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Send them back home!

Wolves, having once enjoyed the freedom to roam vast plains in their homelands, are now forced into captivity here in South Africa. Tied up in backyards, chained to “running wires” and enclosed in electrified fenced enclosures.

The sad reality is that we can NEVER send them back home! The wolves in our sanctuary have been brought up in domestic environments and they have no experience of living in the wild.
There is no denying the numerous other environmental issues and species subjected to all manner of pressures and problems in conservation in South Africa. On the domestic side, read the papers and witness the hundreds of animals being given away for adoption or sold, as owners no longer want them or can no longer care for them. Unscrupulous breeders continuing to create hybrids for sale as exotic pets exacerbates this problem. This is one of the reasons The Lupus Foundation was established was as a result of wolf and wolf dog owners not knowing what to do with their animals once they reached sexual maturity. The irresponsibility lies with the people that brought the first lot of wolves into SA in the first place. We are taking responsibility where others are unable or unwilling to do so. Wolves were brought into this country, more than 20 years ago, at a time when wolves were listed on appendix ii of CITES and were endangered – and still are!

Wolf Haven International in America has stated, “The proponents of these practices (the sale of wolves and hybrids) earn considerable financial gain from the exploitation of these animals and are thus unwilling to disclose the actual facts”, and “Socialised or domesticated wolves can never and SHOULD NEVER – UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES be returned to the wild”. Wolf scientists around the world echo this opinion.

© 2004 The Lupus Foundation. Tsitsikamma Wolf Sanctuary