The lions aregreat. All of theirface scaring hashealed! Only Aslan’sback hip soars are stillpresent. I think theywill heal in time too.They all are doingfine with the coldtemperatures andyou can’t get thelions to ever stopplaying.”

Winter 2007 © 2007 by Wildlife Watch, Inc. All rights reserved.PO Box 562, New Paltz, NY 12561

WildlifeWatchBinocular

TheComplimentary copy

By Anne MullerAs you recall, Wildlife Watch

negotiated a three-way contractfor the seven large cats of theCatskill Game Farm who now hap-pily reside at the Wildcat Sanc-tuary in Sandstone, MN. Thecontributions came mostly fromYOU. We further applied for andreceived two grants: one fromAnimal Welfare Trustwww.foundat ioncenter.org/

grantmaker/awt and the other fromUnited Animal Nationswww.uan.org. A third foundation,Ahimsa, sent their grant directly

UPDATE on the Catskill Game Farm Rescues:

Aslan and Shanti Deva playing in the snow – “They don’t stop playing.” Photo Courtesy of The Wildcat Sanctuary

WILDLIFE WATCH DID IT!!!!! THANKS TO YOU, WILDLIFE

WATCH RAISED THE NEEDED $25,000 IN TIME FOR THE CATS’

ENCLOSURES TO BE BUILT AND FOR THEIR TRANSPORTATION

to The Wildcat Sanctuarywww.wildcatsanctuary.org on ourbehalf. The names chosen byour winners were: Aslan for theAfrican lion; Asha for the largerfemale; and Shanti Deva forthe smaller female. Each namecomes with a touching story tobe told.

The terrible facial scarring thatthe cats arrived with at the Wild-cat Sanctuary is healing. Aspromised, everyone who con-tributed $100 or more will re-ceive a photograph of the cat oftheir choosing. Those photoswill be posted to our website byMarch 1st Please visit ourwebsite on March 1st to see thewinners of the naming rights.www.wildwatch.org

Tammy Quist, Director of

The Wildcat Sanctuary writes:“Shazam made a HUGE

breakthrough. We are sohappy. We gave him a hugecardboard box with Lawry’sseasoned salt and catnip in it,and he played for the first time. He was covered in catnip anddrooling like crazy. He was sohappy that he even ignored uson-lookers who he usuallyneeds to growl and hiss at.

We are now feeding both Miaand Matty twice a day withsupplements. They eat everydrop but we still can’t get themto put on much weight. Theircoats are much better, but untilit is warmer – we don’t want todo blood work. But they are veryactive, so I am not too worried. We’ve checked fecals for worms,

etc. But if theyare related, it justmay be theirmake-up and avery high metabo-lism. They arebeing fed enoughfor a 200 lb cateach day and theyare probably noteven a 100 lb.

Chenoa Manor in PA was to get five healthy emus. Onlyfour arrived. Sadly, one emu died during the USDA required

test for Bird Flu! Wewere devastated tolearn of this awfulnews. WildlifeWatch bid success-fully for these won-derful birds and hadthem transported toChenoa Manor. Ontheir website theywrite: “ChenoaManor AnimalSanctuary is proudto welcome fouremus from theCatskill Game Farm. We’re happy to re-

port that the Catskill emus are doing well and have quicklymade themselves at home. We’re thrilled to have thesebeautiful animals as members of the Chenoa Manor family!”- Dr. Rob Teti is a vegan veterinarian who founded Chenoa.We are so grateful to him for providing a wonderful homefor the precious emus. www.chenoamanor.org

continued on page 3

“Did you hear the coyotes lastnight?” my neighbor asked whenwe met getting the mail. “Itsounded like there were twentyof them!”

When we first noticed wildcanines three years ago, wemused if someone had started akennel nearby—yipping puppiesexploding in vocalizations sev-eral times a day. I wondered,was it just business as usual—or did we have a problem? Idecided to call an expert.

Jonathan G. Way, Ph.D., Sci-ence teacher, coyote-tracker,author, wildlife expert, and leaderof the Eastern Coyote Researchproject in Massachusetts, wasthe man with the answers. I metwith him right after school, justbefore he headed home to eatand go out tracking radio-col-lared coyotes, an almost nightlyroutine he had followed for thelast ten years. He agreed toanswer some of my questions.

Interview With Dr. Jonathan G. Way ofEastern Coyote Research, Cape Cod, MA

BY MARIE THOMAS

MT/WWB: Dr. Way, it seemsNew England residents are increas-ingly noticing coyotes in the suburbs.Are they dangerous to humans?

JGW: No more than any otherindigenous wild animal. How of-ten are people endangered bypossums, raccoons, fisher cats,skunks or deer? It’s much thesame. They all want to avoid us.

We should count ourselves luckyto even see one.

MT/WWB: A state wildlifespokesman told me to just yell atcoyotes to scare them away, andthat problems with them were rare.Is that true? And does that strategyapply to children as well as adults?

JGW: Wild animals naturallyfear humans and coyotes are noexception. If confrontations hap-pen inadvertently, given thechance, coyotes will usually runaway. If a coyote approaches forno reason, it may be curious orsick. Keeping a distance, yelling,and throwing things negativelyconditions them to avoid people.Kids can do this too. Healthy ani-mals usually take off. If one hangsaround or you notice odd behav-ior, call Animal Control. No mat-ter how pretty they are, coyotesare not just stray dogs. Neverfeed them or approach them.

continued on page 2

Photo used with permission of Dr.Jonathan G. Way, Eastern CoyoteResearch, Barnstable, MA

Positioned squarely at the topof the food chain, the polar bearpresents an imposing figure in theArctic landscape. Adult males canweigh from 900 to 1600 pounds,and they are swift moving, theirbroad, hairy feet enabling them totravel across the ice of their natu-ral habitat, which ranges through-out the Arctic regions.

Formidable hunters, polar bearsare of necessity good swimmers,as well. Their genus name, ursusmaritimus, or “sea bear,” is reflec-tive of their ability to swim manymiles of ocean in search of theirprimary prey, the seal. Althoughthey supplement their diet withcaribou, fish, birds, and even sea-weed, seals provide most of thebears= nourishment, and they willfollow the southward migration ofseals, sometimes venturing as faras the mouth of the St. LawrenceSeaway in Canada.

Yet, despite their great strength

Vanishing Landscape -Vanishing Life

Perilous Times for Polar BearsBY E.M. FAY

and hardiness, these powerfulcreatures are in immediate dan-ger of dying off, of becoming ex-tinct - not in some sad, distantfuture, but now, in our own life-time. They have become vulner-able not to any naturalphenomenon such as illness or asimple decrease in food supply, butrather have fallen victim to theman-made disaster-in-progresscalled global climate change.

The collapse in August, 2005,of the massive Ayles Ice Shelf inthe Canadian Arctic is for the in-digenous wildlife a frighteninglysignificant event in a sequence ofunprecedented changes observedby scientists in recent years. The25-square-mile shelf of 3000 yearold ice had been attached toCanada’s Ellesmere Island, al-though it floated on the sea. Aseismic event when it occurred 17

continued on page 2

THE CATS

Matty

ShazamBlack Panther

Aslanand Asha P

hoto

cou

rtes

y of

wild

cat s

anct

ury

THE EMUS

Photo from website of Chenoa Manor

WW-2 The Wildlife Watch Binocular Winter 2007

MT/WWB: Can you comment on news stories aboutcoyotes being sighted near schools?

JGW: I’m not a fan of how news stations play upthose stories to spice up slow news days. Animal newsis a big draw, but if coyotes are sighted near a school,it’s more because the school is located near good habi-tat like water and woods, not because they have anyintention of preying on children. Wildlife news is ofteninaccurate and unresearched. I’ve seen a reporter dis-cussing how dangerous coyotes are while showing cap-tioned pictures of little gray foxes.

MT/WWB: People talk about a coyote populationexplosion. Is this a real concern?

JGW: People are becoming more aware of coyotes,but it’s hardly indicative of a population explosion. Dur-ing pup rearing time, small packs can be so noisy theysound like dozens of animals. In reality, given areascan support only so many medium-sized predators. Coy-otes eat primarily small mammals and birds, and withwild habitat decreasing, they need about ten squaremiles to support the three to five adult animals per pack.

Coyotes are opportunistic hunters, eating everythingfrom berries, fruit, birdseed, garbage and roadkill todeer, pet food and even small pets, if left outside. Aresident pack will drive off other coyotes to protect theirhome range and food supply. When the young mature,they disperse, keeping the size of the pack pretty stableyear after year: the breeders and a few grown offspring.

If people complain, sometimes hunters are broughtin to “get rid of them”. But you can’t get rid of coyotes,and when you try to “thin” the population, nature’s safe-guards kick in when new coyotes colonize the area andbreeding and litter sizes increase. As a result, the exactopposite can happen and there really is a populationincrease.

So to clarify, populations remain pretty static at wellunder one coyote per square mile, unless somethinghappens to the breeding pair. A territory might thencome up for grabs by other coyotes. Numbers can ac-tually increase if more than one pack moves in to theformer territory. I explain this phenomenon in my book,how trappers and hunters actually cause coyote popu-lation increases in this way. If we leave them alone,their numbers tend to be self-limiting.

MT/WWB: What is your advice to residents to keepkids and pets safe in their own yards? And tell us a bitabout your book as well.

JGW: In my new book “Suburban Howls” due out in Janu-ary 2007, I discuss in detail the ecological factors that effectchanges in coyote populations. The book is filled with beau-tiful photographs of coyotes and I provide the most currentresearch data on them, including common sense guidelinesfor residents who have them living nearby.

First, anyone living near a den site should be watchfulduring the summer and fall when the pups are growing.The adults should feed pups wild rodents, not get habitu-ated to human food sources like garbage or pet food.

Supervise kids and pets in your yard. Keep pets insideor put up a 5’ wire fence. A healthy coyote could jump a 5’fence, but canines understand and respect boundaries. Justdon’t tempt them with suet or potato chips left outside.

Pets tied outside, even in a fenced area, need supervi-sion. Although nocturnal, coyotes work overtime in thesummer and might be around any time of day.

Interview Invisible fences don’t keep predators or other intrudersout of your yard. I provide detailed precautions in my book.

Lastly, the chance of a coyote harming you or yourchildren is remote. Statistically, your drive home fromwork on any given day is a much more risky undertaking.Chances are greater you’ll be struck by lightning, get bit-ten by a dog, or stung and killed by bees. So keep thingsin perspective and appreciate that wild coyotes are inte-gral components of our ecological landscapes, and in mymind, make our environments better and much moreinteresting places to live!

People can view my web site and read my web journalon coyote behavior at http://www2.bc.edu/~wayjo .

Marie Thomas is a freelance science writer and bookeditor from Framingham, Massachusetts.

continued on from 1

The eastern coyote, also called the Brush Wolf, has a particu-larly opportunistic nature, and with leash laws now common andthe average pet dog housebound most of the time, coyotes havefewer obstacles to moving closer to human occupied areas toenjoy the benefits and increased food supply. They are extremelytolerant of both human activity and habitat changes.

This coyote is actually thought to be a hybrid of the westerncoyote and the small red wolf that once occupied the southeast-ern part of the country, although the jury is still out on this untilDNA confirmation is available. While considerably smaller than thegray wolf, eastern coyotes typically weigh between 30-45 lbs.,though some have tipped the scales at over 55 lbs. Most zoospecimens that are protected and well-fed average under 45 lbs.

Coyotes have many distinct vocalizations—the yipping of pup-pies, whuffing or barking of adults that indicate an intrusion orthreat, long moaning howls that call pack members together, andspontaneous group howls that break out when pack membersreunite. During the summer, when parents and puppies are alltogether singing with wild abandon, it can sound like twenty orthirty animals, striking fear into the hearts of the local humanpopulation. Rarely, however, are there more than eight animals,and most of the young ones are sure to be gone or dead by winter.

In any coyote pack, there is only one breeding pair referred toas the ‘alphas’. This pair routinely patrols their approximately ten-square-mile home range almost daily. Each of them travels 10-20miles each night, marking their borders liberally with urine, scat,and territorial displays. Data from tracking radio-collared coyotesshows that individuals of separate packs rarely stray outside theconfines of their own territories. Only the non-pack members knownas transients, which include dispersing adolescents seeking to mateand establish their own territories, ousted pack members, andsometimes older animals that are no longer breeding, risk crossingthe invisibly marked borders we cannot see in order to move about,hunt, and rest temporarily. While research is still ongoing, there isan entire body of knowledge coming to light that may indicate thatthe rare older coyotes who survive past eight to ten years old andare no longer part of reproductive pairs, may once again becometransients who risk their lives alone trying to sidestep man andtheir younger breeding peers until their final days.

Photo used with permission of Dr. Jonathan G. Way,Eastern Coyote Research, Barnstable, MA

Resident coyotes are known to defend their home ranges zeal-ously. When man or providence steps into the equation and one ormore members of a resident pair are incapacitated or killed, thereis no longer a sentry at the gate. Once border marking is no longerfresh, lone coyotes see it as an open door and immediately look tocolonize the area. This sometimes results in a territory being di-vided up into several smaller ranges, which can effectively doubleor triple the local coyote population.

Research demonstrates that killing coyotes often in-creases their numbers shortly after the control action.It is this kind of pertinent data that is coming to light abit too late on the heels of so many government killingprograms, which are accomplishing exactly the oppo-site of what they are intended to. It is now known thatcoyotes themselves instinctively limit their own popu-lations based primarily on the relationship between theirpopulation density, territory size, and food supply.

Eastern Coyote

months ago, the calving off of the enormous shelf was notedby satellite photography and earthquake monitors at the time,but scientists made the occurrence public only last monthafter studying the ramifications thoroughly.

More than 100 feet thick, the new ice island has an areaequivalent to a small city, and was one of only six ice shelvesremaining in Canada. These shelves are believed by scien-tists to be an indicator of Arctic climate change, thus thecollapse of the Ayles shelf can be seen as a harbinger ofthings yet to come as our world continues to warm.

There have been ice shelf break-offs in the past, includingsome major activity in the 1980s. In fact, “Arctic sea iceextent has been declining since at least the early1950s,”according to the National Snow and Ice Data Center of theUniversity of Colorado. But the speed with which these eventsare occurring now is startling by any measure.

“What stands out with this event is that it happened soquickly,” said Dr. Luke Copland, Assistant Professor of Geog-raphy at the University of Ottawa. Copland has conductedfieldwork on glacier dynamics and their connection to cli-mate change in the Himalayas, European Alps, the Yukon,and Antarctic, as well as the Canadian Arctic. Among hismany credentials, he has represented Canada on the Inter-national Arctic Science Committee. He is currently directingthe establishment of the University of Ottawa’s brand-newLaboratory for Cryospheric Research.

Funded by the Canadian government, the Laboratory forCryospheric Research monitors and measures glaciers, howthey are changing and each event as it happens. The geog-raphers and glaciologists at the LRC seek to improve ourunderstanding of how glaciers work. It appears that gla-ciers can change much more quickly than previously thought.

After learning of the Ayles incident from Laurie Weir ofthe Canadian Ice Service, Dr. Copland analyzed Canadianand U. S. satellite imagery, and found that it took less thanan hour for the gigantic ice shelf to break away from itsanchoring land mass of Ellesmere Island. He was able topinpoint the time of the movement as being between 5:30

and 6:30 GMT on August 13, 2005.Dr. Copland told us that ice shelves are long-term geo-

graphic features, typically lasting for millenia, but in the past20-30 years the thinning and reduction in area of ice shelveshas been dramatic. Strong winds and unusually warm tem-peratures on Ellesmere Island in 2005 are thought to be theculprit in the Ayles event, but the melting of sea ice is clearlymore than just a few isolated cases. As evidence of thegeneral nature of this phenomenon, there is the fact thatthe approx. 10,000 square kilometers of Arctic ice shelvesthat existed when Admiral Peary crossed them in 1906 havedecreased to a mere 1000 sq. km. today - a 90% reductionin only one century.

It is not only shelves that are vanishing; the collapse ofnatural ice dams has resulted in whole lakes draining off into

the ocean, as well. This represents another loss of a stablehabitat. As with the shelves, there is no going back once ageographic feature has disappeared. Vast portions of ter-rain traditionally used by wildlife have been lost forever.

“Once they’re gone, they’re gone,” Dr. Copland stated.AWhat is so striking is that its a one-way process. The iceshelves are not being replaced by new ice flow.

Many Arctic animals, including seals, walruses, and somebird species such as the black guillemot, are dependentupon packed sea ice for hunting, breeding, and feedinghabitat. In a limited food chain as exists in the Arctic, nutri-tional components are vitally linked. Simply put, there isnot a lot of choice. Given these restrictions, any change ingeographic circumstances can have serious consequencesfor the inhabitants of the region. Right now, the dramaticchanges occurring in polar regions can only be describedas calamitous for wildlife. Polar bears, in particular, areadversely affected by nutritional stress, as they need tostore copious amounts of body fat to survive the long Arcticwinters.

Oceanic ice floes are used as diving platforms from whichbears carry on the hunt for seals. As polar bears musttravel many miles in their quest, the ice floes serve as akind of floating rest station as well as jumping-off points. Ifbears get too far from land, they, just like humans, candrown from exhaustion. Tragically, the number of suchdeaths is increasing, due to the continuing loss of ice.

Drowning is but one of several horrors visited upon polarbears in the ongoing scenario of global warming. Withless firm ice available, they are less able to stalk their mainprey. The natural result of this difficulty, starvation, hascaused some bears to turn cannibal, attacking one anotherin desperation.

Perhaps the most poignant of the bears’ misfortunesis what is happening with maternity dens. For count-less ages, these essential havens have been safelybuilt in solidly packed snow and ice. As once-depend-able seasonal temperatures have increased, however,and rain sometimes falls in winter instead of snow,

Photo by icd-www.colorado.edu/sabrun/images/polar-bear.jpg

Vanishingcontinued from 1

continued on page 3

BY MARIE THOMAS

Winter 2007 The Wildlife Watch Binocular WW-3

UPDATE Catskill Game Farm continued from page 1

Barry Schwartzof Maspath BirdHaven writes“They live happily inone our bird rooms,currently sharingthe room with our27-year old CongoAfrican Grey,Hawkeye. Theyfound their voices

some time ago, too, beautiful squawking (really!), andthey enjoy trying to communicate with the other birds inthe house. Particularly they seem to answer the calls ofour male Mitred Conure, Charlie, and the calls of theother Conures. The back-and-forth calling is quite won-derful; you’d have to be here to appreciate it!

Firecracker, like her cousin Charlie, has beautiful goldenyellow eyes, and when you look at her, you can feel a bitof mischief and definitely a wealth of intelligence in her.Skye, with his deep orange eye color, does give the air ofshyness, but he is very playful with Firecracker, often dodg-ing behind her when one approaches the cage.

We don’t push them, as far as hand-taming is con-cerned. We let them be. We feel that in time, theywill learn to trust us even more. Apparently, they havenot been held by humans, or stepped up onto a fin-ger, for probably as long as they were at the CatskillGame Farm. Yet, when it is time to go into their cage,they respond to our direction, and Skye has learnedto step up onto a hand-held stick or perch.

The bottom line: we are not only happy to haveparticipated with Wildlife Watch, Inc., in rescuingthese amazing and beautiful birds, we are also thank-ful for the new friends we have made along the way.Perhaps most importantly, that we were able to givea forever home to these two feathered friends”.mysite.verizon.net/vzermrgu

Photo courtesy of Maspeth Bird Haven Inc.

Wildlife Watch encourages you to contact the sanctuaries and rehabilitation centers directly.

Photo Courtesy of Linda Brink

Linda Brink writes “Oliver, the goffin, is doing won-derfully well—he’s a survivor. Though still a bird thatwould rather peek than boldly venture forth, Oliver hassettled in and is, I believe, beginning to trust that inthis place, he will perhaps be safe. Though it tookquite some time for Oliver to leave the protectiveenvironment of his cage and secluded perches, he did,one day, make the leap and soar. Now, he eagerlyawaits the opening of the door and flies through all ofthe bird rooms—and my heart soars with him, this lovelycreature that seemed so lost in the shuffle; this quietlittle one. No longer the New Guy, Oliver is acceptedby all of the flock, and so he goes, cage to cage, sittingcompanionably with both the territorial conures, and

the goofy macaws. He causes notrouble; he does notwant to be alone.

Oliver no longerflees when I’mworking near him. When I talk to him,he looks intentlyback at me now. Baby steps, all—thebeginnings of trust. I’m very careful withOliver at this frag-ile time, as experi-ence has taught himthat to be wary is tobe wise.

I’m truly grateful that this wild little spirit who willnever prefer humans to those of his kind, has comehere. He graces our lives. If the most I can offer himis safety, and peace of mind, why—so be it. Oliverwill not complain. I don’t believe he’s known much ofeither in all of his thirty-odd years.”sunnyskies@optonline.net

Foster Parrots playeda major role in the res-cue of Catskill Game Farmanimals. Now they needhelp to continue. The ob-jective of The LolaProject is to raise funds,acquire land and con-

struct a new facility for Foster Parrots, Ltd. which willbe known as the New England Exotic Wildlife Sanctu-ary, or NEEWS. This new facility will establish a large-scale, permanent national parrot sanctuary and willrepresent a new approach to the evaluation and place-ment of unwanted companion parrots.www.fosterparrots.com

Contact Carol Eiswald at theTusk & Bristle TheTuskandBristle@earthlink.net aboutRusty and Louise. They areboth doing GREAT, thank you!Carol and Jim Eiswald rescuedLouise and Rusty from theCatskill Game Farm.

Photo courtesyof The Tusk and Bristle.

THE CONURES

Photos byChadwick Bovée

Nancy Furstinger and Sue Martin did an amaz-ing job of raising funds for all of the Catskill GameFarm Bunnies and then finding them homes through arescue and adoption network. Nancy is working onabout 38 books at the moment, but promises an up-date for the next issue.

THE BUNNIES

THE PARROTSTHE WARTHOG

& WILD BOAR

maternity dens have collapsed,killing their vulnerable occu-pants.

That this suffering is di-rectly related to human activ-ity is understood by all but themost blinkered of governmentofficials, many of whom arepart of an Administration thathas been notorious in its ap-pointment of persons withlittle or no interest in animalwelfare to positions of trustand responsibility. To take butone prominent example, DirkKempthorne, Secretary of theInterior, was given a score ofA0" by the League of Con-servation Voters during mostof his Senate career. Heworked to remove wolvesfrom the endangered specieslist. In response to a recentlawsuit by environmentalgroups against the govern-ment, he agreed to consider

Vanishingcontinued from 2

The Wildlife Watch Binocular is published quarterly by Wildlife Watch Inc., a 501 (c) 3Not-for-Profit Corporation. Contributions are tax-deductible.P.O. Box 562, New Paltz, NY 12561. Phone: 845-256-1400; Fax: 845-818-3622;e-mail: wildwatch@verizon.net; Website: www.wildwatch.org,Anne Muller – Editor. Letters, article submissions and photos are welcome for consideration.

putting polar bears on the en-dangered list, but negated anygood this might do by declar-ing that it was Abeyond thescope@ of his department toacknowledge that reducinggreenhouse gas emissions isnecessary to preserve thebears’ habitat.

Without this admission, thereis no reason to hope that thecurrent U. S. government willput any teeth into environmen-tally-protective regulations.(This is hardly surprising, giventhe fact that the Bush Adminis-tration is responsible for therollback of virtually every con-servation measure put in placefrom Teddy Roosevelt to JimmyCarter.)

Political considerations playno part in the work of Dr.Copland and his colleagues,however. They merely reportthe facts of changes in polar ice.AThe biggest thing is that it ishappening so fast,@ he reiter-ated.

This surprising speed may

well signal an acceleration inthe reduction of Arctic habitatthat only the swiftest of con-certed worldwide actions maythwart. It is likely essential tothe survival of polar bears andother Arctic animals that worldleaders grant a high priority togreatly decreasing greenhousegas emissions from every pos-sible source. They will not dothis without pressure from theircitizens.

We humans have done this;by our careless industrial ac-tivity we have caused therapid deterioration of the fro-zen landscape that has sup-ported numerous animalspecies for time out of mind.Although it is terribly late, and

Wildlife Watch maintains a Wildlife Help Hotlineto help humane folks

who have found an injured or orphaned wild animal.We maintain lists of wildlife rehabilitators

throughout the country.We will do our best to help you find

the wildlife care professional closest to you.

1-877-WILDHELPOR 1-877-945-3435

THE GOFFIN

Photo from website of Foster Parrots, Ltd.

much damage will doubtlesscontinue before we can effectsubstantial improvements, it isour responsibility to work as-siduously toward saving whatwe can of the Arctic landscape

and the life it contains.

E.M. Fay is a reporter forenvironmental magazinesand a regular contributer tothe WWB

This baby was one of 32 llamas rescued in partwith your contributions. Inaddition to pitching in withtheir own money, Kim &Scott Kline made multipletrips, driving many hours,to the Catskill Game Farmto take them all toHavenfield Farm inBirdsboro, PA. Many of theanimals were horribly thin under their heavy coats.Scott told us that they are doing well, and many havealready been sent out to good adoptive homes.

If you would like to be in touch with Kim and ScottKline, please contact havenfieldfarm@aol.com.

THE LLAMAS

The Photos of Chadwick BovéeShortly before going to print, we were contacted by

an old friend,Chadwick Bovée, who had visited theCatskill game farm ten days before the auction. Hetook hundreds of photos. Due to space limitations,we can only show you a few. We will have more foryou in future issues.

Photo by Chadwick Bovée

WW-4 The Wildlife Watch Binocular Winter 2007

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$5.00

WILD WATCH CATALOG ORDER BLANK

Wildlife Watchers Should Know About :CAW OF THE WILD: Observations from the

Secret World of Crows by Barb Kirpluk order bycalling 1-800-Authors (1-800-288-4677)www.iuniverse.com pub-lished in 2005.

Kirpluk is masterful atdescribing her observa-tions and interactions withthese intelligent animals.She broadens our under-standing of the species bydeepening our connectionwith the individuals whocomprise the species.CAW OF THE WILD is aMUST READ!

This book was sent to usby Rita Sarnicola of CROW (Citizens Respectful ofWildlife) in Auburn, NY. Please contact Rita and JoeSarnicola for a professionally produced DVD of crowecotourism in Auburn: jsarn@adelphia.net

GOD’S DOG

We were happy tolearn from Hope Rydenthat her amazing book,God’s Dog, is availableonce again. We en-courage you to readit and give it to oth-ers to read. Ask li-braries to order it,and give it to friendsfor holidays andbirthdays. It will bea gift that will last alifetime, for it willchange the readers’perspective of coyotes forever.“Full of charm and tenacious inquisitiveness as theappealing animal she pleads is allowed to live.”—The Washington Post.$24.95 or $20.95 members.

God’s Dog : A Celebration of

the North American Coyote

by Hope Ryden

WILDLIFE WATCH CATALOG

R.O.C.K. - REHABBERS OFFER CARE AND KINDNESS

BY LISA STONER

Wildlife Watch office visited this beautiful facility inearly February, and we were very impressed. Yes, therereally is a Peace River! We encourage you to make anappointment to visit when you are in Florida. The fol-lowing account is just one of their successful rescues.

Molly and Dolly are 14-year old black bears. They wereoriginally purchased by a tourist attraction in North Hudson, NY as cubs (born in captivity) from a small zoologicalpark in NY and eventually abandoned when the attractionclosed. The tourist attraction was called Frontier Town ,in North Hudson , NY . The park closed their doors in 1999. For the first three years, there was a maintenance manon salary to care for the facility, and he fed the bearsthrough a chute into their enclosure. For the next threeyears, the maintenance man was no longer paid and nofunds were provided for food, the bears were completelyabandoned. They apparently have had no de-worming orveterinary care since 1999.

The maintenance man continued to (intermittently) bringthe bears pizza, chocolate doughnuts, chocolate candy barsand 5-gallon buckets of potato chips and put it in throughthe chute, although their swimming pool (also serving asdrinking water) and their enclosure were never cleaned.They continued to live with no veterinary care, clean wa-ter or enrichment, in the filthy enclosure for another threeyears. Local townsfolk discovered the bears and werealso periodically stopping in and sliding honey-covered pan-cakes and sweets to the bears over the years. We couldn’tbelieve they were still alive!

The County foreclosed on the property for unpaid taxes,and realtors were contracted to auction the property off inOctober 2004. The property could not be shown or sold untilthe bears were gone, if they were not relocated they wouldbe put down. The Federal and New York State governingagencies had no interest in rescuing them, telling the countyto have them put down. The auctioneers took over, they madeover 100 telephone calls to wildlife rehabilitators, trying tofind a home for the bears. They wound up speaking with aBroward County Florida Sheriffs Office Lieutenant (and ani-mal activist) the Lieutenant in turn contacted the AmericanSanctuary Association, who referred her to us.

Meanwhile, the auctioneers were feeding the bears dogfood and fresh fruit on a daily basis, increasing the odds thattheir bodies would be capable of withstanding the stress ofrelocation. Over the few weeks it took to make plans, theysteadily gained weight. We planned the bear rescue forseveral weeks and were scheduled to fly to NY less than 36hours after being directly hit by the third hurricane this sea-son. What poor timing! Of course, our flight had been can-celled, but we managed to fly on standby and still arrived intime to meet the professional animal hauler at the closedattraction to help load the animals and prepare them fortheir trip.They arrived safely in Florida via a professionalair-conditioned truck on September 30, 2004

Lisa and Kurt Stoner are the founders of Peace RiverRefuge & Ranch. Peace River Refuge & Ranch, PO Box1127, Zolfo Springs, FL 33890, www.PeaceRiverRefuge.org.Peace River Refuge and Ranch is a 501(c)(3) organization.100% of the donations go to the lifetime care of the animalsat the sanctuary.

MEET MOLLY AND DOLLYTHE PEACE RIVER REFUGE AND RANCH

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Fox Wood is a place for injured and orphaned wildlife.Specializing in fox, coyote, skunks,and bats. A non-profitwildlife rehabilitation center, Fox Wood is dedicated to res-cuing and rehabilitating wildlife with return to the wild beingour goal. Our small size enhances the high quality and indi-vidualized care for our patients and permanent residents.www.foxwoodrehab.com

Places to Know About:Fox Wood Wildlife Rescue

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Ravensbeard is a group of wildlife rehabilitators, natu-ralists, educators and concerned people committed to build-ing a broader community with respect for all nature. Inorder to achieve this goal Ravensbeard will strive to:

“ Provide wildlife rehabilitation for injured and orphanedspecies in order to return them to the wild”

www.ravensbeard.org

Ravensbeard

Please send us information about your rehabilita-tion work or sanctuary and we will be happy to let ourreaders know about you in our spring issue.