Raku

Photo © 2009 - Mission:Wolf

Raku was a very sweet and memorable wolf-dog with one brown eye and one blue eye. She always acted more like a dog than a wolf – going for long excursions with her owners. Yet, she proved to be another example of why even good-natured wolf-dogs can not make it as pets. Raku lost her home in the city at a young age because she became a very adept escape artist. Most wolves and wolf-dogs can find their way out of nearly any enclosure. It usually takes at least 8 ft. of vertical chain link with 4 ft. of ground mesh and 4 ft. of angled upper mesh to begin to keep these animals in. Once Raku climbed, jumped or dug her way out, she would turn any attempt to catch her into a game of catch-me-if-you-can. Even her owners’ attempts at discipline were turned into a game.

Raku’s owners soon came to a difficult decision. The husband was so tired of her antics and dealing with Raku’s independent nature that he turned to the wife and said, “It’s me or Raku, one of us goes.”  Mission:Wolf became Raku’s second home. A complete bundle of energy, she soon captured the heart of the refuge staff and of her mate, Yaqui. Raku spent a long and peaceful ten years at Mission:Wolf, educating everyone around her about the plight of wolf-dog crosses.