In 2003, wildlife photographer Nick Jans went to stay in his vacation home in Juneau, Alaska with his wife Sherrie and his dog Dakotah. One day, Nick saw a large black wolf walking across the frozen lake in front of his house. Nick went out to investigate with Dakotah. Nick tried to hold onto Dakotah’s collar as they approached the wolf, but she slipped out of his grasp and ran up to the wolf. Nick panicked, worried that the wolf would attack his dog.
But then, something amazing happened: the wolf and Dakotah began playing!
As the days went by, the wolf kept coming to visit Dakotah.
He would sit in front of Nick and Sherrie’s house waiting for Dakotah to come out and play, like a lovelorn teenager. Nick and Sherrie named the wolf “Romeo” because of his tendency to flirt with Dakotah.
Soon, news of the wolf spread and other Juneau residents began bringing their dogs to play with Romeo.
The dog owners were nervous at first about spending time around the wolf. But when they saw that Romeo simply wanted to play with their dogs, they began to relax around him. Nick told National Geographic:
“From the time he first started showing up, it was reported in the paper, and it went from a handful of people to hundreds of people within a couple of months. He became a fixture. People would say, ‘I’m going to the lake to see the wolf.’”
For six years, Romeo and the dogs of Juneau happily played together. But unfortunately, in 2009, Romeo was killed by a hunter. While his death was tragic, he did live a good, long life. He was at least eight when he was killed, while most wild wolves only live to be three.
The Juneau community mourned Romeo’s death, and they held a memorial service for him. They also put up a plaque commemorating him near his favorite lake.
Meeting Romeo changed Nick’s life.
“Romeo was the single most transformative event of my life,” Nick told National Geographic. “The amazing thing was Romeo’s understanding. It wasn’t just our understanding and tolerance. It was the combination of his and ours and the dogs’. We were these three species working out how to get along harmoniously. And we did.”
Romeo and the dogs of Juneau shared a special, unbreakable bond. If you want to learn more about Romeo, check out the video below.
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