Ohio Rescue

Media Links:

Humane Society Release
https://www.humanesociety.org/news/most-horrific-hundreds-foxes-raccoons-wolf-dog-hybrids-skunks-and-coyotes-rescued-fur-farm

Cleveland Spectrum News 1
https://spectrumnews1.com/oh/columbus/news/2025/01/25/animals-rescued-fur-urine-farm

Durango Herald
https://www.durangoherald.com/articles/wolfwood-refuge-near-ignacio-rescues-15-hybrids-from-torturous-ohio-fur-farm/

Grand River Fur Exchange owner Mark Gutman was the man responsible for the horrors in Ohio. Feel free to Google him to learn more about the atrocities he committed prior to his death by cancer.

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Part 1:

A Tale Worth Telling: I have been rescuing animals for 30 years. I thought I had seen it all. I was wrong.  This is a story that will come out in bits and pieces. It is big, it is tragic, it is important, and it is where we, and you, can rewrite the ending , changing the fate of animals in great need.

On January 22, WolfWood was contacted by Brittany McDonald of Wild Spirit Wolf Sanctuary , asking if we could help with an emergency situation in Ohio. She sent pictures of animals in horrible conditions. This was a large scale operation, with people involved from many agencies across the whole nation. I knew we had enough enclosures, food and people to be able to make a difference. My only hesitation was the magnitude of the vet bills I knew we would incur with animals this damaged. 

My first call was to Dr. Wagner-Lockard, our saint of a vet. After a discussion of the probable condition of the animals, she agreed we had to try and help. The next step was to talk to the caretakers, since most of the burden of everyday care would fall on them. And of course, they wanted to help save the lives of these tortured creatures. The final step was to talk to the volunteers, most of which have not been around for a rescue of this size before. There was no stopping their outpouring of commitment, compassion and effort. Everyone channeled their time, monetary support and hearts into the rescue, reaching out to friends and neighbors and enlisting the aid of spouses and kids. 

On January 21st, Emily and I flew to Ohio,  rented a car and got to our motel at 2 am. At 7 am. we met with Kelly Donithan of the Global Animal Disaster Response for the Humane Society, to follow her to the site of this travesty. Nothing could have prepared us for what we were about to witness. And there are truly no words to describe the hell we walked into. The first thing that hit us was the stench. It was -6 out, and the odor of death, decay and despair permeated everything, our clothes, our hair, our nostrils. Our eyes and hearts hurt to witness the absolute horror of this place. You know how you take a picture of a magnificent sunset and it just doesn’t do the experience justice? This was like that, but in reverse. The pictures just don’t truly capture the death and dismay.
Anyone who knows me, knows I don’t share pathetic pictures for gain or for their shock value. But we are going to share pictures of this place, for those who choose to look, so everyone can understand how important it is to put a stop to this kind of abomination, and to understand WolfWood’s decision to increase it’s population by a third.

And so, we got to work figuring out which animals we could bring home. It was a numbers game. What was the greatest number of animals we could take given our space and resources.  This was a heartbreaking task, but necessary. Because of the time constraint, we were not able to bring our truck and trailer. All the animals had to be off the property by Saturday, so after transporting 8 animals to their facility, Wild Spirit turned around and drove their van back to Ohio to get our animals. We were able to save 11 adults and 4 puppies. Now we just had to keep them alive until we could load them and leave.

On Friday we had to wait for the wild boars, 4 foxes and several coyotes to be captured for transport to other rescues. Then it was our turn. With the help of a local vet, Brittany, Maya and Emily got all 15 animals loaded safely and before dark. Emily rode in the back of the van for the 26 hour journey so she could bottle feed and watch the puppies. It took me 14 hours to fly home, arriving just an hour or so before the van.

In the meantime, all the people at WolfWood were busy building quarantine pens, purchasing supplies, and getting everything ready for their arrival. The van pulled in about 7 pm on Saturday, and our new wards were greeted by a whole group of people who were excited to get them unloaded, fed, watered and warm. On Sunday Dr. Wagner-Lockard came to WolfWood to triage them and give advice on IV’s, puppy feeding schedules and who she needed to see first. 

And now the real work begins. We will keep everyone posted as their story unfolds. We will provide links to other articles about the travesty of where they came from, in the hopes to shine a spotlight on the horrors that animals are put through by monstrous people and the lack of oversight from the very agencies that should be protecting them. We will post pictures of their progress as they heal, learn to trust and settle into their new best life at WolfWood.

- Paula Woerner 

Part 2:

Arriving Home

When the Ohio animals arrived at WolfWood it was after dark. The volunteers were ready with lights, equipment and lots of encouragement. Each group was placed in a temporary quarantine pen. This is where they will live for the next 3 weeks while we get all the males neutered and we make sure they do not have anything contagious. 

Emily did a good job of getting the van up the hill, and everyone contributed to the challenge of unloading the van and getting them out of the crates. Some were scared and afraid to come out, and even though they were in a bigger space, some didn’t realize they could stand up all the way. One little girl was in the worst shape and she was put in our warm shed and given IV fluids. All got food, water and blankets. 

None of these animals ever got to move at all, and it was heart wrenching to watch them try and figure out how to walk and move about. Eventually, most of them did surprisingly well as we tucked them in for the night.

We will share pictures of them along with their new names. We would like to thank all of their initial sponsors who helped get them here and named our new arrivals. We are also so grateful for the outpouring of support from everyone.

You are all wolf angels.
-Paula

Part 3:

Meet the animals

WolfWood would like to thank everyone who made a donation and named our new arrivals. Each name has a special meaning and we are honored to have such thought and care put into each name. We think they all fit them well!

-Paula

As a reminder the animals are all in their temporary quarantine pens. Once they are spayed, neutered, well checked by the vet and have done their mandatory quarantine time they will be moved to much larger enclosures!