could keep wild animals as pets, and eventually found out why that was a bad idea.

Oh wow I totally thought they were white. The gray wolves I've seen were mostly gray with some dark gray almost black patches. Ah Ic. I didn't really understand what a sanctuary was made for I just kind of assumed it was a more awesome version of a zoo for them I can't really remember why the two wolves I got to pet and play with were in the sanctuary...it was so long ago o.o.

Cute name for a bear, but poor thing I can't believe people can do something like that, without feeling guilty or sad.

[zongtseng]

I do not understand how people can do these things to animals either. Luckily, there are some real animal lovers out there who are willing to put the time and money in to try and fix the damage.

[Elyannia]

Originally Posted by zongtseng

I do not understand how people can do these things to animals either. Luckily, there are some real animal lovers out there who are willing to put the time and money in to try and fix the damage.

<3 Me and my dad were part of a bird rescue (RMSA) until the leader passed away. She was a very sweet and elderly lady and sadly the rescue was shut down, because no one was able to replace her and run the meetings and such atleast for in my area it was shut down.