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.

During a rescue not too long ago, Leyton and I visited another wolf & wolf-dog facility. Always curious to learn ways to better our Sanctuary, as well as make contacts with other people in the same business, we like to visit different animal facilities, especially other wolf Sanctuaries. The sad thing is, that in my experience, its often times as heart-breaking as going to the scene of a rescue.
All too often, it seems that a wolf & wolf-dog rescue is started just from someone’s compassion with nothing else. A wonderful, kind, good-intentioned person begins taking in animals that need a place to go, and have no other choice than euthanasia. Unfortunately, with so little funding available and so much misinformation in the wolf-dog world, the rescued animals are placed into a situation that does them not much good. Simply a, prolonged imprisonment and not a true Sanctuary… Miscellaneous fencing is used anywhere from barbwire to chicken fencing to electric fencing. Too many animals are placed into too small of enclosures. Funding prohibits a proper diet, and so animals are fed whatever leftover kibble comes there way. Misinformed people educate others with the same misinformation…
It saddens me to see this type of facility even when I know, that at heart, it is good-intentioned. It scares me to think that the education that is being derived from a “sanctuary” is driving more popular beliefs that will lead to more victims.
What it reminds me of, though, is how grateful we all are for the lives we are able to provide our animals. It strengthens my belief that we can’t simply rescue animal after animal. We need to set limits so that we can continue providing our animals with proper Sanctuary. It compels me to continue educating. It inspires me to reach out further and stronger and educate more people – as many people as possible. It perhaps, most importantly, dedicates me to what I am doing: It fuels my dedication to this life, to this Sanctuary, to these animals.