Spring has arrived to our western Wyoming rangelands. We’ve already had temperatures in the 40s and snowmelt, with the resulting visit from our old friend mud – which we haven’t experienced for the longest time in our decade or so of drought. It’s been a pleasure to have to throw the truck in four-wheel drive …
Author: Cat Urbigkit
Wyoming Winter
We’ve enjoyed a fairly quiet winter in western Wyoming, and are thrilled with the recent series of snowstorms and blizzards hitting our area. We’ve been in a drought so long it was somewhat a pleasure when I buried the feed truck in deep snow this morning. Even though I was sure that the snow would …
Why We Need Wildlife Services
USDA Wildlife Services – the federal animal damage control agency – has come under increased attack by those who want to shut this agency (which Defenders of Wildlife calls “the hit-man for hire arm of the USDA”), and I want to weigh in after two decades of working fairly closely with the agency in western …
Rena’s Contributions
It’s been nearly two months since Rena tangled with wolves while protecting our sheep herd in the foothills of the southern Wind River Mountains. She has recovered nicely – no major muscle loss, but some stiffness in her hind end remains, and we suspect that won’t change. The sheep herd has moved home for the …
The Land Of My Soul
It was a crisp 16 degrees when we set out, the headlights of the truck shining on the black ice coating the roadway, with the soft fog buffering the white glare of the freshly fallen snow blanketing the landscape. It was slow going pulling the empty stock trailer so it wouldn’t fishtail on the slick …
South African AfriCanis
We met these AfriCanis dogs in one community in South Africa. Their owners are devoted to the preservation of AfriCanis, and these dogs demonstrate the beauty and agility of the animals found throughout the rural countryside. Blood samples from desert bred Saluqis in the Middle East and the native African dogs in KwaZulu-Natal of South …
Dogs in Zululand
KwaZulu-Natal is home to the Zulu, and is located between the country of Lesotho and the eastern coast of South Africa. Here are some of the Zulu dogs we met in our journey. These dogs are used to protect livestock herds, but are also used in packs to hunt.
AfriCanis in Lesotho
AfriCanis is the word used to describe the native dogs of Africa. Here is a sample of AfriCanis we saw in Lesotho. These dogs have a broad range of uses – from guarding livestock, to their use as hunting dogs.
Big dogs of Lesotho
It’s taken me forever to sort photos from our Lesotho/South Africa trip, but now I’m going to flood the blog with images of dogs we met along the way. These are the bigger dogs or livestock guardian type dogs that we met in Lesotho. The primary predators in Lesotho are jackals, but these dogs have …
Of Livestock, Predators, & Guardians
This summer, our sheep have been grazing a series of private pastures in the foothills of the southern Wind River Mountains – pastures that have been used by domestic sheep herds for more than 100 years. This small herd is protected by the three burros that are always present, and by livestock guardian dogs. The …