Today was one of the most exciting days I’ve ever had. I was part of the capture team for part of a pack of Mexican Gray wolves. The Alpha male and female had to be rounded up along with a yearling from the back for check-ups and vaccinations. They, along with 3 other pups were in a large containment area of more than an acre.
The way it works is, we are all holding nets on long poles horizontally and walking in a line (reminded me of riot police in the ‘60’s at peace rallies.) trying to separate the wolf we want from the others. It is then herded into a wooden den where the top is removed and the wolf is held down with a forked pole while it is givena vaccination. Then, with a muzzle tied over its mouth and eyes, it is removed to a portable cage for further evaluation.
Was I scared? You bet! As we entered the enclosure six, shadowy creatures moved without a sound behind the bushes and trees watching every move. Then a unison howl stood the hair up on my neck and started my heart racing. But guess what? Perception was all wrong! They were about as ferocious as a pack of Golden Retrievers! All they wanted was to not get caught and when they were, they silently went limp and never growled, whimpered or put up any resistance.
These are the killers that the ranchers are asking for “wolf proof” shelters for their kids at school bus stops and arming themselves against mass attacks and are shooting on sight. They are magnificent, wild and beautiful with every right to live and thrive as all the cows on public land. Support the reintroduction efforts when you can!

Hungry buddies

We love to walk around the beautiful "Ivy League" like campus at New Mexico Tech, right up the street from Sandra's condo. There's a nice pond and lots of trees there. Over the holidays it got quite cold...well at least for New Mexico and all the students were gone on break.
Left behind to fend for themselves were hundreds of beautiful little Widgeon ducks (They whistle instead of quacking) and dozens of other domestic ducks and geese either abandoned by owners or just lost and looking for a safe haven. We brought up 25 pound bags of feed every day and almost emptied them every day. The big guys especially were mobbing us and followed us almost to the car making a real racket when we ran out. It's been down in the low teens again this week, but at least the students are back and we find big empty boxes of Cheerios in the cans around the pond, so someone else cares too.

The holidays

We are about a month away from our big adventure, and we spend our time planning, list making, packing, worrying (not too much), and still trying to hike and explore NM. We were on the Canyon trail at the Bosque last week with some friends from the New Mexico Wilderness Alliance when Christianne noticed something on the rock wall about 10 feet up. It was a petroglyph! A perfect turtle carved in the sandstone face and unseen for hundreds of years. A great find. I found one a little further up canyon a year ago but wasn't certain of its authenticity. Now I'm sure. The next day Sandra and I hiked back but couldn't find the turtle but in a little side canyon shelter that we figured would have been used by Piro or other native americans, someone had cut a hand print into the rock. Now, this may not excite everyone like it does me, but to think of finding something like this that's been hidden for 5 hundred or a thousand years blows me away.