Update 3: Haliburton Wolf and Wild Life Reserve Wolves

#3 Final update from the centre: there is no sign of the released wolves. Staff worked hard, made mistakes, but learned a lot about trying to recapture these poor animals. They were rescued and some idiot released them, two were killed.

#2 Another update: Granite crossed the rainbow bridge last night. She did not survive her surgery, and staff and friends mourn her passing. Staff believe that the murder of Granite is a separate incident from the vandalism incident that had people destroy their fencing enclosure. Originally, they thought that Haida, the alpha male, was mortally shot and murdered, once the four wolves escaped. This may not be the case, since his pup has the same coat.
More information is available on their website, but the photos of her wounds are not for the squeamish:
The two outside wolves are still hanging around close to the outside of the Wolf Centre, communicating with their fellow pack members inside by mournful howls in the early mornings. We are leaving food out, which entices them to hang around. 

#1 Update: As previously reported, the wolves escaped on New Year's Eve, when the centre was open to visitors. Vandals, or stupid animal rights activists, or hunters looking for wolf pelts, opened the fencing.

Wounded wolf:
visit their Facebook page

They now report that Granite, the alpha female, was shot twice and fought hard for her life, despite massive loss of blood. She dragged her bleeding body to the side of the road. The two bullets went through her leg. She has been recaptured and after hours of surgery, show signs of responsiveness.

These are wild pack animals, unable to be released in the wild, ignorant of hunting techniques, performing an important educational role in this world. They are well cared for, and live in a large setting.

Haliburton: moose and wolf country

I oppose zoos. I think, what with the
wonderful videography and photography opportunities on the Internet, it might well be time to get rid of the old style zoos. These rescue shelters are another story. I watch my rescued ditch-dwelling goldfish in my fish tank, brought indoors in winter to a 60 gallon aquarium, who spend three seasons in a 500 gallon outdoor pond.

Peter writes:

Wolves, we kill them and stuff them

Two hours of cleaning wounds, stitching, injecting …and things looked up for Granite. Her heart beat strengthened and her breathing steadied. She received 2 litres of subcutaneous fluids, antibiotics, trace elements, pain-killers and all the attention that could be afforded her. We waited another hour when her reflexes reappeared, indicating that the tranquiliser was slowly wearing off. The muzzle was removed and a bed of wood shavings prepared in a sheltered corner of the enclosure, where she was bedded in a blanket.

I don't often feature other people's videos. This one is amazing. It is a tribute to the wolves and the Haliburton Forest and Wild Life Reserve. Haida (1:30' in) and both Haida and Granite (at 3:52' in), have had a terrible time. For updates, visit their Facebook page.

 
Wolves from Ben Lean on Vimeo.
Shot February, 2012. Locations include Haliburton and the Kawarthas, Ontario.
Journey through the wilderness of Halibuton Highlands and the Kawarthas, territory of the wolf.

View from the Dorset lookout: Fall, 2012
Beautiful wilderness country in central Ontario

Music by Andrew Scott Foust-"A Whisper In The Echo"
Licensed through the Vimeo Music Store

Haliburton Forest & Wild Life Reserve

Ontario's hidden outdoor recreation, education and entertainment gem. Haliburton Forest and Wild Life Reserve Ltd., or simply Haliburton Forest, is a unique, privately owned forest located on 70,000 acres of rolling hardwood forests, beautiful lakes, meandering rivers and extensive wetlands in the...

Wolves escape Haliburton wildlife reserve through vandalism

What a horrible thing to do. You'd like to think that it is ignorance, rather than something stupid like pure vandalism, but I wonder. Stupidity is the active pursuit of ignorance. What are people thinking? There are reasons why the wolves are there, they cannot exist in the wild.

The Wolf Reserve owner writes about this Criminal Wolf Pack release. Criminal, indeed. It is a well-orchestrated event, with vandals opening both the inside and the outside enclosures, cutting holes for the wolves to escape in a place where staff couldn't observe the actions.

Two Arctic Wolves – sisters – needed to be to be
taken in by Aspen Valley from another centre
facing bankruptcy
- or they would be euthanized. 

The reserve’s owner, Peter Schleifenbaum, believes the vandals are animal rights activists or “individuals with a similar zeal to ‘liberate’ captive animals.”

It could well be true. But such stupidity. I visited Aspen Valley Wildlife Reserve last year. I learned a lot. All of the animals were born in captivity, and needed to live in captivity. Some were abused, others couldn't be cared for or released into the wild.

Zoe Coyote at Aspen Valley

These wolves at the Haliburton Reserve (see their photos), for example, are fed dead carcasses. It takes skill to track, hunt, and take down a 150 lb. deer. They don't have these skills. We have a neighbourhood wolf that dragged off roadkill into the forest. I imagine if it were easier to take down a deer, it wouldn't have chosen a three-day-old carcass.

A hunter, who had been using Mama bear
 to train dogs how to attack bears,
had her front claws and eyeteeth removed
so she was unable to defend herself.

These things almost always end badly. One of Haliburton Forest's staff noticed a bloody dragmark down the hill, about 200 meters north of the Wolf Centre. They found a cartridge and hair, and they believe that sometime that day Haida, the alpha male of the pack, was shot, killed, and taken away by a motorist. How shameful. Schliefenbaum, and his staff, is trying desperately to get the animals back into the enclosure. It's not easy.
The history of this wolf pack is interesting. Almost always there is a story. No one want to keep these wild animals if they have any understanding or concern for them. They are wild animals. Aspen Valley's critters all have horribly sad stories, and they reintroduce them to the wild, when possible. These licenced facilities exist on donations. They don't do this for fun, but out of a love of animals.

Another sanctuary: Bear With Us Sanctuary and Rehabilitation Centre for Bears

See www.bearwithus.org

Awareness and Understanding can save the life of a bear. This page is for educational use. Allowing people the opportunity to "Understand Bears." https://www.facebook.com/Understanding.Bears .

Eurasian Lynx, Banshee, used in a movie,
no longer needed, her new owner couldn't care for her,
they were going to put her down.
Aspen Valley took her in.

This isn't the only time people have done this. I wrote in November, 2008, about Fallow Deer Reserve, near Kingston. They had someone vandalize their fence and shoo their 13 rescued deer outside of the pen. A damn shame during hunting season, especially. Their stories are told here:

• In memory of Ty
• Dandy, born 2000 - died November 23, 2008
• EGee eases back!
• Moki's love story
• Ty, born 2002? - died Nov. 10, 2008
• Gulliver is back home!
• George returns home! This one's for Tasha & Kelly

SAINTS is an end-of-life B.C. sanctuary for senior and special needs animals that have nowhere else to go.

SAINTS 2012 720

www.youtube.com

www.saintsrescue.ca MISSION STATEMENT We are an end-of-life sanctuary for senior and special needs animals that have nowhere else 

Muskoka Lakes Tour!

Mom & Dad's gravesite

Gotta love the Muskoka River!

One of our favourite drives!

Love the stained glass windows in Haliburton!

But we visited many spots, and had some good times. Since Sir John featured in a previous tour, it was Muffin Muncher who went into lunch at Rosseau.

It was a whirlwind tour, what with our volunteer 'work'!

Muffin Muncher at Crossroads in Rosseau

Haliburton - watching the skies

Click on the image to see more!

Our recent trip back to Muskoka, to recover things the movers left behind, meant a trip through Haliburton. The skies were amazing.


Skies, even in the murals.

Our white rental van - OPP stopped us to check us out! We were cleared...

The town was dressed for fall.

We met the local Green Party candidate, who knows our S-I-L, Jean-Luc Cooke, a Federal Green Party candidate!

Haliburton - Kawartha Lakes - Brock | Green Party of Canada

Susanne Lauten is a retired small business owner who's been a three-season resident of Haliburton County for the past fifteen years

Nepean - Carleton | Green Party of Canada

Jean-Luc intends to become one of the first Green members of Parliament in parliament... Jean-Luc Cooke is the nominated candidate for the Green Party of Canada for Nepean-Carleton.

The backstory and penguins

Thanks, first, to my regular readers who have put up with my irregular posting. Things have been frantic, as my story will tell. But the kitchen looks good, with a trip to Ikea to help get it organized.

Joe in his new office!

Here's the backstory: in the old days it took 10 years for us to convince my grandmother to get a hearing aid. Then, when both my parents lost a lot of their hearing, Mom learned to read lips and pretend that she could hear, resulting in awkward and LOUD conversations. Dad simply avoided the phone. It was as if losing their hearing was a sign of weakness. It was frustrating and tiring as they were in denial. They both had hearing aids, but it didn't go well. Humans have made fabulous gains in technology, and this is one. They were tough years for me!

My hubby, whose name is Joseph Brian, has a slight hearing impairment. He has a 30% hearing loss, unmitigated by hearing aids due to the nature of his issue. This results in missed words in conversations, although he hears the full sentences, and he misses some of the words.

It is difficult in public places to hold a conversation, especially with ambient noises and the ubiquitous musak music. We have learned to live with it. We make sure we sit in corners, away from
large crowds. In fun, Joe will tell me what he THOUGHT I said, and we often have a good laugh about it.

Quiet breakfast

This brings me, finally, to my story! We were obliged to drive back to Bala, Muskoka to pick up boxes the movers left in our closet. With 3 cats caged for hours, we had to leave the movers to do their work in the heavy rain as we faced the 5-hour drive to Perth.

Sure. Accidents happen. You deal with it.

But not only did they have to make two trips (the truck wasn't big enough the first time) but these things from the hall closet were left behind. (Yes, I took photos. I am snap happy, with digital excess. I am a digitalholic and I admit it!)

I was reluctant to go back, but it had to be done.

Lakeview motel - hot tubs!

Now, hubby does not like driving. I love it. We rented a cube van, paid for by the moving company, to go back and look for our missing sign and the things in the closet. (My shoes, as well as other things!) I drove the 5-hour drive there, and hubby, unfamiliar with my camera, was in charge of that.


It was a glorious drive, with vibrant fall colours, aside from hydroplaning with the heavy rains.

We stayed overnight
at the Lakeview motel!

We got there and made it back to Haliburton's Lakeview motel before we decided to stop overnight. Too bad we didn't bring our swimsuits. A hot tub would have eased sore muscles.

A cop stopped us in Huntsville. We looked dubious. When he saw us, and our ages, he apologized! We weren't hauling stolen goods!


We were stuck behind a logging truck, he couldn't quite make it up the hills at the 80 km speed limit.

This slowed us down, but, again, with real-life paintings all along the way, it was the perfect time of year to drive. I would ask him to take a photo, but with a colour deficiency, he doesn't see colours as vibrantly as others.

What a job! 

I yelled at him, "Quick! Take a picture!" at one point. He simply sat there. I couldn't figure out what was wrong. He sat in contemplation.

Scenery mitigates the slow truck in front!

As is his way, he was trying to process what he had heard.

He thought he heard me say, "Look. A huge penguin!"

From then on, all I had to say was, 'penguin' and he'd lift the camera. It was a great cue and I laughed so hard I was crying.

 We spotted the brilliant reds of the sumac, the golds and yellows and red of the maples.

The Precambrian shield, with its pink granite, bracketed the view.

Cottage country is a beautiful place to be!

The Haliburton Highlands are a glorious drive, with the hills beautiful dressed for fall viewing.

The deep green of the pines punctuate all the more the maple and poplar colours. The water reflects the colours our the scene.

The farms featured interesting critters, fattening themselves up for fall, too. Nearer to home, with flatter terrain, there were many farms. The grass is a deep green, with the cooler temperatures and heavy rains.