Kawh

Born on April 18, 1995 at Mission: Wolf
Passed away on February 14, 2010

Sex: Male
Lived with Tierra, Porini, Skinwalker, Beorn, Keechee

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Kawh’s story

Kawh was a huge black (later black and grey), male born April, 18th 1995. Kawh was part of a litter born of Whisper and Crazy Horse. We do not intentionally breed wolves here because we do not want any more wolves to live in cages than absolutely necessary. Sometimes though, despite all efforts, nature finds a way. Crazy Horse was supposed to get vasectomized that year but the tranquilizer did not work so the decision was made to put off his vasectomy for another year. At that time, Crazy Horse was a one year old, very low ranking male in his pack and we believed that the other ranking males would not let him mate. It was quite a surprise when Whisper gave birth.

Whisper was an inexperienced mother. She attempted to make a den but ran into a huge boulder that prevented her from digging any deeper than a foot or two. Instead of finding a new spot, she birthed her puppies in a small depression she made at the base of a tree. The pups were exposed to extremely snowy, wet, and cold April weather. Not ready for motherhood, Whisper was busy worrying about what was going on in the other enclosures and frequently left the pups exposed in the cold. Of the five pups born, two died within a few days. Kawh and his two brothers, Merlin and Druid, survived to be beautiful black adult wolves.

Kawh grew up in one of Mission: Wolf’s last large packs, commonly known as the “Driveway Five.” Beorn was the benevolent alpha male, Kawh was the brawny beta male, Skinwalker was the sweet omega male, Porini was the middling male that tried to stay on everyone’s good side, and Tierra was the fiery Alpha female who kept them all in line. Though not the alpha, Kawh constantly stalked, chased and beat up Skinwalker to release his frustration at having to follow Beorn’s lead.

Then, in the winter of 2002, Kawh saw his chance to become the alpha. Beorn had been injured when a stick got wedged in his mouth and Kawh kicked him out of the pack. The victorious Kawh was very proud of his self and happily took Tierra as his own mate. Most wolves maintain their alpha status through respect, but Kawh soon proved to be a tyrant, bullying Skinwalker and Porini into submission.

The very next breeding season, Skinwalker started flirting with Tierra. Kawh growled and chased Skinwalker off. However, Skinwalker just wouldn’t take the hint and kept following Tierra around. After a couple of weeks of this, Kawh’s patience was at an end. He jumped on Skinwalker, growling and biting him on the face. The staff intervened and separated Skinwalker and Porini from Kawh and Tierra. Things seemed to settle down as the days went by, with Kawh and Tierra enjoying their solitude and Skinwalker getting the chance to heal from his wounds.

Kawh and Tierra lived together until May 2009 when Tierra died of old age. They had a wonderful and peaceful relationship and greatly enjoyed their life together. In September 2009, he was moved to a new enclosure and then lived with Keechee, an 11 year old white Arctic Wolf until his passing a year later.