Raven's Roads
Living an interesting life: the travels and musings
of motorcycling author Linda R. Moore

Sep 11, 2004

9th Sep, Wolf Haven

Filed in Landmark-Hunting, Travel, Washington 2004

9th September
Wolf Haven

In time we made our way to Wolf Haven, a sanctuary for wolves. Primarily these are wolves which were either in zoos which lost their funding, or were kept as pets by people who should know better. There are 42 wolves there now, and they’re almost full.

S stayed in the car while LV and I explored the gift shop and so on. Then we took a tour, with a couple from Cheshire as it turned out. The tour guide was good; not just enthusiastic, but knowlegeable. We were introduced to each set of wolves in turn, told anecdotes, and were lucky enough to see just about every animal get up and approach in some way. There were white wolves, grey wolves and red wolves; each had intense yellow eyes and some were downright playful. Some of the tour was about dispelling the myths about what wolves do and don’t do; some of it was about the animals and how they are designed with big snowshoe paws and chests so they can cope with the snow.

I don’t need any convincing that wolves are beautiful, but I suspect there is a lot of ignorance about what they are capable of and what they actually do. For example, they don’t go after cattle, which of course causes them to get shot in the wild. They’re a part of the food chain and in some places keep down overgrown populations of critters like nutrias (giant guinea pigs).

It was very well done, and we also heard about some Mexican wolves who are being prepared for release into the wild. They get fed nothing but roadkill, and apparently have a somewhat haphazard attitude to burying their food which means that the odd leg sticks up into the air in their cages.

After the tour, eveyone was tired, so we went home via one or two more snarfs.

In the evening I made my pie, and it went relatively well. Wasn’t the prettiest pie in the world, but the proof was in the eating â€“ More Later. I had fun making it. Had a good teacher.