Local Bunnies

When I go for walks in my neighborhood, I sometimes get lucky and see a wild bunny or two. They like to eat dandelions and clovers, so they're good for your yard! (Unless you have a vegetable garden, in which case, you might not be too excited to see them.)

I even saw a really small one in my backyard area... I think it was very young because it was so much smaller than most of them. I took a couple photos with my iPhone, but he was too small, and too far away to see. So I got another camera, and he stuck around for these photos... keep in mind, he's about the size of a squirrel. Very small!

He took off when a car came down the alley and startled him. Before that, though, he was just hanging out and munching on some dandelion leaves. Last year, I saw a lot of bunnies during the summer... just while I was on my little walks. They are so cute that I always stop to take a picture! Do you have fun little creatures in your neighborhood? If so, what kind?

Alpacas

Alpacas are an animal that seems to be growing in popularity in the US. Their wool is made into yarn, which is made into sweaters, hats, scarves... anything that can be knit or crocheted. Their wool is very soft and warm. I've never seen any in person until recently.


I met some this weekend and did this short video to show you how adorable they are. We met some at the Lebanon Wine Festival. All the footage was taken by my boyfriend, since I was in the pen with the cuties, petting them and swooning.

Alpacas from Shari Durfey on Vimeo.

The sound they make melts my heart! And you can't really tell, but their eyelashes are about 2" long... the white one has white lashes, the black one has black lashes, and the brown one has brown lashes. Ha ha... they are the cutest! And yes, they are very soft.


I hope you enjoy the video of them. 

Wolves II

IMG_4114, a photo by ms. smartypantz on Flickr.

Dakota

I adore wolves. I know that there are terrible stories out there about them, born of fear and loathing for a creature that's misunderstood, but they're mainly just stories and have little truth in them.

Wolves are predators, yes, like humans. However, they don't eat people or their babies! They are a social animal with rules within their communities. I went to college with a man who got lost in the tundra in winter, and he was saved (literally) by wolves. They fed him and they kept him warm. His art thesis was on his experience with these wild friends. I may have mentioned this in my older post, I don't remember. But it's important to note: we feared wolves for so long because they were after our livestock. That's the only reason our species hated them, as a species. They hunt the sick and weak of wild and domestic flocks of animals like elk, sheep, cattle, etc. We were in competition with them, but we needn't have been. They only hunt when they're hungry, and their predation actually keeps flocks healthy. Without their natural culling, grazing animal populations grow out of control and ecologically devastate the environment. (There are many examples of this in Colorado, where wolf hunting is deplorably legal, as well as the widely publicized problems in Yellowstone National Park after wolves were killed to extinction there. They've been reintroduced, and their presence has been the cause of major debates.)

I've visited the wolves at Wolf Mountain Sanctuary a few times. They are amazingly loving animals. When you look into their eyes, you can see their wild spirit, but it's not frightening at all... it's wonderful. They are caring creatures. They mourn the loss of their life mates. They have integrity and nobility. They embody traits that we wish to see in all humans, but rarely do. I love these beautiful creatures. 

I encourage you to set up a visit, if you're ever in Southern California, to go to Wolf Mountain Sanctuary. They ask for donations, if you want to go into the wolf compounds. It all goes to helping care for these wolves, some of whom were being used by drug dealers as "guard dogs," though they aren't dogs at all. Dogs are canines, wolves are lupines. They're the same species, but different family. For more information about their differences and similarities, you can read about them here. 

It is in my humble opinion that humans should never have messed with the setup that Mother Nature put in place in the national parks humans have created and called their own. They pulled out important animals, thinking that they would "save" the parks, only to find out that those animals they removed served a vital purpose in those wildlife systems. Then they introduce a different animal to take the place of the ones they removed and are surprised that things change. Well, it's not nice to mess with Mother Nature, and now everything is unbalanced where there was once stability. People should learn to leave things well enough alone. Say what you will, animals kill other animals, just as humans kill animals, to eat. But at least wolves only kill as much as they need to survive, whereas humans kill to extinction or, at best, endangerment. So who's the scariest predator? Humans.