Tag Archive | wolves

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Save The Wolves!

In a decision dated December 19, 2014, U.S. District Judge Howell ruled that federal threatened status be restored to wolves in Minnesota and endangered status to wolves in Michigan,null Wisconsin and parts of North Dakota, South Dakota, Iowa, Illinois, Indiana and Ohio.

The court ruled that the US Fish & Wildlife Service cannot designate the Great Lakes wolves as a Distinct Population, for the purpose of de-listing them. Wolves in the Great Lakes Region were de-listed January 2012 giving the states the authority to oversee wolf management.

Since that time, more than 1,500 Great Lakes wolves have been killed through recreational hunting and trapping resulting in a substantial reduction in wolf populations. This added human caused mortality constitutes a threat to the species. Scientific research shows that wolf populations self-regulate and hunting is not necessary to manage wolves.

Wolves are essential to a healthy eco-system. This has been proven by the re-introduction of wolves in Yellowstone National Park. Nothing shows this better than a National Geographic documentary entitled “How Wolves Change Rivers“. Continue reading →

Animal Sign

Oct26

When Animals Cross Your Path

Everyone has had an experience where an animal has crossed our path in the physical world and we wondered if it means something. How many times have you asked, or been asked, wonder what that wolf, deer, squirrel is trying to tell me?

Nearly all Shamanistic societies believe animals in the physical and spiritual worlds come to us for our own good to deliver messages.

When animals cross our path in the physical world they maybe bringing a warning or a message as guidance. They’re a “here in the now” kind of message that impacts our physical world.

But depending on the animal, they can cross their influence of meaning between the physical and spiritual worlds. Perhaps we’re not being as perceptive as we should be or we maybe we need to pay attention to a message from spirit that affects our physical choices. Listening to our gut feelings is an important part of living in balance and nature is all about balance. Continue reading →

Nature’s Instant Beauty

Sep27

Nature is filled with the tiniest moments of exceptional beauty.
Take a moment to appreciate their gift, before they’re gone forever.
~ Springwolf © 2014

Moments Of Beauty
Image credit: Earth Pics @Earth_Pics

The Nature Above Our Heads

Sep18

The Super Invisible Bug Highway

Look up at the sky and what do you see? Well, blue, yes. And maybe a plane or a bird, but otherwise … nothing. Or so you think. It turns out that right above you, totally invisible, is an enormous herd of animal life — tiny bugs riding the wind currents.
~ NPR On YouTube

I saw this on NPR and absolutely had to share. It’s all science and nature and entertaining and I learned something and I love ALL that stuff.

You’ve seen birds use updrafts to soar high in the clouds. These pockets of heated warm air can help large birds, like Turkey Vultures gain lift on wind currents so they don’t have use all their energy flapping their big wings. Not to mention big birds like this can weigh up to 5lbs or more.

Now imagine that same updraft if you a tiny little ladybug. You might not ride on the wind current totally on purpose as much as simply getting caught in the updraft and being carried away. How high could a little ladybug go? Pretty high actually, but they’re not the highest fliers! Take a look at this:

The Wicked Storm of 2014

May1

~ April Flooding by Springwolf 2014 ~

April’s Slow Moving Rain Storm

PBS NewsHour declared it as “Slow-moving storm drowns parts of Southeast with record rainfall”. Torrents of rain caused severe flooding in parts of the Florida panhandle and coastal Alabama. Some parts of Alabama saw up to 26 inches of rain in 24 hours, and powerful thunder and lightning storms overnight knocked out power to thousands. Also, a train carrying crude oil derailed and caught fire in downtown Lynchburg, Virginia.

Here in Virginia the rain was torrential for several days. It moved into the commonwealth April 28th on an early Tuesday morning as a nice spring rain. Washing away the pollen and bring some much-needed rain.

At times the gentle sprinkles gave way to a calm relaxing rain. Nothing unusual for this time of year. But it never stopped. It never gave way to brief moments of damp humidity that so often comes with rain in the Old Dominion.

As the afternoon wore on, the rain fell harder and lasted longer in its downpour. We began seeing streams of water build up on the sides of our yard and flow down the small hill to the lake at the end of our property.

Then the winds came. Tornadoes had touched down through the regions where the storm had already crossed the south and south-east. Now it was in our backyard. We watched as the rain-soaked trees bent over to the east against the strong wind. Worried if we would be facing a disaster of our own when one of the giant oaks or pines falling upon the house. Thankfully we were spared that night. Continue reading →

Morning Dew

Apr25

The Faery Festival

Once a upon a time, the Faeries of Bellaruesk planned a summer faery art festival in the deep hollow of the woods. To protect their celebration from Mother Nature, they asked the forest spiders to build a canopy over their meadow. The spiders worked through the night and weaved a beautiful fine web over the entire village. As the sun rose between the trees, the warm rays sparkled and danced upon the Morning Dew. The tiny droplets transformed the early light of dawn into brilliant colorful beams beneath the woven web, turning the Faery land into lovely rainbows sent from above.

Фотограф: Вадим Кондратьев ~ Photographer: Vadim Kondratyev

Living With Wolves

Apr22

The Sawtooth Pack

In 1990, Jim Dutcher was given captive pups and a permit to set up a 25 Acre Wolf observation camp in the Sawtooth Mountains in Idaho, where Living with Wolves” was filmed. He was later joined by his wife, naturalist Jamie Dutcher and together they lived with the wolves for six years. The Dutchers spent their time, filming, documenting and living amongst these wolves in their natural habit, studied their habits, personalities and family characteristics. Their experience was turned into a beautiful documentary about the Sawtooth Pack.

The “Sawtooth Pack” were later sold to the Wolf Education and Research Center,(a non-profit organization he founded) in conjunction with the Native American “Nez Perce” and moved to northern Idaho.

Baby Wolf’s First Lesson

Apr5

Learning To Howl

Wolf researcher Shaun Ellis, best known for his “A Man Among Wolves” documentary film helps to teach a baby wolf how to howl!

When we brought Merlin home from the Wolf Rescue, he was already talking with the pack. But all babies have to learn how to communicate with their families. Wolves have a complex language with varying yips, yelps, barks, whines and of course howls. But even the howls aren’t all the same.

Like any baby a, wolf pup begins learning how to communicate with the pack as soon as it begins to recognize sound. Even though howling comes naturally to wolves, they still need to learn the subtle language of their pack. No different from a baby born in the U.S. or one born in France. We all have differences in the language we use to speak with others in our region or pack. All babies mimic their parents and I believe wolves are no different in that respect. Continue reading →

Fenrir The Norse Wolf

Mar29

The Monster Wolf

In the 13th century Snorri Sturluson composed a compilation of Norse stories and tales known as the Poetic Edda and Prose Edda. He was an Icelandic historian, poet, and politician born sometime in 1179, he died in 23 September 1241. His greatest legacy are the Eddas which captured Norse Mythology and are still used today as resources for study and capturing the deep oral history of Icelanders.

From Wikipedia:
In both the Poetic Edda and Prose Edda, Fenrir is the father of the wolves Sköll and Hati Hróðvitnisson, [he] is a son of Loki, and is foretold to kill the god Odin during the events of Ragnarök, but will in turn be killed by Odin’s son Víðarr. ~ Fenrir

In Norse Mythology, the Gods have the ability to see the future which gives them a chance to alter its outcome. They see the warnings of Fenrir and grow concerned over his rapid growth. They attempt to bind him, but during the struggle Fenrir bites off the right hand of the god Týr. Continue reading →

Fables

Mar29

The Moral Of The Story

According to Wikipedia:
A Fable is a literary genre. A fable is a succinct fictional story, in prose or verse, that features animals, mythical creatures, plants, inanimate objects or forces of nature which are anthropomorphized (given human qualities such as verbal communication), and that illustrates or leads to an interpretation of a moral lesson (a “moral”), which may at the end be added explicitly in a pithy maxim. A fable differs from a parable in that the latter excludes animals, plants, inanimate objects, and forces of nature as actors that assume speech and other powers of humankind. ~ Fable

The most well-known worldwide fable is the Three Little Pigs and the Big Bad Wolf: Continue reading →