Our Latest Visit To The Wild Spirit Wolf Sanctuary

A couple weeks ago, on March 5th, Rick and I made another trip out to Candy Kitchen to visit our friends at the Wild Spirit Wolf Sanctuary.  As always, Executive Director Leyton Cougar, escorts us around on our photo tour.  There is something really magical about visiting this place.  The animals are exceptionally well cared for and it’s clear that they all LOVE Leyton. This is our third trip out to photograph the wolves and it gets better every time.  I really never expected to actually interact with a wolf, much less to be licked in the face.  Wolves are sensitive and intelligent and, though they do exhibit some dog-like behavior, it is very obvious when you make eye contact with a wolf that it is certainly not a dog! The Wild Spirit Wolf Sanctuary is a non-profit organization that operates entirely on donations.  The sanctuary serves two purposes; to care for wolves and wolf-dogs that have been rescued from various situations and cannot live in the wild, and to educate the public that wolves must never be kept as pets. Let me put that a different way – wolves make very terrible pets.  A good deal of the animals at Wild Spirit Wolf Sanctuary were rescued from people who tried, unsuccessfully, to keep them as pets.

To Leyton and everyone at the sanctuary, Thank you so much for sharing your knowledge with us and for helping us to get these awesome photographs!

-DeAnna Dimmitt and Rick Meiers

Dry Heat Photography

One of the newest residents at the sanctuary is Romeo the Red Fox.  Romeo came from a zoo that was down sizing and when Leyton saw him he just had to do something so he and the crew built Romeo his very own, extra special, fox enclosure.  Romeo is incredibly friendly.  He is very cat-like in the way that he moves and he loves to play.  I also did not realize that foxes have a scent gland similar to, though considerably less potent than, a skunk.  When they get excited the air gets fragrant!  Romeo is the most awesome little creature.  I love him!

This is Brutus

Brutus has a very noticeable and endearing snaggle-tooth

Rick and Lucian

Raven

Leyton and Raven have a very special wolf/human bond.  It’s touching to see them together.

Raven came to the sanctuary in 1997.  For nine years he was the public face of the sanctuary, making numerous public appearances with Leyton to educate the public about wolf conservation and, again, about not keeping wolves as pets.  Raven is now retired and continues to live peacefully with his mate, Cheyenne, at the sanctuary. To learn more about Raven click here.

This is Dakota.

This is Sugar

Sugar is a little cross-eyed

This is Teton

Art Gallery, Life DeAnna Dimmitt, dry heat gallery, Dry Heat Photography, leyton cougar, Rick Meiers, wild spirit wolf sanctuary, wolves