This weekend I had the opportunity of visiting the Wolf Sanctuary of PA located in Lititz, PA. This was about my third time visiting the sanctuary, on their annual Wolf Awareness Day. During the day, tour guides show you some of the packs residing at the sanctuary, and vendors and music is also available.

The sanctuary changed its layout of the enclosures since the last time I was there, and more enclosures were built and available to be seen by the public. The Wolf Sanctuary of PA has several packs of wolves, and wolf-dog hybrids. Many of the animals there have been rescued because of being owned as pets.

It's amazing to see these creatures rather up close, but the reality of it is that most of these wolves and wolf hybrids have been through a lot.

Two wolves living at the sanctuary are blind. Thor, who is 17-years-old and pictured below, was affected by blindness and was not getting proper amounts of food with other wolves. He was moved in with female wolves, who made sure he got the food he needed. Another wolf affected by blindness is Loci, who developed blindness because his owners were not giving him the proper food. Once he came to the sanctuary, he was put on the diet he needed, and soon gained back a little of his sight.

It is sad that most of the animals were not getting the attention they needed, and that the owners did not bother educating themselves. Like I mentioned before in my article about how people adopt certain breeds of dogs without realizing the attention they need, like Siberian Huskies, wolves are going through similar situations.

Wild animal ownership is a problem we need to address. In some cases, like tigers, there are more wild animals living in people's backyards and basements than in the actual wild.

People buy animals as babies, and do not anticipate how large these animals can get. Not only do they get big, but they eat a lot as they grow, and need a certain amount of food in order to maintain healthy growth.

Wolves need at least 2.2 lbs of meat a day, which does not seem like much, but it is. If you own a wolf hybrid, you need to provide just as much meat. It is expensive and time-consuming to own these animals, and not to mention, wild animals are unpredictable.

They are still wild, even when you take them out of their natural habitat at a young age. It is better to leave them where they belong, and to protect their habitats from hunting.

I admire sanctuaries like this because they do a thorough job of making the public aware of the nature of wolves. They are knowledgeable and take the time to provide a sufficient environment for each pack, even DNA testing each animal to place them in packs based on the amount of wolf they contain in their DNA.

After leaving the sanctuary I felt a sense of hope for the future of wolves, because there is a place for them to go when in need. If you can, please donate to sanctuaries like the Wolf Sanctuary of PA, and do not buy wild animals.

To donate, visit: https://wolfsanctuarypa.org/donate/.