A Refuge for Unwanted Wolves and Wolf-dogs in Chatham

Ambiance—howling

EIGHTY-FOUR WOLF-DOGS HOWL IN THE MOUNTAINS OF SOUTH CHATHAM, NEW HAMPSHIRE. IT IS A COLD WINTER DAY.

Fred—gp 4, 2, 00:35—(howling) They know the food truck is here. (sounds of unloading)

THAT’S FRED. HE FOUNDED THE LOKI CLAN WOLF REFUGE. HE JUST RETURNED FROM THE SLAUGHTERHOUSE. NOW HE UNLOADS LARGE PLASTIC TRASH CANS FROM AN OLD PICK-UP TRUCK WITH HIS ASSISTANT, DANNY.

Fred—gp 4, 2, 1:01—This one is full of scraps. It’s all pieces of meat that they can’t put into a package for somebody and it’s bones they haven’t cut all the meat off of. For them it’s perfect (laughs).

FRED AND DANNY TIP OVER THE CAN OF FROZEN MEAT IN THE DRIVEWAY.

gp 4, 4, 2:25—Ready. Go. (Sound of tipping can over with a grunt) .

Fred—gp 4, 2—What you do is you tip it over like this. They’re brown. They’ll absorb the heat from the sun and eventually you’ll hear it just go, thunk, and then we break it up.

FRED IS A TALL MAN, WITH SHOULDER-LENGTH WHITE HAIR AND A HEAVILY LINED FACE.

Fred—gp 6, 79—We are in the middle of the woods. I’m a mile and a half from anybody and I have a mountain in the backyard and I live on a ridge and it’s just absolutely gorgeous.

FRED BEGAN TEACHING HIMSELF ABOUT WOLVES IN THE 60S. IN THE 80S, HE GOT HIS FIRST WOLF-DOG—LOKI.

Fred—gp 6, 11—It took me about six months to learn that I wasn’t going to train him, he was gonna train me. I mean they look like dogs. They act like dogs in some manner. But they’re just way too intelligent to be doing what we want them to do. He was just telling me in all his actions, hey, knock it off. We can be friends, but I’m not going to be your servant. He wouldn’t sit. He wouldn’t come—all the nice things you want a dog to do. And he was just like, nope, not listening. It sort of helped my studies to realize that you’re dealing with something that’s got an IQ of a thirteen, fourteen year old human and they have an attitude.

FRED STARTED TAKING IN ANIMALS FROM OWNERS TRYING TO GET RID OF THEM. IN 1994 HE CREATED A NONPROFIT. THIS ALLOWED HIM TO QUIT HIS JOB AS A WRECKER DRIVER AND CARE FOR THE ANIMALS FULL TIME. HIS IS ONE OF ONLY A HANDFUL OF WOLF RESCUES ON THE EAST COAST.

Fred—gp 6, 30, 00:07—I get ten calls a week, anyway. Because I can’t take everybody I try to help them out, either by having them keep their animal or to find another place for them to go. The estimate is somewhere around twenty-five to fifty thousand of these guys are dying every year.

Ambiance—footsteps

FRED WALKS THROUGH THE SNOW TO ONE OF THE ENCLOSURES. HE KNEELS CLOSE TO AN EIGHT-FOOT HIGH CHAIN LINK FENCE. ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THE FENCE ARE BUBBA AND SHANA, BOTH WOLF-DOG MIXES. THEY RUB UP AGAINST THE FENCE AND LET FRED SCRATCH THEM.

Fred—gp 6, 78, 00:22—(Footsteps) Hi Bubba, hi pup, how are you? Hi Shana. (snuffling). He’s more doggy, she’s more wolf. Notice he’s got a very shepherd head to him. He’s got the big eyebrow bump. You look at his front feet as opposed to her front feet. He’s got knobby little toes whereas she’s got almost like fingers that really spread out when she steps on it. As you can see, they really like each other. She needed somebody that she could actually respect. They’ve been together two years now.

WHEN A NEW ANIMAL ARRIVES, FRED PLACES IT IN A TRANSITIONAL PEN BEFORE CHOOSING WHICH PACK IT WILL JOIN. TWENTY-FOUR ENCLOSURES SPAN HIS FIFTY-THREE ACRES.

Fred—gp 6, 31—It’s the closest thing I can do to give them the feeling of being free.
Fred—It’s okay. It’s alright. (snuffling). It’s okay. It’s alright. Yes. (Sounds of kisses). You’re such a good baby. Thank you.

Fred—gp 6, 28, 00:18—It’s run like a monarchy. They have an alpha pair, they’re king and queen. Then there’s a beta pair, which is the prince and princess. And then it works all the way down to the omega. He’s either the court jester or the butt of everybody’s anger. Hi, hi. (footsteps and talking with dogs).

Fred—gp 6, 16, 00:02—I have been married three times unsuccessfully. I’m an oddball (laughs). I’m hard to live with. So it’s better this way.
Fred—gp 6, 19, 00:31—These are my kids.
Fred—gp 6, 23, 00:04—I named a lot of them.
Fred—gp 6, 22, 00:01—List of names (runs underneath).

FRED GIVES HUNDREDS OF TOURS EACH YEAR TO EDUCATE PEOPLE ABOUT WOLVES.

Fred—gp 6, 39, 00:11—People think that wolves are very, very dangerous animals—that they’re gonna attack everything that moves. And there’s never been a recorded account of a healthy wolf attacking a human being ever. Little red riding hood, the three little pigs—no, those are all false.

Fred—Max (laughs). He’s a clown.

FRED IS 62 YEARS OLD. HE DOESN’T PLAN TO RETIRE.

Fred—gp 6, 53, 00:05—Why do I do it? I love the animal. People don’t understand them so I’d rather spend my life taking care of them than seeing them just destroyed.

Fred—(finishes up list). Is that enough?
Julia—Is that all of them?
Fred—(laughs) Pretty much, that’s here right now. More coming.

FOR NEW HAMPSHIRE PUBLIC RADIO, THIS IS JULIA DAVIS.