The Red Riding Hood Rescue Project is a USDA licensed, Federal Non Profit Corporation that is dedicated to providing rescue, sanctuary, and lifetime support to wolfdogs in need, improving their lives with training and enrichment, and educating to encourage humane treatment and compassion.

So much has happened since our last update…and it’s all good! 

Events

We have been busy hosting themed events and tours at The Red. A children’s story hour, a few mini midweek tours, and larger Saturday tours. The Easter event at The Red, which included an Easter Egg hunt and egg tossing to the pups, brought in our largest proceeds to date with $2600 in donations. One visitor donated $1000 after his visit! These events are a lifeline in providing much needed funds directly supporting our little rescue. And they have been excellent opportunities for us to help educate the public and share our property. The people visiting seem to really enjoy the experience and the animals.

Spotlight on our newest live-in Caretaker

My name is Madison “Madie” Webb, I was born in Nebraska but raised in states across the U.S. while my father served in the U.S. Navy. My dream growing up was to do anything that would allow me to work with animals. As I grew older, I dreamed of studying sharks and marine biology but…having a fear of deep-water kind of throws a wrench into that, although I can still talk your ear off with weird shark facts. So, instead I studied Global Studies, National Security, and Russian at the University of Nebraska, Lincoln (Go Big Red!). Before you ask…да, я говорю по Русский, но…не много (yes, I speak Russian but, not much). I had the tremendous privilege of traveling to England, Russia, Bahrain, Oman, and Mexico during those college years for school or to visit my parents stationed overseas. I was thrilled to be able to experience such a diversity in culture, language, and history. From there I moved out here to Ohio to start my civilian career with the U.S. Department of Defense looking at some pretty intense topics, which I would tell you about…but I’d have to kill you (just kidding). 😉

Last August, I was mentoring a young intern in my office, and he happened to share his first experience in volunteering for a wolfdog rescue in Middletown called The Red Riding Hood Rescue Project. As an avid animal lover, not only did I want to see pictures of cute pups, but I also wanted to go out and do whatever I could to help! The following weekend I was out in the field sweating under the hot sun working with things I’d never heard of before like “hog rings” and “cattle panel,” as we quickly worked to build enclosures. I fell in love with The Red the instant I set foot here and was immediately ready to dedicate my time, sweat, and tears to their mission. I was blessed with the privilege of becoming a volunteer caretaker at The Red, which has enabled me to experience my dream in real-time and given me more time to make some real progress with some of our more shy and scared pups. Volunteering at The Red has been one of the most heartwarming and fun opportunities of my arguably short life.

We have the Beef!

We have become good friends with Paul Strasser at The Red Wolf Sanctuary. He is a charming character who has hilarious one-liners and he happens to be an excellent source for quality meat for our animals. Through him we also met the folks at La Soupe in Cincinnati. They are a fantastic organization that is also providing us with meat. Because of them, we recently purchased two 6-foot-long freezers as well as a smaller freezer to accommodate these amazing resources.

Volunteers keep coming!

We are adding passionate people to our volunteer pool every week. And our core group is stronger than ever, but our four caretakers are the lifeblood of all we do. Doug and Karen now have the help they need to enjoy a couple of days off each week. Erin and Madie have rounded off this incredible caretaking team. Watch for caretaker spotlights on each person.

Beautification project

Braden Matt has led us in our beautification project. He helped us bring our little 1860 shed back to life as a gift shop. Dan Marmer created a beautiful sign for us that hangs above the doorway. Mike Pflieger built a cute window box for it. It is a darling representation of the feeling we want everyone to experience when the visit us. Braden has also worked hard with a nursery to get us great deals on trees. We planted a Red Bud and two magnolia trees near the gift shop that will be part of our garden path that Braden is also designing. We have also planted trees in most of the pens and will be adding more in the coming weeks. This part of our project is exciting as we can all appreciate the visible changes, and we hope our neighbors and guests enjoy them as well.

Groveling for Gravel

This is still a huge need as this is an enormous project. We have completed the barn area parking lot with slag which is less expensive but looks nice. We all appreciate this new ‘mud-free zone’. The next phase is working on the slag drive from the barn to the bridge and also back to the enclosures. That is another $5500. Can we raise this? Yes, we know we can!

Then we can start work in the aisles between the enclosures and finally, we will use limestone in the perimeters of each pen. These animals have dealt with a lot of mud, but we are committed to improving their habitats. Limestone is expensive but it is safer for the animals, it neutralizes urine, it is safe if ingested, and it packs down nicely. The total cost of the project is huge, which is why we are doing it in sections. So, we will be groveling for a while.

Rescue: It’s why we are here!

As if we aren’t busy enough, or full enough, we came upon two high content wolfdogs in dire need. We know we deal with mud issues here at the Red, but these guys were in a sludgy enclosure of standing water. They had no shelter, no house. They had no buckets for food and no visible drinking water. We took the male and female as planned and asked about the third male that was left behind. We were assured he had someone coming for him. Well 5 weeks later, we learned that wasn’t the case. So, we took him on as well. We hadn’t raised enough to cover the spay/neuter of the first two when we agreed to take on the third. In his vetting we learned he was heartworm positive. So, more vet costs are coming. We can sure use some financial assistance.  

Photos by Douglas Glidden

Yet none of this would have been possible at all without the incredible commitment and help from Don Corsmeier! He is modest, quiet, and just goes to work. He is making a real difference and it’s visible in the three amigos that we now have safely at The Red. Don has a full-time job and each rescue required him to take 2 days off to capture and then vet. We could not have successfully done any of this without his help. We are most thankful.

Cool things are coming up!

Walk with the Wolfdogs - May 27

The Gathering of the People - June 17

A huge Corporate Volunteer Day in July (we are building a new pod because we will have 60 volunteers for a coordinated effort!)

The Wine and howl 5K walk/run September 30 (starting and ending at the Seven Mile Winery and running to our rescue.)

And last but not least, this Fall we hope to have a performance of Jonathan Livingston Seagull at The Red. Working on details.

Your support is making this all possible.

Visit www.rrh-project.com/events to purchase tickets for upcoming events.

As a new 501c3, with monthly operating expenses and food and vet care for twelve animals, we are in need of monthly sponsors. Operations are costly.  We are small with a mighty and loyal following. But we are still small.  Can you help us grow our network?  Can you help us gain more donors?  We encourage you to become a Friend of The Red by being a monthly sponsor to help us do more. Your dollars go 100% to the animals. We remain gratefully yours. 

You can help by donating TODAY on our website, through PayPal (our PayPal email is info@rrh-project.com), Venmo (@RedRidingHoodRescueProject-Red) or check (mail to PO Box 42128 Cincinnati, OH 45242)!

We are a team of volunteers. Every one of us. And we thank you for being a part of our ever growing team.

Much more news and fun to come! Not on our mailing list yet? Join here and also follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram to stay in the know as we grow!