Elan

Élan started to have swelling on his head and a bit of blood from his nose in June 2013. All tests came back negative for cancer, so he was treated with antibiotics as if he had a bad sinus infection. Unfortunately he stopped eating and continued to decline despite our efforts.  We knew it was best to not let him suffer and with a heavy heart, we said goodbye to our sweet Elan.

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Elan had been seized for some unknown reason by Fish and Wildlife Commission and taken to a licensed man in Collier County. Shy Wolf Sanctuary received a call from  one of our vets advising us about an animal that was living alone, scared, and in a very dreary place. They asked us to help find a placement for him.  The facility was licensed and inspected and there was a fresh bucket of water by the gate where the inspector would see it.  However, the enclosure was rank and stunk. Our first visit was to put flea medicine on him and to take photos to try and place him.  A month later we went back to give him another dose of flea medicine.  That day we got a call from the owner asking if we would take him to the emergency vet since he was down.  We agreed to take him if the owner agreed to pay the bill.  To his credit, the owner did pay the vet bill.

We muzzled him as a precaution, but it was pretty clear he had little life left in him and had given up.  Sliding a sheet underneath him as a stretcher, we managed to get him out to the car.  He was so badly wanting out of there that he pulled himself into the back of the car and into the crate.  The whole trip back to Naples we kept smelling something horrible but thought it might just be his coat and bad health. He had open sores of green pus under the hair and the collar had been embedded at one time, but worked its way out and now there was nothing but flesh literally rotting underneath the heavy leather collar causing the aroma during the ride to Shy Wolf Sanctuary.

We then began the process of trying to medicate and feed him.  We tried everything from dry food to organ meats, but NOTHING appealed to this boy.  Finally, desperate, we called our animal communicator and asked if he had just decided to die.  She told us he wanted a “cheeseburger on a bun on a china plate, and a blue ball (he’d had one as a pup).  Nancy cooked up a cheeseburger, put it on a bun on a china plate and Deanna took it to him.  He gobbled down half, took the other half and buried it for a midnight snack, then ate half of a second burger.  Elan got the blue ball the next day.  Ever since that day he has eaten everything we give to him… it was a test to see if he could trust the two-leggeds to care for him.  He now has his own pack with Viggo, Precious and Beauty (known as the “Back Pack”) and has appointed himself the guardian, warning everyone when strangers approach. Elan is still very wary of people and has not forgotten what has happened to him in the past, but he has learned to trust and even love some of our very special volunteers.