Archive for November 20, 2010
A Wolf Adventure: Bringing Lobos Home to Wildlife West Nature Park
by John Weckerle
Ted Turner's Ladder Ranch embodies the spirit of southern New Mexico, with breathtaking scenery around every bend in the road.
On November 17, three Mexican Gray Wolves made the move from the Ladder Ranch in southern New Mexico to Wildlife West Nature Park in Edgewood. Our journey began early, with the van leaving the Park at 5 a.m., carrying eight of us (Park founder Roger Alink; volunteers Christi Boyer and Pat Button; filmmaker Elke Duerr; East Mountain High School teacher Bradd Schulke [who also manages Wildlife West’s summer education program] and two of his students; and your editor) to the Ladder Ranch southwest of Truth or Consequences. The mood was a lot cheery and a little bleary, with some folks chatting and some napping, gathering their strength for the day’s activities. Your editor sat next to Ms. Duerr, who is in the process of creating a documentary on the Mexican Gray Wolf, or lobo. We discussed the lobos and they myths surrounding them, as well as the wolf’s place in the ecosystem and ecosystem management in general. Of course, policy, politics, and special interests had a prominent place in the discussion, but we’ll save those issues for a future article.
»» A Wolf Adventure: Bringing Lobos Home to Wildlife West Nature Park