Monday 14 March 2016

Lola Dingo and her best friend Morgan Coyote



How did an Australian Dingo come to be in Florida…AND in rescue? It’s simple…people! Six pups were sent from a Dingo Recovery program to the United States. Two ended up with a couple in Florida. The man had come from Australia and wanted some of his homeland it seems. Dingoes are the apex predator in Australia while, like the wolf or coyote are generally treated as a “nuisance” animal they are a separate species.

The pups were allowed to breed which caused problems with law enforcement because the owners did not following captive wildlife laws. Dingoes require Class III FWC (Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission) permits and special containment in Florida. Well a lot happened in their lives in that next year and the short of it is that another rescuer got a call that six dingoes needed placement. Shy Wolf Sanctuary had originally planned on taking two but had since filled their habitats, mostly with coyotes. So a rescuer from North Carolina came down and picked them up. That’s when she found out one of the girls was pregnant. Six pups were born but only three survived.
The original home that was lined up for this very special girl fell through and Deanna (volunteer & Board of Directors member of Shy Wolf Sanctuary) was called to see if she would personally adopt the pup. While not actively seeking a pup, and quite happy with her existing pack, she saw the benefits to having a different canid species as an ambassador to the sanctuary. It was especially enticing since the pup would be more likely to WANT to go to events, unlike their other animals.
Lola has made herself at home wherever she goes, as the picture shows, and is even showing an aptitude for Search and Rescue (SAR) training. Who knows? Shy Wolf Sanctuary may be the first to have a certified SAR Dingo ready to respond at the drop of a hat! 

In the meantime she loves playing with Morgan and climbing up onto anything she can possibly climb onto…including your head if you sit close enough to her.

Morgan

Morgan’s rescue was not one that was planned. Shy Wolf Sanctuary already had FOUR coyotes in one small habitat. They got the call and email the day before Easter 2013 that a man had what he thought was a wolf pup. It had been dropped in the road by its mother in the middle of a move. He spotted it and waited to see if she would come back and, when she didn’t, he picked up the tiny pup and took it home to try and save.


At first he was doing okay with the puppy formula but then he realised he had something on his hands that probably needed a license. He could no longer care for the wee guy. Nancy and Deanna agreed to meet him to check out the pup and pick him up on Easter Sunday. His eyes were barely open so we estimate he was three weeks at the time. It’s lucky for Morgan we got him when we did as he was impacted from the formula and anaemic from fleas. Our vet had his work cut out for him the next day and so did we!

When it came time to name him, we decided to name him after a very special girl, Morgan Lillard, who had suffered an unimaginable loss of her younger sisters in a fire. We were told the one thing that would get her to smile was learning about wolves. We can’t wait for the first Morgan to come and visit her namesake some day!


Since Lola was only a month younger than Morgan, we decided to see if they could be friends. At first Morgan was a bit of a bully but Lola soon caught up and caught on…she’d simply sit on Morgan until he would go running for the safety of the nearest volunteer! Now they are fast friends and he gets really excited when she comes to spend the day playing. 
 

Produced with permission of Lola’s trainer, Deanna Deppen and the Shy Wolf Sanctuary, Florida, USA

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