We were cruising down the desert highway. I gazed out of the window and saw scattered trees reaching into the distant sand. Angie abruptly turned into a car park, forcing Katie to brake hard, and out of the desolate wilderness appeared the local town. A gas station on our left. A short row of concrete buildings on the right. This was Pinehill. We clambered out of the car, the full moon, large and opaque, looming above us in the twilight. We entered the Laundrette. It was empty and several machines wore an 'out of order' sign. I loaded seven quarters in the slot and, thankfully, watched as the barrel started to turn. I left to explore the Market, passing a family of locals who had turned up to do their weekly run. In the store, several brands of American delights called out to me as I perused the isles. I exited, and saw a Navajo Indian emblem on the wall, reminding me we were still on the reservation. As I experienced the full on sugar rush from my banana moon pie, yogurt covered pretzels and Mountain Due, I thought about life on the reservation. How we were so isolated from the rest of the world. This was the biggest town for miles. It felt refreshing, yet scary, and strangely humble.
I've now been at the sanctuary for two weeks and I've learnt so much. I know all the animals by name, their medications and daily protocol. I haven't learnt this much in such a short time in my life! I've learnt a lot about myself too. I've coped without electricity (in the Dome at least) and become experienced with fire making. My fires continue into the night and I've had to start shedding blankets to cool down! It's been fun hanging out in the wolf kitchen, playing games, baking cakes. I thought I'd be bored in my free time and spend nights reading by the fire, but I've barely read a page! The big trip to Albuquerque is going ahead. We're going to drink and be merry, hopefully in the area around Central, this Sunday night. I can't wait.
Building up a relationship with my animals has been truly amazing. On my first solo visit to clean the Nola pack's enclosure, I was ignored by Saint, the Alpha who welcomed be last time. Instead, it was Katrina who was fascinated with me. She raced right up to me and licked my face all over! Saint continued to lie down, comfortable with my presence. Eventually he lumbered over, Azteka behind him, and both licked my face to say hello! On my third visit, Saint and Azteka came up as before, but Juno, the very shy black wolf, pranced just behind them, clearly wanting to say hello but unsure if he should brush past the more dominant members. Hopefully, he'll be coming up to me soon, which will be a very big achievement in his socialisation. The pack are very much like dogs. I can even throw sticks to them and they run around the enclosure, happy as can be. Goldie's relationship to the pack, as the Omega, represents their wolf side. I went into the enclosure to hand feed them red meat loaves. Once everyone had one, Juno ran back and forth between his loaf and Goldie's, preventing her from getting one! It would appear that the Omega eats last.
Romeo is a very different animal. He's just so cute! I've given him a glove complex, as he can't stop biting my hand to remove my glove! He's a lot more timid, but I have had him climb into my lap to try and sniff my face. The slightest movement and he darts off, so I have to sit very still and let him investigate me. I don't think he will ever be as social towards me as Nola pack, he's still too wild in his mentality, but I hope to get him calm enough so that I can have a good cuddle!
The animals aren't all cute. In fact, after Wednesday's incident, I've learnt to remain vigilant. I was at the far end of Nola packs enclosure, cleaning up their muck. They're very clean animals, and elected this part of the enclosure to be their toilet. George spoke on the radio, "Why are people running?" On Tuesdays meeting, we were specifically told not to run unless there is an emergency, as if people see you running, instantly, they figure something has gone wrong. I wondered if someone had forgotten and hoped they didn't get in too much trouble. It was then that the wolves started to howl. But it wasn't their usual howl. This was eerie. Short, erratic bursts came from 20 plus enclosures. Nola pack started pacing and whining. I knelt down next to Saint and tried to see if he was ok, but he seemed focused on something in the distance. I thought nothing of it, and wandered down to wolf kitchen, when I heard the news. Angel had been attacked. I'd been too far away to hear her scream. Alison had heard her and ran. Robin saw her running, and followed suit. Later, I found out that Thunder and Alice had been fighting, and Angel got caught in the middle. Thunder bit her hand then went for her leg. Angel was fine, but it's a reminder of the strength of these creatures. Thunder didn't mean to harm Angel, but as mating season draws near, the animals are testing each other and becoming more aggressive with each other. This is another reason why humans and wolves don't mix. When attacks happen, the wolf is blamed, but this is only nature. The wolf doesn't mean to harm us, but when 1500 lbs per square inch of draw pressure decides to fight another, we don't stand a chance.
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