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I've always felt drawn to wolves. Their power as a pack, their mysteriousness, and their misunderstood natures. As a business owner I believe in social responsibility and incorporate this into all business decisions such as choosing which materials to use or how to best keep our waste minimal. Raising money for a good cause seems like the right thing to do. Beginning in August, 2018 $1 from each website order will be donated to support wolf conservation efforts. You can read more about that here.
This summer my husband and I traveled to several wolf sanctuaries within a 2 hour driving distance from Trenton, NJ. We had some amazing experiences. Each sanctuary is different in the sense of the conservation work that they do and also how much interaction with the wolves is allowed.
The Wolf Sanctuary of PA is a fabulous place where they rescue wolves and wolfdog hybrids and provide them with a wonderful environment to thrive in safety and the opportunity to build new packs with other rescued wolves. On the tour we were able to see about 20 happy wolves in their Lititz, PA sanctuary. Every full moon the sanctuary offers a night tour. I'm hoping to join in on the December 22nd full moon tour which has special significance right after the winter solstice.
The Wolf Conservation Center in S. Salem, NY is a beautiful place with several ambassador wolves on display to the public. The center does fantastic work on educating the public and participates in the federal Species Survival Plan which breeds endangered subspecies of wolves to ensure long-term sustainability of the species with the goals of releasing them back into the wild. Most of the wolves at this sanctuary are off limits to the public because they are truly wild wolves and must remain so to ever be allowed reintegration back into a wild habitat in the future. In probably the most innovative thing I've seen a sanctuary do for public education, the WCC installed webcams all over the preserve where anyone can watch the wolves at anytime online. Check it out here! This was quite exciting early in the summer when several litters of pups were born on camera! Now you can frequently see them frolicking around with their pack. The WCC has a fantastic social media presence and is quite vocal and successful at encouraging activism.
Howling Woods Farm in Jackson, NJ is the closest wolf sanctuary to our workshop and I'm honestly bummed I hadn't visited sooner. The farm is a sanctuary to many wolfdog hybrids. Their mission is to educate the public about wolves and to rescue wolfdogs from bad situations. There were about 7 or 8 wolves that had lived on premises most of their lives and were friendly enough to warrant interaction with visitors. Of all the wolf sanctuaries we visited this was the first one that allowed us to go into the pens and engage one-on-one with the animals. It was an amazing experience! Several of these wolves have appeared in film and magazines due to their friendliness and trainability.
Check out the trailer for one of those short films below:
She Wolf - Film Trailer from Aggressive on Vimeo. Learn more here.
We plan to visit Howling Woods Farms again later this year. Also on the list to visit is the Lakota Wolf Preserve in Columbia, NJ.
Thanks for supporting our efforts to raise money and awareness about wolf conservation!
Harmony Todd
Old Soul Artisan, owner and candlesmith
