The Team
Kate Wheeler
Founder and slave to the animals
Ever since I was a little girl all I wanted to do was surround myself with animals and help them feel loved and safe. I was born into an animal friendly home where my dad was known as the local ‘animal saver’. We would have lizards, birds, possums, anything that needed a helping hand, my Dad was all over it. Being there for animals in need is a part of my DNA and I wouldn’t have it any other way. I decided to leave school pretty early to move to Wangaratta where I did a diploma in Horse Management/Breeding and then went on to work on various thoroughbred stud farms. Health issues forced me to make a pretty drastic change in career, the heavy duty farm work and injuries that came with it was doing my health no favours. I suddenly had to learn how to use a computer and work in an office environment (ugh!) Fast forward many, many , many years and I now do financial consulting and own a lovely little bookkeeping company called Monocle Bookkeeping. This career path has helped me establish myself to be able to start my ultimate dream, saving animals. My ultimate passion was always horses and dogs, it was later in life that I fell head over heels for the amazing dog breed, Greyhound.
I’m quite an introverted person, much preferring the company of my animals and the amazing Aussie bushland than the company of other humans (sorry humans!) The perfect day for me is riding Prince through the beautiful trails up here in the Blue Mountains with Earl being a nutcase running along behind us, Bear sticking by my side as my trusty sidekick and Kingsley off doing his favourite thing running through the trees being the adventurous hound that he is, that is perfection.
My next goal from here is to simply get more and more land so I can save more and more animals. Especially more paddock space so I can increase my capacity with the horses that I can rescue and re-home.
Bear
My gorgeous boy, Bear. The day I went to adopt Bear I had actually never even met a greyhound before. I had been told of their laid back and chilled nature, and how they were such low maintenance, which was going to work perfectly for me at that stage in my life. I remember the first day he arrived at my home, he had no clue how to use stairs, he was terrified of shiny floor tiles, he had NO clue how to use a bed or what comfort really was. He and I also had no idea what insane and sometimes terrifying adventures we would share together that would bring me to where I am now in life.
If it weren’t for this mental and challenging boy, I wouldn’t be where I am today, quite literally! Bear was far from a ‘lazy’ dog, he was hyper and needed constant stimulation to keep him occupied. Thankfully I was quite an active person (still very much am) so he and I hit it off pretty quickly.
Bear taught me a lot of lessons, I took Canine Psychology courses to help me understand how his insane and sometimes impossible brain worked. I studied EVERYTHING greyhound, I consulted with greyhound experts, I had no freakin’ clue how to handle this 40kg house-giraffe that I had welcomed into my home and was terrorising all my belongings.
Three months into trying to work out how to handle Bear, I decided that maybe a fellow greyhound for him would be helpful. Bear had zero manners with other dog breeds back then, he was a land shark and such a handful. I thought, maybe a greyhound will help him calm down?
BEST. DECISION. EVER. Welcoming Kingsley (below) into our little family was the best thing I could ever have done for both Bear and me.
Fast forward to now, 4+ years later, and Bear is my world. He has continually directed me down the right path, he is always by my side, he is sensitive and is my big baby boy. Life isn’t complete without my Bearby.
Kingsley
Kingsley was a very strange character when he first arrived in my home. He was a very withdrawn and shut down dog, he refused any sort of acknowledgement and would take himself to sit in a corner and look at the wall if he got too happy playing with a toy. He didn’t care for any humans and dogs were confusing. In saying that, he very quickly adopted Bear and the two of them formed an incredible bond that still gets stronger every day. I often would find the two of them literally on top of each other in a cuddle fast asleep, so adorable.
Kingsely was yet another challenge - surprise! Bear and Kingsley were pretty much opposites. Bear was outgoing and bouncy, Kingsley was withdrawn and showed very little outward emotion. Somehow the two of them slowly started to meet somewhere in the middle, learning from each other but still retaining their own odd quirks.
After about 10 months of me working with Kingsley in any possible way I could think of, he started to respond, he started to turn his head to his name, he started to learn recall, he FINALLY opened up and let himself be loved! It was a long road, but we got there. I had to learn a whole new bag of tricks since everything I learned working with Bear just wouldn’t work for Kingsley.
Today Kingsley is well known as the ‘boss man’, he doesn’t like conflict and will quickly separate any dogs he thinks are being too aggressive with each other. He also has a completely independent streak and loves to take himself on his own bush adventures - this earned him his very own GPS that is on his collar on all our bushwalks, just so I can keep an eye on where the boy has gotten to at all times. Bear and Kingsley, my perfect pair, my boys - I couldn’t ask for a better pair of dorks to share my life with!
Korena Clifton
Greyhound foster carer & cat tester, horse grooming superstar
Korena has been working alongside Kate to create Elysian Fields Sanctuary since day one, helping with all things greyhounds, foster caring and helping to test houndies with her kitty cat to find them the best home possible. Korena also has a knack for helping our horses relax with a gentle and patient groom, making our broken, rain-scaldy, sore and tired, sad looking horses feel like a million bucks again. There is nothing more therapeutic than a human giving a horse all the time and patience that it needs to learn that humans can actually be kind, nice and safe to hang around with.
Liz Mulligan
Helper of all things horses, transport, training and brumby rehabilitation
Liz has been our resident horse helper since the early days of Elysian Fields Sanctuary. Liz has played an integral role in helping us collect and transport some of the most terrified horses we have rescued, some of those wouldn’t have been possible without her helping hands. Liz works with our brumbies that arrive by familiarising them with human things and domesticated life which involves human touch, halter and lead training, hoof pickup, floating practice and all round communication skills between horse and human. Not to mention that Liz is now a complete greyhound addict just like the rest of us! She also helps out with urgent greyhound fosters and transport when needed.