Wolves are some of the most revered, majestic, feared, and misunderstood animals walking this earth today. As an apex predator, they are indescribably important to the health of the ecology and habitats they are a part of. Unfortunately, their beautiful and awesome appearance also makes them subject to people trying to keep them as pets, but a wolf will be a wolf no matter how hard a person tries to make them act like a dog.

Sadly, when people realize this fact later down the road, the wolves are often abandoned to a remote forest somewhere or worse, taken to a shelter to be put down. Sometimes, though, they are lucky enough to end up at a sanctuary where they can be themselves without fear of being killed for their basic nature. In these environments, they can both thrive as a wolf and make friends with the humans that care for them, getting the best of both worlds.

Yuki is one such wolf that is a perfect example of this.

Yuki has been a resident at the Shy Wolf Sanctuary for over 12 years now. In 2008, a man had called the sanctuary to try and have Yuki placed with them, supposedly on behalf of a friend. Said friend had “purchased” the then 8-month-old wolf pup after graduating boot camp in North Carolina.

Of course, as is the case with most people that try to adopt a wolf as a pet, the man soon realized he was in over his head.

The “friend” reported to the sanctuary that the wolf had far outgrown the man’s expectations in terms of both size and behavior. If that weren’t enough, the wolf had also developed a brain tumor. When the sanctuary didn’t jump to take the wolf, hoping the man who had purchased him would take some responsibility for his decision, they received a call the very next day from Broward County animal shelter.

They said a “stray” dog had been dropped off, which they believed to be a wolf-dog.

After looking at photos of the supposed stray, Shy Wolf Sanctuary had zero doubts that it was the same dog they’d been called about the day before.

“They sent photos and there was no doubt that the dog had been dumped at the shelter when we were not immediately able to solve this man’s ‘problem’,” Shy Wolf Sanctuary wrote on Yuki’s website profile.

After getting the call about the “stray”, the Florida-based sanctuary sent over two of its members to rescue Yuki.

They knew from the start that the enormous pup had much more wolf in him than they were led to believe. Genetic testing revealed they were right.

“His DNA testing came back as 87.5 % Gray Wolf, 8.6 % Siberian Husky, and 3.9 % German Shepherd,” explained Brittany Allen, who works at the sanctuary, in an interview with Bored Panda.

The wolf did so well at first after arriving at the sanctuary that they thought he may even become an ambassador, but a bout of misfortune soon showed them that Yuki had another side to him. One that was much more aggressive than the sanctuary anticipated.

“He was in reasonably good health compared to a lot of the animals that come to us and had a very outgoing personality initially. We even considered him for ambassadorship at one point. Shortly after arriving at Shy Wolf Sanctuary Yuki managed to catch a leg on a palmetto and opened up a wound on his right rear knee. The wound ended up taking a total of 5 surgeries to finally repair and in that time Yuki became cage aggressive,” Brittany continued.

Eventually, things balanced out as the sanctuary staff learned to adapt to Yuki’s wild personality shifts that they endearingly refer to as his “Mr. Hyde” side.

Aside from these moments, Yuki showed himself to be a goofy, fun-loving, and friendly wolf, especially when it comes to the ladies.

“Yuki is very much a ‘ham’ and loves to be the center of attention. He has shown us that he doesn’t like to hear ‘NO’, doesn’t like to be restrained or controlled in any way, and does have a number of triggers. Volunteers need to be able to read his body language and react quickly as he doesn’t always give a warning when “Mr. Hyde” is going to appear,” the website continues.

Though the wolf is less fond of men, he can make friends with them. When it comes to the female staff at Shy Wolf, though, Yuki basically collects them.

“Yuki is a ladies man and a select group of female volunteers have been allowed in what we call his ‘harem’. It is an honor and at any given time he can decide someone is kicked out of the harem, and sadly for the volunteer, it usually means they are out for good,” it says.

There is one exception when it comes to Yuki’s dominance over the people and animals around him, and that’s his wolfdog girlfriend Bella.

“He has, however, met his match in little Bella… as she can and does take food right out of his mouth!” The website concludes.

For all intents and purposes, Yuki is a social wolf. He loves to play with his water bucket, even though there is a huge pool for him to wade in. He also loves butt and back scratches, like most dogs, but only when he is in the mood for them. Nothing, though, makes him happier than when Bella is around.

Of course, he’s still got mad love for his lady caretakers and volunteers, as well.

Tragically, Yuki was diagnosed with terminal cancer of the blood a couple of years ago. The sanctuary is making sure that every day he has left are the best they can possibly be. They must be doing a pretty darn good job of it, too, because he has lived far longer than anyone ever expected. He even celebrated his 13th birthday a few weeks ago on February 5th!

Yuki is just one of many wolves at the sanctuary, to say nothing of the big cats, turtles, and other endangered or at-risk species.

Shy Wolf operates out of Naples, FL and is often the only hope for undomesticated rescue animals for hundreds of miles around. Being that these animals can’t be released into the wild for lack of survival instinct as a result of being in captivity, they will be lifelong residents at the sanctuary.

If you feel like you would like to donate to the Shy Wolf Sanctuary or learn how else you can help, please visit them here. To learn more about Yuki and his lucky ladies, watch the sweet video below.

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Source: The Dodo/Shy Wolf Sanctuary/Bored Panda/Shy Wolf Sanctuary Facebook