Theo
Photo Credit: P. Nixon

Lots of folks will be up early this morning making sure the animals are taken care of–fed, watered, walked, loved–long before they sit down to their own Thanksgiving meals.

It has been a pleasure to meet a few of the New Mexico groups that work tirelessly to rescue and give homes to or find homes for abandoned, hurt, and neglected creatures.

Felines and Friends New Mexico
Rancho De Chihuahua
The Horse Shelter
Wildlife West Nature Park

Thank you!

Uncle Eli and I had talked for months about visiting Rancho de Chihuahua, but the logistics were difficult. He lives in Colorado, my travel schedule is hectic, and the dog rescue in the mountains of northern New Mexico closes to visitors for the winter in mid-November.

So, it was with a certain amount of amazement on Saturday morning that I found myself in Chimayo sitting on the big comfy orange sofa, well-known from many a Facebook post, with a Chihuahua wearing a Christmas sweater perched on my lap.

Eli, his friend KW, and I had driven the thirty miles from Santa Fe after an early breakfast. We drove slowly through the rural community until we located the downward-sloping driveway with a red gate described in the directions. Joy, the founder of the rescue, came out to the car and filled us in on the protocol of meeting the dogs. Once inside the fenced yard a few of the resident canines escorted us into the sunny sitting room. We all took a few minutes to settle in.

Then, a door I hadn’t noticed was opened and a river of small dogs, mostly Chihuahuas streamed in. They flowed over the top of the coffee table and around both sides of it. All, it seemed, with one goal in mind: get on the sofa and check out the visitors. I don’t know for sure how many, but my best guess is twenty-something. The barking ended quickly. Friendly and polite, the dogs found places to lie down–on our laps, in the spaces between us, on the back of the sofa. The shy ones kept their distance, taking up positions around the room where they could watch and listen.

Joy sat on the floor and told us about Rancho de Chihuahua. She and her husband, Steven, relocated the rescue from Los Angeles to this farm in the Sangre de Cristo Mountains about seven years ago so they could help more dogs. They take in the old, the neglected, the sick.  Many will stay with them for life, but some are up for adoption, which is why we were visiting.

Photo Credit: P. Nixon

A few days earlier a healthy Papillon-mix named Toby was abandoned at a local veterinary clinic. Instead of euthanizing the sweet-natured pup, the staff gave him a check up and Joy rescued him. She posted his story and photo on Facebook. After a flurry of emails and phone calls between Eli and Joy, Eli made plans to drive to New Mexico.

While KW and I took photos and tried  to learn names–Buddy, Clownfish, Harold, Fig–Eli and Toby met. They hit it off and all too soon it was time for us to leave.

With reluctance I said goodbye to Gabby, the tiny gray Chihuahua wearing a bright red sweater. She is old and frail,  but after spending half an hour with her I could find no better words to describe her than those used by Steven in the title of his book about the joys and sorrows of rescuing dogs. She was “a small furry prayer” spreading goodwill with her calm, sweet presence.

Eli called Sunday. Toby was settling in, playing with a brand new squeak toy. The two had already gone for their first walk in the park across the street from Eli’s house.

Joy Nicholson and Steven Kotler run Rancho de Chihuahua in Chimayo, New Mexico. I highly recommend Steven’s book A Small Furry Prayer: dog rescue and the meaning of life, which is how Eli and I came to learn about their rescue work.

Much head turning and bobbing as the Sandhills converse, exchange greetings, leaping upward, even doing a little of their pair-bonding dance.  Then one by one they follow the sentinel Crane, and they open their great wings to lift them aloft in the clear dawn air of a New Mexico winter sky.
Alice Lindsay Price

Photo Credit: sunrisesoup via Compfight cc

Each November Sandhill cranes descend on the Bosque del Apache, a wildlife refuge in south-central New Mexico.  Thousands of them–it’s a noisy gathering.

Many migrate from Grays Lake in southeastern Idaho.  The lake, really a large shallow marsh covered with bulrush and cattail, is where the huge birds (four-feet tall with six-foot wingspans) mate, nest, and raise their young.  It’s a 700-mile trip to the Bosque (forest), situated on the Rio Grande, where they spend most of the winter.

Not far behind the Sandhills are the birders, many of whom probably travel farther than the cranes.  They come armed with binoculars, telephoto lenses, and tripods hoping to get the perfect shot.  In her book, Cranes: The Noblest Flyers, Alice Lindsay Price describes the thrill of seeing the flock take flight at daybreak on a cold winter morning.

Next week is the annual Festival of the Cranes, a six-day event filled with crane behavior seminars, wildlife photography workshops, and birding hikes.  The cranes will stay on after the festival, many until February when they begin their journey north with a stopover in Colorado’s San Luis Valley for a few weeks before returning to Idaho.

I’m not sure I’ll be able to get to Bosque del Apache while the Sandhill cranes are in residence, so will have to make do with this moment in nature from last week’s CBS Sunday Morning show.

Most of our rescued wildlife were either orphaned, injured or illegally raised as pets.
–Wildlife West Nature Park

Photo Credit: P. Nixon

Barbie was perched high up in her tree. I stood admiring her quill coat, waiting for her to turn around, to show me her face.  Like many of the animals at Wildlife West she was rescued after an accident, her mother hit by a car in west Texas. Passers-by saved the baby porcupine and took her to a local rehabilitation center. At eight-weeks of age she was moved to this New Mexico zoo which is dedicated to giving permanent homes to rescued, native wildlife.

Thursday morning I was one of the first visitors to arrive at Wildlife West. I chatted with the zoo’s founder and director Roger Alink for a few minutes before I set off on the path to see the animals.

Once I figured out that Barbie wasn’t budging, I  continued on around to the Mexican gray wolf habitat overlook.  Within moments one of the two females (sisters) appeared from behind the stand of junipers. She trotted back and forth over the well-worn trails.

The day was warm and sunny, not a cloud in the sky.  Ravens soared overhead, their raspy squawks a counterpoint the ever-present rumble of semi-trucks moving east to west and back again on Interstate 40. The second wolf appeared, made a reconnaissance of her territory, gnawed on what looked like a fresh bone, and then curled up for a nap in the shade of an evergreen while her sister continued her watchful patrol.

This was my second visit to Wildlife West and both times I made the 65-mile trip from Santa Fe to see the wolves*.  It’s the best place I have found to get a look at the endangered animals in a natural setting which has the added benefit of being located in close proximity to their historical habitat.  Unlike the other animals at the park human interaction with the wolves is purposely minimized–they are part of the species survival plan, bred and raised for potential release into the wild.

On my way back to the entrance I stopped by to see Koshari, the black bear.  I had been fascinated by the opportunity to get an up close at him on my first visit, sacked out on his back under the viewing window, swatting flies with his huge paws.  This time he was nowhere to be seen.  The only sign that he had been around recently was little pile of half-eaten apples and baby carrots.  Roger told me the bear was slowing down for the winter season, eating less, napping more–he was probably dreaming in his den.

Wile E. Coyote
By: P. Nixon

My last stop was to see Wile E. the playful and sociable two-year-old coyote.  As a pup she was illegally captured and raised as a pet before she was rescued.  No sign of her, I made a soft clicking sound and waited, but nothing.   I turned for one last look as I was walking away and there she was–stretched out on the low height stucco wall, acting like she had always been there.  Not wanting to spook her, I  walked back slowly, keeping my distance, admiring her slim face and big ears.  She was napping in the sun when I finally left.

*In addition to the two female Mexican gray wolves, Wildlife West has three males.  The five are all siblings, but are kept separate from one another.  The males are on the other side of the overlook, but are harder, at least in my experience, to see.