Ghengis joined the Big Pack in the Sky on January 21st, 2010.

He passed at the age of 14 due to old age.

Ghengis was born on Wild Spirit property on April 7th, 1996, near the beginning of the sanctuary’s’ “conception” itself! He was one of seven pups in a litter that was bottle raised by staff, and born by Ammon Ra and Nashoba–two other wolves residing at the sanctuary.

The litter, which included Shakti, Ghengis, Zeus, Taza, Lycea, Selena, and Chaka Zulu, spent their first weeks outside being raised by their parents. However, tragedy struck, and Nashoba died soon after birth due to gastric torsion.

The pups were quickly moved indoors, and staff took on the responsibility of bottle feeding the litter! It was tireless work with little rest, especially given the staff’s efforts to ensure that the pups had enough access to their father to be raised by both humans and wolves. Once they were old enough to survive, the pups were moved outside into suitable groups.

Ghengis , Shakti and Zeus all split off to live with their Aunt Natasha and Uncle Nootka, who were rescued from the same breeder in Washington as the litter’s parents. Zeus and Shakti had a very close and loving relationship, but the same could not be said for the two brothers. They had the kind of relationship you would expect from most brothers, constantly challenging one another and pushing boundaries. As the two matured and dynamics began to shift, they were eventually separated to avoid rising tensions and a possible conflict.

Our stunning boy was soon paired with a female companion, Artemesia, who was a pure dog. In the beginning the pair had difficulties adjusting to one another, but in time became very bonded. In fact, Ghengis was incredibly protective of Artemesia and guarded her as his most precious resource of all.

Ghengis and Artemesia are a wonderful example of how we have learned and evolved as a sanctuary. Many of this pair’s early struggles and conflicts came down to an inability to communicate properly, hence why all pairings we do today are the same, or very close, wolf content-level.

Though wolves and dogs are extremely similar, they do communicate in different ways. Dogs have a more simplified form of communication with their fellow canines, as a result of ~20,000 years of domestication, where they adapted to live with and understand humans. To provide an analogy, most dogs would be comparable to a human five-year old’s vocabulary, where as a wolf would possess that of an adult! This often results in miscommunication between the two that can cause severe consequences.

Main profile photo by Phil Sonier