LOS ANGELES — It has been three months since a California animal rescue center retrieved 29 wolf-dogs from an Alaska tourist attraction that had fought the state over owning, breeding and selling the wolf- hybrids. Chains were so deeply embedded in the necks of two of the animals that they had to be surgically removed. Many developed limps because they had never been allowed to walk or run any distance.
Now the task of taming the wolf-dogs has been given to three U.S. military veterans who say they can relate to the stress of trying to transition to a normal life. The program is called “Warriors and Wolves.”
“I get along with the wolves,” said one of the three, Stanley McDonald, a 10-year Navy vet and foreman of the Lockwood Animal Rescue Center, which is outside Los Angeles.
McDonald said he knows what it’s like to be homeless, alone and lost.
“They’ve been in a bad situation, which I’ve been in most of my life. Most of them are afraid, taken away from the only thing they knew,” he said.
“A great number of people are coming back from a combat environment, and that’s as stressful as can be. It’s difficult to transition from that to civilian life,” said volunteer William “Buzz” Varley, a retired Navy vet.
