Separating wolves — even unrelated wolves — for even a short time is extremely distressing to them.
At the International Wolf Center (wolf.org), they removed a 1-year old female wolf to spay her. The doc said to keep her by herself for five days — for the stitches to heal. But the female ripped the fence apart within 12 hours to get back to the wolf she’d been with.
Imagine, then, how strong the motivation must be for young adult wolves to leave the family in search of a mate.
On a tour of the Wolf Sanctuary of PA, a woman who worked with the wolves for decades told us:
1. Wolves never learn the name you might give them. Even if you see them multiple times a day and call them by it all the time.
2. They “glide” instead of walk. They almost look like they’re doing a moon walk — their legs move so fluidly. Wolf dogs take steps. Wolves glide.
“Wolves and women are relational by nature, inquiring, possessed of great endurance and strength. They are deeply intuitive, intensely concerned with their young, their mate and their pack.
“Yet both have been hounded, harassed and falsely imputed to be devouring and devious, overly aggressive, of less value than those who are their detractors.” — Clarissa Pinkola Estes
…about the only time wolves don’t love snow is when they have mange — which gives their body bare spots that can seriously harm their ability to keep warm. Otherwise they LOVE it. One of the reasons is their very wide feet. It helps them walk on top of it or sink less into it — unless the snow is very soft.
