Maya's Story

Maya, an original pack member, was the quintessential alpha female. She was the wise teacher. Maya spent her first few years reared by her mother ensuring that she would learn the way of the wolf. As a result, one of her gifts was to nurture new pack members when they joined Wolf Connection. Several of the younger males were kenneled with Maya who quickly instructed them in proper wolf etiquette. Maya also exhibited true alpha behavior: she simply WAS alpha. She didn’t have to prove it. Her presence was as serene and expansive as one might imagine the silence of the Arctic to be. During the summer of 2012, while visiting the 13 Indigenous Grandmothers in Lame Deer, Montana, her sacred spirit joined the festivities as she was heard to howl, often alone, during times of prayer and ritual. Her howl and the rest of the pack that joined her are said to have inspired the return of the wild wolf to the Cheyenne people.