First Thoughts On Wolf Run

Hello! 

My name is Celia Ritter and I'm a freshman at the University of Kentucky. 

I'm very excited to be volunteering at Wolf Run Wildlife Refuge this semester! As an animal lover and longtime pet owner I think I will really enjoy this experience. I volunteered at the Humane Society in my town throughout high school, but I have never spent much time with animals that aren't your typical house pets, so I'm looking forward to this new experience.

I haven't had the chance to visit Wolf Run yet but I've done a lot of research on the organization. Wolf Run is an organization run by volunteers that care deeply about the animals they are protecting. They strive to educate the public and promote awareness, while providing a safe and loving home for the animals there. One of the biggest issues Wolf Run faces is the negative view many people have on wolves. Wolf Run works to educate people of the difference between wolves and dogs.

For more information on this issue click here.

 They hope to be able to release many of animals after they go through rehabilitation. 

Nayelli, one of the residents at Wolf Run

For more information on Wolf Run and ways to get involved visit their website here.

Wolf Run: Beginning the Journey

Hello Everyone! My name is Kenzie, and this marks the start of my journey at Wolf Run. I am an animal lover, aspiring vet, and puppy enthusiast, so this organization is very important to me! Growing up on a farm in the suburbs of Chicago, I have always been surrounded by animals. I also was raised in a Christian home, so charity and service have always been important to both my family and myself. I am so excited to be volunteering at Wolf Run because of everything that they stand for! This experience is one that I am sure will not easily be forgotten, and I look forward to starting my journey with them.

Wolf Run Wildlife Refuge is an organization focused on the rehabilitation of animals. Every single staff member and director do not receive any money, as they are strictly a non-profit organization. Because of this, all of their work is volunteer work. They also rely heavily on support from the community. Whether it be through monetary donation, or putting in their own volunteer hours, Wolf Run is very dependent on the charitable nature of others.

One of their main goals is release back into the wild. Once an animal is rehabilitated, they hope to be able to return it to its natural habitat. While this is a main goal, when it is not possible animals must remain on the property, making necessary further support from the community.  Additionally, Wolf Run places a large emphasis on education. Be it through field trips, volunteer education, or graphics sent out to the public, Wolf Run largely seeks to improve the general population’s knowledge on wild animals, specifically the differences between wolfs and dogs.

Educational information about wolves and dogs

Wolf Run has a large variety of animals on the premises. Some of these include wolves, wolf dog hybrids, coyotes, parrots, mountain lions, bobcats, deer, horses, and pigs. While the main goal of Wolf Run is return to the animals natural habitat, sometimes this is not possible. Whether this is due to injury, location, or special care needs, some animals remain on the Wolf Run premises and join their forever family to live out the rest of their lives. 

One of the animals who found their forever hone at Wolf Run

For more information or educational handouts, feel free to visit the Wolf Run Website, and to see more of the animals who found their forever homes at Wolf Run Wildlife Refuge.

Beginning Thoughts about Wolf Run

As an animal owner and lover, I am more than excited to volunteer at the Wolf Run Wildlife Refuge for my service learning projects.  When I first looked at the organization options, I was immediately drawn to the the idea of helping animals and being involved with Wildlife.  I began to research the organization and fell in love with their goals and and stances on animal rescue; and, of course, I fell in love with the beautiful animals at the refuge.  http://wolfrun.org/

To introduce myself a bit, my name is Katie Bernardo and I was born and raised in Corbin, Kentucky.  Corbin is a very small town in Southeastern Kentucky that is located near the Appalachian Mountains.  Because of this, I became very aware of the Kentucky wilderness around me at a young age.  In my back yard alone, it isn't uncommon to see a small group of deer, a lone coyote, and even a wild bobcat every now and then.  These sightings have allowed be to grow an interest and love for the animals of Kentucky.

The Wolf Run Refuge has a number of animals that they care for, however, the wolf hybrids sparked most of my excitement.  Not only
do these hybrids resemble my own Australian Shepard dog back home, but they also embody so much strength, nobility, and gentleness.

For comparison sake, here is a picture of one of Wolf Run's hybrids named Journey and my dog named Lucy.

I believe that I already have a warm place in my heart for these hybrids because of Lucy.  Even though Lucy is not a hybrid, many people are scared of the way she looks and her size.  Some people would hurt her if they felt remotely scared by her presence, and I now realize that the Wolf Run hybrids deal with the same issues but on a much greater scale.  Because they are partly wolf, many people are afraid of these animals.  They are not deemed safe to be in a domesticated setting and are forced to live in the wild, or at a place like Wolf Run.

The staff at Wolf Run dedicate so much of their time to making the lives of these animals the best that they can be.  On the website, they say that "God made the animals strong.  He made them true survivors."  I believe that this statement truly expresses the strength of these animals, and the compassion that the staff has for them.

I don't know how much more I can emphasize the beauty and stature of these animals.  But here is my favorite picture that I found from the refuge, and hopefully you can appreciate their beauty a much as me.

http://wolfrun.org/uploads/3/1/4/7/3147601/3827610.jpg?683

To say the least, I am thrilled about beginning my service at the refuge in the near future.  No matter how small or large, I hope that I can make an impact on the lives of these deserving animals. 

Initial Service Learning Reflection

                 

                    This is me and my baby, Henry, who passed
                         away in the summer of 2015.

Hello! My name is Hannah Rice and I am from Bowling Green, Kentucky. I have spent a great deal of my life surrounded by animals. In my lifetime I have had twenty-three cats, three dogs, two hamsters, a sugar glider, a fish, and eight foster kittens. My continuous experience with animals has given me a love and respect for nature and its creatures, which is why I am extremely excited to be volunteering with Wolf Run Wildlife Refuge this semester.

These are four of my foster kittens from the Warren County Humane Society: (left to right) Ellie, Hal, Hampton, and Haley (back).

When I researched the organization and explored their website, I was surprised to see the variety of animal species living there. Wolf Run has deer, parrots, horses, bobcats, coyotes, and, of course, Wolf Hybrids. Considering I have had little to no contact with these animal species, I am looking forward to interacting with them and learning about them, as well as helping the people of Wolf Run to provide for them. I have also viewed some of the photos of other volunteers for Wolf Run and am excited to see actual volunteer-animal contact. To be able to spend time with these exotic animals and get to know them would be amazing.

Before researching my service-learning organization website, I was completely unaware of the struggle for wolf survival in an increasingly urban world. The Wolf Run website informed me that many wolf hybrids are mistaken as dogs and are unjustly kept in animal shelters, kept as domestic pets, or euthanized; I find this absolutely appalling. This continued misidentification of wolf hybrids could have serious consequences for the local ecosystem and the population of wolves, as well as wolf hybrids. I think in order to keep a balance in our natural surroundings and urban surroundings, people need to be informed on this issue.

At first glance, Wolf Run looks like a wonderful organization with promising contributions to society and animals. I hope my volunteering experience with them will be as fun and enlightening as I think it will be!

Thoughts Before My Wolf Run Experience

Hello, my name is MiKayla Carter, a University of Kentucky student, and I am overly ecstatic to begin my service learning experience at the Wolf Run Wildlife Refuge. The Refuge is a nonprofit organization in Nicholasville, Kentucky that was founded over thirty years ago in conjunction with the USDA and Kentucky Fish and Wildlife. The organization's mission statement is, "To give life back to the wild through rescue, rehabilitation and release." The organization fulfills its goals through awareness, education, and rehabilitation of numerous wild animals, such as lions, coyotes, deer, and wolf dogs. http://wolfrun.org/ 

Mammoth Cave
National Geographic

To give you a little background, I am a southern girl from Park City, Kentucky. Park City is a town that does not show up on most maps and only exists as an accessory to Mammoth Cave National Park, which rests less than a minute away. In other words, I grew up surrounded by caves and trees...and deer, lots of deer. I even volunteered at the cave, where I snapped a picture with this cute little guy: 

A zoomed up photo of me holding a cardinal caught during a study at Mammoth Cave National Park.

If you zoom in, you can even see the bite mark on my finger because the little guy was feisty.

               

So, anyway, I have worked in the wilderness, monitoring birds, searching for trees, mapping out small caves, wading through underground rivers, etc. However, other than the one day where I caught this little guy, I did not really have a chance to work with any of the actual wildlife, which is why the Wolf Run Wildlife Refuge was my top pick when it came to this assignment.

              

In my excitement, I did a little snooping on the Refuge's website and Facebook page, and the numerous wolf pictures are both extremely adorable and noteworthy. 

https://www.facebook.com/FansofWolfRunWildlifeRefuge?fref=ts 

The latest post, supporting Nayeli and her service dog training, hits close to home, considering the large amount of service dogs we have being babysat and trained right here at the UK campus. 

A picture of Nayeli. http://www.gofundme.com/kv3pm45s

Those who support Nayeli can help her to get her service dog training at Sit Means Sit in Lexington.