California sanctuary provides home to threatened wolves

[Waya]

LUCERNE VALLEY, Calif. - Far east of the Los Angeles basin, north through an enormous mountain pass and deep into the high desert - commonly known as the Mojave - a little community called Lucerne Valley rests hard against the jagged rocks that surround southern California. On five acres off a highway that traverses this remote part of the desert, Tonya Littlewolf has set up a compound simply called Wolf Mountain Sanctuary. And it is here that she rescues, raises and protects endangered wolves and other animals.

Since she was 2 years old, Littlewolf, now 55, has interacted with wolves. She was birthed by a midwifeat home in San Carlos, Ariz., and spent much time with her maternal grandfather, a full-blooded Apache. When she was very young, she helped her mother rescue and tend to cougars, bobcats, hawks and eagles on their parcel on the San Carlos Apache Reservation. Then, her grandfather told her the legend of the Wolf Moon that changed her life.

''When I was little, cougars and wolves were my favorite animals,'' she said. ''This is our heritage. The animals are our brothers and the wolf is my spirit brother. When I turned 6, my mother gave me a wolf cub - the runt. She said that I was going to be mom and take care of the cubs. When the cubs got older, I was to learn from the wolf and take care of the wolves. When you bottle feed, you are the parent, so I was the alpha female.''


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