Women for Wolves is giving second chances to both people and animals. The sanctuary provides a space where women recovering from trauma can heal alongside wolf dogs.
PILOT HILL, Calif. — On a back road in Pilot Hill, California, overlooking Folsom Lake, there’s a sanctuary where women and wolves heal together. As the sound of howling echoes through the hills, it’s clear this is not an ordinary refuge.
“Whether it was PTSD, whether we had domestic violence victims — we’ve had women who’ve been through all sorts of different situations they didn’t think they could recover from. And you see their faces light up when they meet these wolf dogs,” said Anjali Ranadive, founder of Women for Wolves.
The animals roaming this sanctuary aren’t typical wolves. “They never really were supposed to exist in essence,” Ranadive said. “So they have nowhere else to go, and when you mix a wild animal with an animal that wants to please humans, you kind of don't know exactly what you're going to get.”
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Wolf dogs — hybrids bred between wolves and domestic dogs — exist in a gray area between wild and tame. Popularized by books and movies like White Fang, they were once seen as exotic pets. But when their unpredictable nature surfaces, many end up caged or abandoned.
“When you're mixing a wolf gene and a dog gene, there’s a lot of kind of identity crises when it comes to these animals,” Ranadive said. “And so they end up getting surrendered. Ninety percent of them actually get euthanized.”
Ranadive founded Women for Wolves in 2013 to give those animals a place to live — and to help women heal alongside them. “The bigger picture is really to bridge the gap between people and animals, and between women and nature,” she said. “Because it’s so natural, and it’s something that’s been lost.”
The refuge serves as much of a sanctuary for people as it does for the rescued wolf dogs. Caretaker Ariana Hachme said the animals mirror the emotions of those around them. “If you're nervous and anxious, they'll be nervous and anxious. So you really have to be able to ground yourself,” she said.
Rescued from abuse, neglect, and starvation across the United States, the wolf dogs take time to trust again. “They just tend to bond more with women,” Hachme said. “And I feel like that's also validating for the women that come here — to get that special connection for sure.”
Women for Wolves is now the largest wolf-dog sanctuary in Northern California, often taking in some of the hardest cases.
Earlier this year, a pack of wolf dogs in Natomas made headlines after killing or injuring neighborhood pets. “They were on the streets for five weeks, and then two got returned to the guy,” Ranadive said. The surviving animals were later surrendered to the sanctuary.
“They were living in the most filthy squalor I’ve ever seen in my life,” Ranadive said, describing their condition when they arrived.
Ranadive said she hopes to use high-profile cases like that one to push for legislation banning wolf-dog breeding altogether. “They changed my life and I love them,” she said. “But the amount of suffering that I’ve seen — and we get calls or emails every single day, every day, I’m not exaggerating — of animals that are being abandoned.”
As the sun sets over Folsom Lake, the sound of wolf dogs eating breaks the quiet. Here, healing goes both ways.
“I feel like I owe them my life,” Ranadive said. “There’s been situations where I haven’t wanted to continue on, just to be honest, and animals they bring you back to yourself. Especially these guys, because they’ve been through so much. So I think you recognize that in each other.”