WOLVES and Warriors

In our Wolves and Warriors program, veterans care for the wolves and wolfdogs in our sanctuary and the relationships that develop often lead to healing from any respective traumas. (Wolves and Warriors is a Registered Trademark.)

There are many similarities between a veteran and a wolf.

The wolf, a coursing predator, has been responsible for keeping the balance in nature for tens of thousands of years. As an apex predator, the wolf speaks up for all the other species in the ecosystem by making sure that the elk doesn’t eat all the bark off the tree and create a wasteland. The wolf even speaks up for the frog by moving the herd from one green lush valley to another so that the stream bed and the waterways can sustain the life of the frog. In these actions, the wolf’s true role is to protect the wilds of North America by maintaining a balance in nature.

The veteran, much like the wolf, acts like a coursing predator when traveling around the globe to protect the downtrodden by moving them to a safe place. The veteran, much like the wolf, can kill if necessary to protect the good of the many. Herein lies the similarity. The wolf protects the environment and is slaughtered, the veteran protects his country and is called a murderer. Both the wolf and the veteran serve to protect us all. At LARC, we believe they should both be given a chance to heal.

The Wolves and Warriors puts our war heroes back to work and saves animals at the same time. But healing also happens through animal-bonding and pack acceptance.  Most veterans served in a group and when one soldier was lost, the entire group suffered – so “pack” awareness was born through military service. Wolves and Warriors uses the pack mentality to heal - when one wolf living in an enclosure accepts a veteran, then the whole pack allows him/her in.  A very special experience for the veteran.