On Transporting Wolves

Transporting wolves is not an easy nor in any way glamorous task. I’m often shocked to hear people’s ideas of how it’s done.

When we were discussing Lani & Lakota being brought to us in Medford, for example, the owner’s original plan was to simply leash them and put them in the back of the car. What people often don’t realize, is that unless a wolf has been conditioned extraordinarily well to riding in vehicles, long-term transport is an extremely stressful experience. A wolf, no matter how sociable, let loose in the back seat of a car, will most-often begin to find any escape possible.
When we were doing the Oregon transport, we were dealing with Yukon & Sierra and their son, Axel, all of which had virtually no travel experience, and were not sociable with strangers at all. Nakota, while sociable with his owner, is a very shy, neo-phobic boy himself. Lani, well, Lani probably would have had no problems at all riding in the back of a car, but, with five animals in tow, the safest situation was to have all five animals in large, 700 level kennels.
Short-distance transport is typically stressful, but a 20 hour ride with five animals becomes an even larger ordeal. Our trek began with the capture of Yukon, Sierra and Axel. None of the three are very sociable, none had kennel experience, however, their captures went smoothly and all three were kenneled in an unexpectedly short period of time. We loaded them into the back of our van, and continued into town where we met up with Lani & Nakota, who, upon our request, had been previously kenneled by the owner and were easily placed directly into the van as well. And thus, began our journey.
There are many things to take into account when doing this type of transport. While food is not too much of an issues since wolves are built for and used to fasting, we always attempt to keep our passengers comfortable by going through quite a bit of un-salted beef jerky. Of primary concern, though, is making certain that the animals remain hydrated. Unlike with most dogs, there is no option of removing the animal from the kennel for a drinking break, nor is it possible to open a door and insert a bowl of water. Water bottles similar to those used for rabbits and guinea pigs may work for a non-stressed animal, but those already agitated will simply pull them into the kennel, detach them, or totally destroy them. The only way we have found to easily offer a wolf in transport water, is by feeding ice-cubes through the gates. This is a fairly simple task, but certainly adds frequent stopping times, and some curious passers-by. Fairly often during transport, I wonder what the other folks at the gas station or rest area are thinking when they see Leyton and myself stopped, van doors hanging open for air flow, and us feeding ice cubes through gates to thirsty wolves. Sometimes, it becomes an impromptu educational talk and explanation of our Sanctuary’s mission.
The other thing people perhaps forget is that wolves are pretty smelly creatures in confined spaces. Wolves certainly have a musk. In open, outdoor areas, it is rarely very noticeable. However, in a confined area, especially when an animal is stressed, the musk becomes extremely apparent. Beyond this, while many animals will not urinate or defecate where uncomfortable, stress sometimes lends itself to an animal going to the bathroom in his or her kennel. Once again, when dealing with a fearful and potentially dangerous animal, leashed walks for potty-breaks are not an option. Instead, it is something that we and the wolves must simply deal with. We did end up lining the kennels with cedar chips which helped absorb and mask the smell somewhat, however, it was certainly entertaining when we returned to the Sanctuary and volunteers got a “whiff of wolf” when we opened the doors.
Yukon added some additional concerns to our trip. While we’ve often considered the possibility of it happening, Yukon became the first animal to begin tearing through his kennel. With him, he showed no apparent signs of stress, fear, or the like. However, he certainly was not happy with his confinement, and so, began pulling the metal bars of his kennel’s window inward, until he had completely opened the area. Luckily for us, he was completely non-aggressive, allowing us to reach into the kennel to feed and water him at times. Also, with the van being packed full of kennels, he was unable to get himself out of the kennel to free-range in the back which would have presented quite a problem. When we arrived at the vet’s office in Gallup, we had another volunteer meet us to reassemble the kennel complete with a steel plate to prevent it from happening again on the trip from the vet’s to the Sanctuary.
Thankfully, the transport went fairly smoothly. We arrived at the vet’s office on time for the boy’s surgery, and that evening made it back to the Sanctuary in time to release the animals into their new enclosures with still enough daylight to observe them in their new spaces for a while.
Today, all five have settled happily and healthily into their new lives. Transport is always stressful, and in some cases, even scary. Whenever it goes smoothly, we are truly thankful and it is certainly comforting to watch new animals get over what must be an extraordinarily stressful experience. Most times, thankfully, when you look at our animals today, or even only a few weeks after, they seem as though it was never an issue. I wonder, if in retrospect they begin to think: “Hey that wasn’t so bad,” or, “It was all worth it, after all.” I hope that at least in most cases, this is true.

When Leyton, his wife Georgia and daughter Lakota went up to Oregon to pick up the arctic pups, their breeder told Leyton that he was done with the wolf-breeding business and that WSWS could have their parents as well. Obviously, the family trio and Subaru weren’t up for another two adult additions to the car ride, and so, for awhile, Yukon & Sierra remained in their original home. A few months ago, however, their owner called to ask us if we would come pick them up.
We’re always happy to get at least a couple of wolves off of the breeding market, and, it was an exciting idea to have an entire family group at our Sanctuary. So, we began making plans for a trek up to Oregon to pick up the parents, and their older, 3 year old son, Axel.
In the meantime, a woman named Missy began frantically (and persistently) calling us to see if we could perform a rescue. Lakota, a high-content wolf-dog that had at one point been in her care, had been through several home-changes, and ended up in Oregon in a county where he was illegal. With some problems bringing him to the attention of the local authorities, his current owner was given a week to either find him new placement or have him euthanized. Missy’s persistence, passion, and cooperativeness encouraged us, and the Sanctuary happened to have an open enclosure after the passing of a couple of animals. We agreed to pick up Lakota and his long-time companion, Kaelani, a low-content wolf-dog, if they were transported to the town where we were picking up the parents.
And so, a few weeks ago, Leyton and I hit the road for a 20 hour drive to Medford, Oregon. We left Oregon at 11 am on a Sunday morning, tag-team drove the way back with four wolves and a low-content wolf-dog in tow, and arrived at the vets office that Monday morning for the boys to be neutered. Kaelani (Lani) had already been spayed, and we chose not to have Sierra’s surgery due to some concerns about her current condition. The boys, however, went through surgery without any problems, and at the beginning of this month, five new residents joined our furry family.