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.