Nokona

Born on January 1, 2002
Arrived at Mission: Wolf on January 25, 2009
Passed away on October 17, 2015

Sex: Male
Lived with Aurora, Zuko, Luna

Did you know? It takes $3,000 a year just to feed and care for one of our wolves. By giving $5 or more a month, you can take a wolf to dinner by becoming a Wolf Caretaker.

Nokona’s Story

Nokona was born in January 2002, and came to Mission: Wolf in early spring of 2009. His background is unknown but the best we understand is that he was first discovered at a year old in an Iowa dog shelter. He was identified as a wolf and was to be destroyed. A newly formed wolf-dog sanctuary in Colorado rescued him and brought him back to Colorado. The folks that picked him up were cautioned that he can be very aggressive around blond women. He bonded with the male owner of the rescue but lived alone for the most part – they had challenges finding him a companion. He stayed at the sanctuary for six years until financial issues forced the closure of the sanctuary and he lost his home.

In the middle of deep snow drifts, a dedicated driver managed to get Nokona up to Mission: Wolf. The male owner he was bonded with came along and helped get him into a large enclosure. He is timid around most of the staff except at feeding time. We worked to get Nokona a new pack and placed him next to Raven and Fenris to get acclimated. Raven and Nokona flirted but little Fenris was insecure. What looked to be a good situation turned nasty as they got into a fence fight, Nokona lost the tip of his ear and Raven lost a toe. 

Later we worked to get him another wolf partner, Keechee, but Nokona again seemed too aggressive for the elder female. Over the last couple years Nokona explored several different enclosures and settled into life near the horse pasture. In the fall of 2012 we successfully placed him with a young female wolf name Amulet. The two lived happily together for about 3 months until one morning staff found that little Amulet had beaten up Nokona. Nokona lived happily in retirement at the farm, next to Aurora.