Sanctuary wolves displaced by High Park Fire find new home in Keenesburg

By Monte Whaley
The Denver Post
June/20/2012

(Shelly Hecker, 22, of Fort Collins, administrative assistant with Wolves Offered Life and Friendship (WOLF), sprays Odin and JJ with water to keep them cool at the Wild Animal Sanctuary in Keensburgh on Monday, June, 18, 2012. (Heather Rousseau, The Denver Post)

 Rescued wolves who hunkered down in their man-made concrete dens to survive the High Park Fire west of Fort Collins, have traded their mountain surroundings for the high plains of Weld County.
The hybrid wolves — 14 in all — were transferred by truck last Thursday from their homes at the W.O.L.F sanctuary near Bellvue and given temporary homes at the The Wild Animal Sanctuary in Keenesburg. That 720-acre Keenesburg facility has several compounds for bears, tigers, lions and other large mammals rescued.

(Isabeau walks by as her pool as Karen Silva, 49, of Central City, a volunteer with Wolves Offered Life and Friendship (WOLF), fills it with cool water at the Wild Animal Sanctuary in Keensburgh on Monday, June 18, 2012. (Heather Rousseau, The Denver Post)

from cramped zoos from all over the world.The wolves will join them for an undetermined amount of time as fire crews try to stamp out the massive High Park blaze.)

"We made them temporary enclosures that are above ground along with dens, food and water and shade," said Pat Craig, executive director of the sanctuary. "They have everything they need for a month to two months. We'll take care of them all summer of we have to."
Thirty wolf hybrids resided at the W.O.L.F. sanctuary until the fire broke out June 9. The animals came to the sanctuary after their owners could no longer provide for them.
Sanctuary workers were able to get 11 out on

(Odin cautiously steps into a pool of water at the Wild Animal Sanctuary in Keensburgh on Monday, June, 18, 2012. He is one of the 14 wolves that was evacuated from the Wolves Offered Life and Friendship (WOLF) Sanctuary located inside the High Park Fire zone. (Heather Rousseau, The Denver Post)

the first day of the fire and two more on Sunday.Those animals were taken to a W.O.L.F board member's property outside of Loveland, said Michelle Proulx, the facility's primary animal care taker.
The remaining 17, who wouldn't allow rescuers to rescue them, remained at the sanctuary.
But they were able to hide out in underground concrete fire dens, Proulx said. On Thursday, crews found that the wolves had survived but were nervous.

"The instinct with every wolf is to survive and keep moving and if they encounter a stranger they move around a lot and even if they know a person they will remain nervous," Craig said.
But sanctuary workers were able to form a human wall that swept the wolves into trucks. The effort did not go uncontested.
"A few people got nips in their legs and hands, even with all that equipment people still had to get down and help them into their crates," Craig said. "The wolves were scared and they made their point."

The work was done as fire crews oversaw the fire, which was popping up all around the facility.
"There were five or 10 little flames on the ground, any big wind could have come along and caused some real problems," Craig said.
The fire burned down a small cabin and three sheds at the sanctuary but it spared the main cabin and the wolf habitats, said sanctuary officials.
Three of the wolves were re-united with their companions outside of Loveland. The remaining 14 were shuttled to Keenesburg.

The wolves there now are considered "high content" or animals with the most wolf DNA, Proulx said.
Some have not taken well to their new surroundings, she said. Others have done fairly well.
"Some of them are very stressed and not comfortable in their surroundings," Proulx said. "But most of them are doing better than I expected..they are adapting very well."

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