Wolf Eyes

The eyes have it. Oh yes indeed, they have it. Deep. Intense. Staring right through you and at you at the same time. Yellow in exactly the shade of yellow that eyes should not be. Seeing you, all of you, sizing you up, measuring you, and taking complete stock of you. Non-blinking and non-wavering the eye have it.

And they have you.

This particular pair of eyes belongs to a wolf at the Wild Spirit Wolf Sanctuary in Ramah, NM. The WSWS (when abbreviated) is all about the care and rehabilitation of wolves; they have more than a few there in varying stages of wolveness. Some are a little more gentle around humans than others. And some, like the guy, leave a little room for doubt.

Oh. And that spot of blood? Hard to see, I know, because the eyes hold you. But it certainly leaves room for doubt, doesn’t it?

Ssshhhh… be wery wery, quiet. We are hunting wabbit. And not just any wabbit, but a wabbit in the snow.

I had known this particular rabbit was there for the longest time, of course. I could see the tracks–fresh tracks, mind you–throughout the day. But the wabbit was that of a ghost, for no matter patient I was, it did not materialize. Luckily I am pretty darn patient, and finally I managed to catch it while it was outside of its hole. A moment later I had my ever elusive quarry square in my sights and the picture is now mine. Hah! Camera 1, Wabbit 0 (if we were keeping score. Which, given the number of times I’d missed this wabbit, it is a good thing we’re weren’t keeping score, come to think of it). At any rate, the Wascally Wabbit was now caught, fair and square.

Saw-Whet Pose, originally uploaded by ifringe.

It was a shaky start, but in the end we managed to pull it off and visit the Wild Spirit Wolf Sanctuary in Ramah, NM.

The sanctuary is an absolutely wonderful place to visit: they are dedicated, and I mean dedicated, to helping wolves. They care for them, house them, feed them, and in do phenomenal work for and with the wolves. We took a photo tour of the sanctuary, which means that we had direct access to the wolves themselves, with no fences nor barriers between the camera and the wolf. There are more than a few wolves in the sanctuary, so naturally, we started with the red fox.

This is Romeo, a rescue Red Fox. He came from the midwest, and started life as a pet. As it turns out, keeping a fox as a pet, despite the ultimate in the coolness factor, is just not a good idea. They are smart, clever, way active and, uh, on the active side. They just, in the end, don’t make a good pet, which is unfortunate for Romeo. Luckily, the wonderful folks here took over his care, and he is living out his days in foxy luxury. He’s super friendly, very playful, not shy in the least, and best of all (for me), loves to mug it up for the camera.

Which is how this particular shot came about. Meet Romeo. He’s foxy, and he’s a great guy.