I had originally heard about the wolf sanctuary because I had friends who used to live there years ago before the buildings were transformed into a bed and breakfast. I had visions of a fence around a yard where a bunch of wolves basically hung out in a grassy yard and howled whenever the moon came out.
I’ve wanted to take a tour of the wolf sanctuary for some time now, so when the director of the sanctuary asked me to be part of Music and Art With the Wolves, I jumped at the chance.
Boy, was I wrong about the wolves, too.
First of all, it’s not a grassy lawn, the wolf sanctuary is on 22 acres of wooded land. Yes, there are fences, but not at all like what I was envisioning.
I was right about the howling. We arrived to set up for the show and got a chorus of howling or as the volunteers call it, “singing.” Surprisingly, it sounds basically like you would imagine from television or the movies. It’s so much more beautiful in person though.
In addition to rescuing and rehabbing wolves, the sanctuary is an educational tool. They strive to teach people that wolves are beautiful creatures, but they are most definitely not pets. I see why people might think of them for a pet, they are gorgeous and they seem like dogs. We have to remember these are wild animals, though, and they will follow their natural instincts. Many of the wolves are there because people originally thought they would make good pets and found out they are not.
The Sanctuary currently provides food, shelter and veterinary care for over forty Wolves with no government or corporate assistance. They survive on fund raising events like the one I attended, people adopting wolves, generous donations, funds raised from giving tours and gift shop sales.
It is always a little sad for me to see wild animals behind a fence or in a cage and not free. It does make me feel better to know that these particular animals are in captivity because they were rescued and being rehabbed. They would not survive in the wild. It is difficult to release an animal once it has been in captivity, so they will live out the rest of their lives at the sanctuary. They didn’t seem to mind, though, since they have so much space.
The art and music show itself was what I would consider an almost perfect day: great music, good food, wonderful art, interesting people, tucked away in the woods and for a great cause. I highly recommend that you check it out next year. In the meantime, the wolf sanctuary has tours on weekdays and weekends and provides full moon tours, which I intend to check out as well.
1 comment:
Great guest post :)
I'd love to check out one of the full moon tours too!
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