Katniss‘s History

Katniss came to live at Wild Spirit Wolf Sanctuary in May of 2021 along with her companion, Sarkhan, who had begun demonstrating a number of concerning behavioral changes toward the couple who owned him. Despite the fact that he was raised with an incredible amount of love and socialization, they explained that upon reaching sexual maturity, Sarkhan had become increasingly aggressive toward them, acting out with such intensity that it became impossible for them to care for him or Katniss safely.

Before deciding to give him up, the couple racked their brains trying to figure out what might be triggering his behaviors and went to great lengths attempting to trouble-shoot and resolve the issues; unfortunately, after months of trial and error, nothing seemed to work, so they made the difficult decision to re-home him to Wild Spirit. In addition, because he and Katniss were so closely bonded, they requested that we take her as well, allowing them to remain together for life. Naturally, we agreed and in May of 2021, we made the trip from New Mexico to Alabama to pick them up and bring them home.

Upon arrival at the couple’s home, we were introduced to Katniss and Sarkhan, who demonstrated very different comfort levels around people. Sarkhan, for example, was very confident in our presence, but immediately began to display the aggressive behaviors we were warned about, approaching the fence line with hackles raised and snarling loudly. Katniss, on the other hand, seemed shy but curious, electing to keep a healthy distance from the new strangers.

Knowing that Sarkhan was so aggressive, we arrived in Alabama with a plan in place — one that involved utilizing our dart gun to safely sedate him prior to entering into his space. Thankfully, because he was so confident around humans, darting him was a breeze, and within moments we were able to enter into this enclosure to place him into a crate and reverse him from the sedatives. Katniss, on the other hand, would not stand still long enough for us to dart her safely, but was quickly caught up without issue, reunited with Sarkhan just moments later.

Once both animals were contained, we began our journey back to the sanctuary, where the pair was placed into a massive enclosure where they immediately went to greet their new neighbors! While both Sarkhan and Katniss are quite new, we feel confident that they will quickly begin to adjust to their new home and the various members of our team. We are so grateful to know that they will have a place to call home for the rest of their lives, and that they can do so together!