The Wolves of Medicine Wheel Lodge

The Wolves of Medicine Wheel Lodge

by Amber Polo

HealingWolf’s Medicine Wheel Lodge is a magical place. On ancient land once a sacred gathering place for Native Americans, later Morgan Earp's stagestop, a school, a home, and, for the last seventeen years, a sanctuary for wolves. 

HealingWolf
Healing Wolf believes wolves are our teachers. She has raised Gray Wolves, Arctic Wolves, Timber Wolves, and now Tundra Wolves. Iroquois on her mother's side, HealingWolf received her name from her father when at a young age he found her healing a wolf. Since then wolves and all wildlife seek her out. She believes herself privileged to have worked with wolves since rescuing her first wolf in Tennessee. 


Honoring all tribes, traditions, and relations, HealingWolf is foremost a teacher.

She and her husband Jon Bickis established Medicine Wheel Lodge in Rimrock, Arizona as a gathering place for people to slow down, learn, share, and heal, interacting with these magnificent ambassadors of nature.

The Wolves of Medicine Wheel Lodge 

• Dakota, after serious abuse at a fur farm, came to Medicine Wheel Lodge from a shelter where he would have been euthanized. Rescued at 1 1/2 years, he’s had serious medical issues but is now a huge healthy adult male who’s learned he is safe forever.
• Kira, an abused female now 6, has slowly overcome her fear of men and serious distress issues.
• Mahota and Jhertoma (Tundra wolves) were rescued as 4 month-old-pups after their mother was killed. With no history of human abuse, they are true ambassadors of wolf magic.
  
  All four wolves came to HealingWolf through an informal network of wolf rescuers.

Education for Animal Rescue
HealingWolf considers herself a voice for animals and dreams of a time when all animals wild and domestic are safe. A supporter of wolf reintroduction and all forms of animal rescue, she speaks strongly against the breeding of wolves and wolfdogs for pets and sale. Wolves and part-wolves are not pets. You can’t “own” any wild animal. She urges people who want an amazing companion to seek a needy one in their local shelter.

Caring for wolves and wolfdogs is difficult and expensive. Veterinary care must come to you and surgeries are difficult. Wolves and wolfdogs are not dogs and can easily escape ordinary pens. She has erected heavy 10-foot-high fenced runs with double gates and concrete bases 3 feet into the ground and provided dens. Keeping them healthy and safe is ongoing full time work.

HealingWolf urges all who love wolves to support rescue groups run by those who are doing the work of preserving wolves in the wild and caring for all animals in captivity who can never survive in the wild. 


Visits to Medicine Wheel Lodge
Visitors and retreat groups from all over the world and people of all beliefs open their hearts to animals. HealingWolf and her wolves teach respect and love for all wild and domestic animals through physical interactions. 

For more information about Medicine Wheel Lodge and Native American Sacred Hoop (the 501(c)3 non-profit). Donations are appreciated for rescue, food, and veterinary care, as well as educational work. www.MedicineWheelLodge.com 

To schedule a visit to Medicine Wheel Lodge in Rimrock, AZ call (928) 592-0588 or email healingwolf@hotmail.com. (All visits are scheduled to the best benefit of the wolves.)

 

Published in another form in the August-September 2017 issue of the Flagstaff-Sedona Dog.