PAWNEE 

Pawnee is another animal that has been in rescue twice.  The first time was in NC when his county decided to ban wolfdogs.  His owner had him for many years and was forced to find a new home.  After several months of trying to find this beautiful boy a new home, he was sent to live in Florida with a private owner.  That man built him a large enclosure and even rescued a female from another sanctuary as a companion for “Ringo” (as he was known then).  The day came, however, when that man could no longer afford his home and he put several animals into rescue.  The rescuer who had brought the female companion to Florida told the owner she would take the female back along with “Ringo”. 

 Pawnee of Shy Wolf
Pawnee of Shy Wolf He found out, however, that she had other more sinister plans.  She had no intentions of allowing “Ringo” out of Florida alive. She had met him when she brought the female down and had decided in her short visit that he was an “aggressive and dangerous animal”.  Shy Wolf was contacted by another rescuer that had originally placed him with the private owner.  She did not want to see the animal put down and believed we could help to save him.  We agreed to take him in for evaluation, as we have an isolation pen that allows us to work safely with unknown temperaments until we can determine it is safe to allow interaction (via guillotine gates).  These gates are common in big cat facilities but rarely seen in wolf and wolfdog rescues, making Shy Wolf a unique place on yet another level.

We found that Pawnee (as we now know him) can be easily misunderstood.  He is like a bully at school in that he challenges you first to see how you will react.  If you don’t react, he will usually eventually accept you and allow you into his space.  We found that he does like interaction with most people he meets more than once (with a few exceptions – making him still a Level 4 animal) and really enjoys his walks.  He’s shown no aggression towards other animals and is currently residing with Promise and Chief.  He was previously housed with Coosa and came from the same private owner.  Pawnee helps us on our educational visits by demonstrating canine body language and that not all wagging tails are friendly…you have to look at the whole picture including eyes, ears, hair, and posture overall.