In the Spotlight

Temerity Celebrates Her 16th Birthday
January is all about Temerity

We are celebrating our Senior Ambassador's SIXTEENTH BIRTHDAY this month!!! Our wonderful Ms. “T” might be hard of hearing and move quite a bit stiffer and slower these days but she ALWAYS meets you with a warm greeting. I'm convinced that she is under the impression that anyone who comes to the refuge has come specifically to visit with her.

Temerity is an extraordinary, absolutely wonderful animal. She may not be thrilled when her calm and quiet world is interrupted by new youngsters (like Destiny), but she always puts up with EVERYTHING in a very Regal manner. She is definitely still the ALPHA female of this pack and will be until the day that she leaves us.

Happy Birthday Temerity... we all ADORE you!

Saying Good-bye to "Pax"

Pax takes a road trip to find his new forever home

Saturday, December 17th was the start of a brand new life for this very deserving dog. Bill and Tammy drove Pax to Salt Lake City, Utah to meet with volunteer Krista Kraft, part of the transport team from "Snow Capped Shepherd Rescue" out of Denver, Colorado. The volunteer was rendezvousing with the U.S. Wolf Refuge staff to receive Pax and drive him to one more exchange point before he went on the remainder of his journey to Littleton, Colorado. This non-profit organization specializes in placing White Shepherds into perfect new homes. (Photo, right: Pax and Tammy share a private good-bye.)

Although we always meant well in the past by trying to help Pax with new placement, our isolated facility didn't allow him the right exposure to help him with an adoption. Pax was safe with us but it wasn't where he belonged, especially since he is not a wolf-dog. We were so happy when Tammy Boatwright was able to coordinate this rescue with this wonderful organization.

Anyone wishing to visit their website and perhaps make a small donation to this non- profit rescue organization in "Pax’s" name please do so. www.snowcappedshepherdrescue.org

Pack Member of the Month
"Mariah"

Even though Mariah lives with her foster mom Lorna, she is still officially part of the U.S. Wolf Refuge Pack until she is re-homed. Just because Mariah is better suited to be the only pet in the family does not make her any less wonderful and we truly hope that some lucky person will come forward to meet her and realize this for their self.

Six & a half year old Mariah has had a long road to trek in the past year. Her original owner died leaving a request that her former neighbor take her into his own home. He honored her wishes but being an older gentleman himself, found that adding her to his household that already had another very large dog was just more than he could physically handle. Knowing that Mariah was a low content wolf-dog, he spoke with a local rescue organization who knew a few of the U.S. Wolf Refuge volunteers. We have been trying to help Mariah ever since.

Volunteer Lorna has a HUGE heart and she agreed to try to work Mariah into her own home that already had three other dogs. This is when it became apparent that Mariah might possibly be able to live with another male dog, but not a female.

If you are interested in adopting Mariah into your pet-free home, or meet her with your large male dog, please contact the U.S. Wolf Refuge to be put into contact with the right person to answer any of your questions. This very loving girl deserves to only make one more move into her forever home, so an application must be filled out along with home checks.

Remembering 2011

2011 was a year that none of us will EVER forget. It was a struggle from the very beginning for many of us but it brought us all closer. Bill fought and beat cancer which was a battle that I know he is glad to have behind him. Many of our volunteers (including new volunteers) and supporters stepped up to help keep the refuge intact during this difficult time by devoting their time, energy and in many cases financial assistance. Without them all I don’t know what would have happened. We truly could not have made it thru this and Bill was physically not able to do it himself.

During this stressful time when Bill was fighting his own personal battle, we lost some of our senior pack members. Since a few of them were 14-15 years old this was somewhat expected but none the less painful. Stubby crossed over in April with Tyra and Neko following closely behind him. Then Curly joined them all the end of November. During this time we also lost our beloved Aries, which was totally unexpected and devastating (to say the least) to us all. We (& Kasa) are still mourning him and we are all still in disbelief. We did not announce his passing because we kept waiting for answers. Even though there was a necropsy done all of our questions have gone unanswered and sadly we will never know the reason why he left us so soon.

Loosing these beloved animals enabled us to accept others in need of help. Pax left us for a few months early in the year only to return to us after a failed adoption. Then we took in a very young female, Destiny, followed more recently by Takoda. Unfortunately there are always wolves and wolf-dogs out there that need help.

In 2011 we had the most successful fund raising raffle that we have ever had with our beautiful "Wolf Song" quilt. We were also extremely successful with fund raising at the Stanford Powwow and are (of course) excited about the upcoming event again this coming May. Our refuge was voted as the 2nd Place Winners in the 2011 Petfolio Magazines annual Readers Choice Contest. In October we attended the Wildlife Conservation Expo in San Francisco and had the pleasure of a private visit and dining with Dr. Jane Goodall.

We are now looking forward to whatever 2012 brings our way. You can read all of the monthly e-newsletters for 2011 via our website. Newsletter index page.

Thank you ALL for being such an important part of the United States Wolf Refuge!

Upcoming Events

Just staying warm and dry this winter. Our next big event will be the Stanford Powwow in May 2012.

From the U.S. Wolf Refuge Staff, Volunteers & Pack
Happy New Year

For more information about the U.S. Wolf Refuge,
contact us at:
(775) 475-0510

WOOOOOOF... see you next month ...
Temerity