Wolfing down art at the Festival

Suzie Harrison

Back in the day, the average animal aficionado was forced to tune

into the TV program “Wild Kingdom” to get a close-up view of untamed

animals.

The Festival of Arts has taken that concept one step further, sans

the blood and gore scenes. On Saturday, people will have an

opportunity to see first-hand a diverse menagerie of exotic and wild

animals during the “Walk on the Wild Side” event with renowned

wildlife artist Chris Hoy.

Hoy will show off at least 20 animals. It’s the festival’s third

year putting on such a show, and Hoy says there will be more animals

than ever including a capuchin monkey, a kinkajou, a coati, a Chinese

deer, a serval cat, a kookaburra and a ring-tailed lemur.

“We’ll have an albino python and a baby wallaby who will be 6

months old,” Hoy said. “He’ll be here jumping around. And there will

be a binturong from Indonesia, a baby, 6 weeks old.”

Special guest star, animal activist and actress Apache Tonya

Littlewolf, and her wolf Apache, both from the movie “Dances with

Wolves,” are attending along with Apache’s three 10-week-old cubs.

“They are so friendly,” Hoy said. “They will go up and lick you,”

Littlewolf created Wolf Mountain Sanctuary, a nonprofit,

educational organization dedicated to the preservation, protection

and proper management of wolves in the wild and in captivity.

“Our purpose and ultimate goal is to save these great, noble

animals from extinction,” Littlewolf said.

Littlewolf met Hoy when he began visiting the sanctuary, bringing

others along to help the animals.

“I’ve dedicated my life to protect and save wolves that are going

to be destroyed, rescuing them from the movie industry, breeders who

over breed and owners that realize four to six months later they

don’t make good pets,” Littlewolf said.

“The wolves in California, buffalo wolves, they roamed the Great

Plains,” she added. “There are no more left since 1954.”

She said there are a few in captivity in Montana that will be

brought to the sanctuary to breed.

Littlewolf has been with wolves all her life, climbing into dens

with them.

“The mom would clean me along with the babies,” Littlewolf said.

Along with her personal stories, Littlewolf has tales passed on

from her grandfather. She’s happy to share them, as well as her

knowledge, with visitors to the sanctuary.

“They need to bring plenty of film,” she said. “They get to touch

them and feel the spirit of the wolf -- one out of 100 are healers.

So far I’ve got six healers here.”

It is this same love of animals that encouraged Hoy to bring “Walk

on the Wild Side” to the festival.

“It’s just a thrill to see kids smile and even adults when they

get to see these exotic and rare animals up close,” Hoy said. “I do

this specifically for people to enjoy themselves. It’s such a neat

thing to see people’s expressions of joy.”

During the show, Hoy will work on a painting of a baby wolf. There

will be animals set up so audience members can create their own art.

“Walk on the Wild Side” is from noon to 4 p.m. at the festival,

650 Laguna Canyon Road. Admission is always free for Laguna Beach

residents, $5 for adults and $3 for seniors and students. For

information about the event, call (949) 494-1145 or go to

https://www.lagunafestivalof

arts.org. To find out more about Wolf Mountain Sanctuary, call

(760) 248-7818 or visit https://www.wolfmountain.com.