Akyra

Female
Born: January 23, 1995
Rescued From: Colorado
Given Sanctuary: September 1995
Returned to Spirit: February 10, 2008
Akyra was born to a breeder who kept two of the puppies from the litter and placed the other three with families. The family that received Akyra signed a contract that required them to provide a large, secure enclosure but instead placed her in an apartment with no yard.

In May, 1995, when Akyra was less than four months old, she was brought to the vet with a bad fracture of her left front elbow. It required extensive surgery and was placed in a cast. It was believed that Akyra had been hit with something similar to a baseball bat. On the vet’s advice, the owners started obedience training for Akyra to help them deal with her energetic and independent behavior.

Less than a month later, Akyra was taken back to the vet after jumping off the second floor balcony of the apartment. She sustained more injuries. Akyra’s owners moved to a residence with a yard, and almost immediately, a neighbor lodged complaints about Akyra’s treatment with the Humane Society which issued a compliance form instructing her owners to change some of their practices.

Regular complaints continued to be made by Akyra’s neighbors, and in August, 1995, the neighbors took Akyra to the Vet Teaching Hospital at CSU. Animal Control was contacted, Akyra was taken into custody, a summons and complaint were issued to Akyra’s owners for cruelty to animals, and they were convinced to surrender Akyra to W.O.L.F. She was placed with one of her siblings, Sebastian, who had been turned over to W.O.L.F. by his owners for being uncontrollable, and a stray from Walden, Colorado named Kai.

Akyra recovered well from her physical trauma, although her elbow was permanently malformed, and her jaw had a tremendous underbite (which led to her human caretakers sometimes getting nipped when she gave them kisses) probably due to a combination of genetic inbreeding and some sort of injury.

Akyra formed a strong bond with Kai as the alpha pair. She craved love and attention from the humans in her life and taught everyone who visited W.O.L.F. important lessons about love and forgiveness. Akyra resided at W.O.L.F. for many years before succumbing to a series of strokes.