Sibi is no longer at the Endangered Wolf Center. For a list of currently adoptable animals, visit our adopt page.

Adopt Sibi

I am…a mother, and a survivor. I’ve been shot. I’ve been down. But like my species, don’t count me out.

I am Sibi

Sibi is a name that means fire in a language native to parts of Mexico. Beneath her beautiful, red-buff coat, Sibi hides scars from a tragic story no one knew of when she first arrived at the Endangered Wolf Center from a preserve in Mexico. That was until one day, when she started limping. X-rays found foreign particles in her wrist and all over her body.

Sibi had been shot. The particles turned out to be buck shot, concentrated in two areas around her face and rear. While the thought of an endangered wolf being shot inside what should have been a protected area for her is upsetting, it’s also the harsh reality wild wolves live with every day. Sibi is a brave symbol of the struggles of this misunderstood animal, a keystone species essential to the future of the ecosystems that depend on them.

When Sibi gets nervous, she likes to carry sticks or rocks in her mouth while she trots the enclosure. In 2014, she found someone who knew how to help calm her nerves, a mate and protector named Lazarus.

The pair hit it off immediately, and in the spring of 2015 she became a first-time mom. Though Sibi is still nervous by nature, she’s proved to have spectacular maternal instincts.

Lazarus has proved to be a very good dad as well. While Sibi was pregnant, he dutifully patrolled their enclosure, ready to boldly protect her from any perceived threat.

Shortly after Sibi had her pups in April of 2015, a very rare opportunity arose. When the timing is just right, the option to cross-foster wild-born and captive-born pups arises. Many people are surprised to learn that female wolves will foster pups who aren’t their own. But the more you know about wolves, the less surprising this nurturing, family oriented behavior becomes. Having a wild mom foster captive-born pups is a way of increasing the genetic pool of either the wild or captive population without the complications of transferring adult animals.

Two of Sibi’s three puppies, Rachel and Isabella, were chosen to join a wild pack. Unfortunately, due to the extreme terrain, the wild den could not be found in time, yet a chance we as conservationists had to take. Keepers were cautious about reintroducing the two pups, but Sibi proved to be a wonderful mom, and on Mother’s Day of 2015, Sibi and Lazarus were seen with three large healthy puppies, reunited as a pack.

Sibi’s story of survival shines a flame of hope for her species, and is one that inspires and motivates us each day we see her. An ambassador to the hardships of Mexican wolves, Sibi has a message that echoes into the wild, and that is this: I will survive.