He is NOT on the Tour Path.
In October of 2022, Wild Spirit was contacted by a fellow wolfdog sanctuary looking for placement for two of their rescues: a low-content male named Atlas, and a mid-content female named Celeste.
For context, while the sanctuary’s founders were incredibly dedicated to their mission of saving lives through rescue and education, for years they struggled to find a property on which to house their rescues. Instead, they brought their dreams to life by partnering with another local sanctuary that allowed them to utilize enclosure space in exchange for assistance with their animals as well.
Therefore, when Celeste–who was previously a privately-owned pet that kept escaping her containment–found herself in need of a new home in 2015, the sanctuary was able to provide one. And when Atlas–a former pet living and constantly escaping in an illegal area–started causing too much trouble for his owner, they were able to take him in the following year!
Unfortunately, one day Atlas tried to rush past his Caretaker’s legs, hoping to make a break from his enclosure. Attempting to prevent an escape, the person grabbed him by his collar and pulled him back into the space: a mistake Atlas rewarded with a bite… The same thing happened on a second occasion with a different volunteer, leading the property owner to demand that both animals be relocated.
Without a property of their own, the sanctuary’s founders were forced to seek placement with an outside organization, leading them to contact us for assistance. Sadly, as is often the case in rescue, we didn’t have the room for new animals at the time of their initial request, but after 10 long months of waiting, we were finally able to make the trip from New Mexico to Oklahoma to bring our new babies home.
The rescue itself was quick and painless, and since arriving at Wild Spirit, both animals have begun to settle in magnificently. As in Oklahoma, Atlas has continued to be a sweet and social boy who seems to love everyone endlessly. More surprisingly, Celeste (who was quite shy in her former home) began showing a higher level of comfort around humans than we ever could’ve expected! While she hasn’t fully committed to social interactions quite yet, we’re extremely hopeful that in time she’ll come to trust us, and just maybe allow herself to experience the same love and affection as her confident companion.
Overall, we’re beyond grateful to the wonderful people at Freedom’s Song who not only trusted us with their beloved babies and assisted us in their big re-homing day, but who provided us the time we needed to make this transfer happen. They say it takes a village, and we’re so blessed to have worked with such dedicated individuals.
