Mera

Mera was a female gray wolf who was born in 1986, in the back yard of a private home near Denver, CO.  Her story begins with that of her parents... Mera's parents were born at a roadside zoo and sold as "family pets" to people living in a high-rise apartment in downtown Denver.  There they lived for a few months before the stressed wolves ate their way through a wall and the owners decided they were too destructive.  Four years and four owners later, they were two very neurotic wolves trapped in a cage, trusting no one.  Their next owner realized that these abused wolves did not belong in the city, and were moved into his country backyard, where they produced two litters of pups.  Coming to Mission:Wolf when she was only 13 days old, Mera far outlived most of her littermates, who were all sold as pets from a classified ad.

Spending only 12 days around her stressed and distrustful parents, puppy Mera still learned to be afraid of humans.  Despite being hand-raised by Mission:Wolf staff, Mera never completely overcame her fear.  After seven years at the refuge, Mera remained high strung, needing a large private enclosure and limited exposure to people.  She was paired up with several canine companions - She played with some and beat others up - but seemed discontent with our choices.  However, in 1994, Mera met Ballazar, a large movie star gray wolf, for the first time and her life changed forever.

When they first met, Ballazar was extremely depressed at loosing his old pack and showed a lot of aggression toward Mera.  However, when mating season started that winter, a new attitude took over the refuge.  Soon Ballazar was found fence to fence, wagging his tail happily at Mera.  These two became the flirts of the refuge.  When the day finally came to open the gate between them, Ballazar and Mera ran up the hill together.  For the rest of their lives together, they were never seen far apart.  With Ballazar by her side, the extremely shy Mera started to come out of her shell and would occasionally walk up to the fence to sniff a visitor or receive attention from the staff.

In March of 2001, Ballazar unexpectedly passed away of heart failure.  Mera lived for five more months and reached the ripe old age of 15.  After the death of her beloved mate, Mera seemed to lose her spark and went downhill until she passed away quietly on an evening in August of 2001.  Of all the pairs to have lived at Mission:Wolf over the years, these two will always be remembered for their incredibly tight bond and the affection they always shared with each other.