In June 2011, the Sanctuary was created to drive public awareness and education surrounding wolfdogs and wolves in the wild. We welcome visitors to come and experience our wolfdogs in person to learn about their unique nature, how we can reduce backyard breeding of these animals and the connected importance of wolf conservation. Our Sanctuary is located on 160 acres of land near Cochrane, Alberta and have a current pack of resident wolfdogs and adoptable wolfdogs, all with different wolf content levels. Our future goal is to become a resource for the conservation of wolves in the wild.
This documentary captures how the Sanctuary came to be by highlighting Georgina and Kuna's journey which led Georgina to start Yamnuska Wolfdog Sanctuary.
Produced by Sightline Studios
Directed by Jason Smith
Cinematography by Jason Smith
As the popularity of wolfdogs as pets grew in Canada, Georgina De Caigny identified the need for a knowledgeable and experienced rescue organization that would make the rehabilitation and rehoming of displaced wolfdogs a priority.
Georgina got her first wolfdog in 2009, and quickly realized the challenges wolfdog owners faced and how different they are than a typical domestic dog. She also realized how difficult it was to find accurate information about wolfdogs of varying content levels and which factors ultimately affected how wolfdogs relate to humans.
The Sanctuary got its name from Mt. Yamnuska which is the mountain closest to where the Sanctuary was originally located within the Canadian Rocky Mountains. This is the area Georgina grew up in and is the area where our first wolfdog Kuna spent a lot of time exploring with Georgina. Yamnuska is derived from a Stoney Nakoda word meaning ‘wall of stone’.
