Things I have learnt

It is my last night at the shelter. I have been packing all afternoon and am taking a well deserved break (read - I am nowhere near done but got distracted looking at pictures). So I thought I would share some more pictures highlighting some of the things I have learnt on this trip.

1) A grizzly bear with a milk mustache is one of the funniest/ cutest things I have ever witnessed

2) This is not the right way to hold a goose at all, but it does lead to some pretty cute pictures.

3) Apparently mares do not like it when you chase their day old foal around a field then hold it and refuse let go. (This is called imprinting and is very important to do in the weeks after a foal is born. It makes them much easier to handle and catch when they are older. I wasn't just chasing a foal for fun. I promise.)

4) From an early age, a few select deer have the urge to just take off and fly.

5) Sometimes baby bears mistake cameras for food.

6) And finally baby bears also like to pull silly faces in front of the camera. Just like some people do.

Silver King Basin

This last Wednesday the other volunteer and I got another day off together, so along with the two teenagers who are here helping out with the horses, we decided to go out on another hike after the great day we had last time. This time we wanted to be more adventurous so hiked up to what is called Silver King Basin. The trail takes you to a beautiful wild meadow and a large flowing river that is inside a basin 1300 feet up into the mountains. IT WAS STUNNING. Honestly it might just have been one of the most beautiful places I have ever visited.

In the meadow was a log cabin where hikers are able to stay and rest, had I more than one day off and more time to explore I definitely would have stayed there for a few days.

My dream home

 It was a relatively easy walk, around 20km and I had such a great time. We were all laughing and joking the whole day and it was nice to just get away from the farm for a day, as often on my days off I am stuck on site as I can't drive. It's pretty easy to get slight cabin fever when you can't leave.

Exploring around the basin we found the last remnants of the old mines. A couple of mining carts and a portion of the tracks have been left for hikers to explore and we had a lot of fun climbing in them and taking pictures. It's pretty cool to think that this cart is over 100 years old.

I'm such a dork

Things at the shelter have quietened down a lot after the baby season. Our little deer, Brock (yes named after the Pokemon Character. When we picked him up he had a double sided eye infection, meaning he couldn't open his eyes at all, hence the name) is doing extremely well. He knows his name, and comes running to get his milk. He is very excitable and also completely adorable.

SUPER CUTE!!!

All the bears are doing great. Fisher, the bear that suddenly became gravely ill last month, has finished his meds and despite being given only a 5% survival chance by vets, pulled through and has been reunited with the other bears.

Eight of our ducks are ready to be released this weekend, along with our four foxes. Also Ninja, our Canada goose, has another friend. We got another Canada goose that we named Turtle. Get it. Ninja Turtle. We are hilarious! Ninja has been living in the same enclosure as the ducks since they arrived, so we have the running joke now that we have Turtle, who is a goose, living with another goose that thinks it's a duck. Not confusing AT ALL.

The two beavers, now named Willow and Aspen (much more suitable for the public than what we nicknamed them. Fussbutt and Chubs) are growing like crazy and we are still looking into options on where to send them. BC doesn't allow the release of beavers as, despite being the national animal, they are considered a nuisance. So eventually a home in a wildlife park or a zoo needs to be found.

L: Aspen (Chubs) R: Willow (Fussbutt)

Seeing as I am on  photo uploading spree, here is a picture of me in a den with Littlefoot, our yearling Grizzly bear. We tranquilised him so I was able to take paw prints. I never expected to get so close to a grizzly bear!

Phew, that was a long update. I'm in my last week at the shelter now, so my next update will most likely come from Vancouver, where I am staying for four days before I fly home. I think i'm also going to be avoiding the news for the next week as i'm getting slightly nervous to be going on a bunch of planes with all these disappearances and crashes that are happening right now. It's kind of unsettling to say the least.

Until next time!

The Road Not Taken

On Tuesday (July 8th) The other volunteer and myself got a day off together and we decided to go hiking and check out the nearby Twin Falls. It was stunningly beautiful and warm day, however the trail ended up being way too short for our liking, and it wasn't long before we reached the viewpoint for the waterfall. We had two choices, either turn back and take the second, longer trail, or continue on and make our own trail. I was instantly reminded of the famous Robert Frost poem 'The Road Not Taken' and with that in mind we chose to forge our own path and get a closer look at the falls.

We started off by climbing up onto the rocks that ran alongside the viewpoint. It was a pretty steep cliff face, but we managed to find enough indents and grooves to place our hands and feet to successfully make it up. Once over the cliff, we followed a rock path right down to the river, where there was still ice and snow from the winter. We then crossed the river using an Ice bridge that was still standing and that took us pretty close to the waterfall. From there we made our way down some more rocks, right to the bottom of the waterfall, before it got too cold to go any further. By this point we were soaked to the bone from the spray and as all the water is glacial run off water, it was pretty darn cold!

It was a wet, cold and very rough walk/climb, but ultimately worth it. Taking the road less traveled really paid off for us and it had been a long time since I had that much adrenaline running through me. Both of us said, while walking back that we were shaking not just because of the cold, and that our legs felt like they had turned to jelly. Unsurprisingly the way down took a bit longer.

After our hike, we grabbed some very well deserved ice-cream and went shopping, then once it had cooled down a bit, we headed out to the other side of the valley to hike some more on Hudson Bay Mountain. Still feeling a bit tired from this morning, we opted for the easy trail, adorably named 'Fuzzy Monkey'. It's actually a mountain biking trail, but walking it was fun too. We found a lot of fur in the branches that we instantly recognised as bear fur. After working with bears for almost a year, it's very easy to tell simply from the smell.

I am still working on getting the pictures up for this post and the previous, soon, I promise!

Gwaii Haanas

What an incredible, whirlwind few weeks I have had. I'm sorry for not posting anything sooner but I have been working 15 hour days for the past couple of weeks so once i'm back in my room, all I an think of doing if collapsing on my bed, certainly not writing a blog.

Our animal intake has increased, we now have 6 black bear cubs, 1 fawn, 11 ducks, 2 geese, 4 foxes, 1 grizzly bear cub and 2 beavers. Between all of that plus all the cleaning and maintenance I have been kept very busy.

The 2 beavers (named Willow and Aspen) are completely adorable. Due to B.C laws they can't be released back into the wild, so while we try to find a suitable zoo or sanctuary we get to tame them. Which really doesn't take much they are pretty friendly as it is, but it does mean that whenever I get some free time I can go and cuddle and play with them.

One of the highlights of the past week was that I got to release the final black bear of last year (Zippy) on Haida Gwaii. Haida Gwaii is an archipelago of islands off the north coast of B.C. It is informally known as The Queen Charlotte islands and has been described as 'The Galapagos of the North' due to the beautiful scenery, and the number of endemic species found on the islands. Zippy herself is a subspecies of black bear found only on these islands that are much larger than the mainland bears.

Haida Gwaii is mostly inhabited by the native Haida people. As I was driving around the islands it became very apparent that the islands are rich in culture. Native totem poles adorned the towns and local art can be found on everything from clothing to shower curtains to gas station signs. There is even a Haida language, Gwaii Haanas is the Haida name for Moresby island, the southern island which was our destination for Zippy's release. This may have been one of the more difficult release sites this year. A 4 hour drive followed by a 7 hour ferry, then another 30 minute ferry, then another 90 minute drive and we finally reached our destination on a mountainside, surrounded by coastal rainforest.

The ferry to the islands doesn't run on Sundays and as the only boat we could get out was Saturday morning we stayed on the island all weekend. Originally we had planned to sight see for most of Sunday however one of the guys who came on the release with us gave us an offer we couldn't really refuse. It turns out he flies a tiny 6 person float plane every week along with a government representative to do a fishing boat survey. It just so happened that this weeks flight fell on the Sunday we were there and he invited us to come along for the ride! I thought the 50 seat plane to Smithers was small but this plane looked like a toy. I almost didn't believe it would even fly, but soon enough we were flying all around the coast of the islands and up into the mountains. It was breathtaking! It looked like something from a fantasy movie and I even got to see some wild island bears from the window.

I arrived back at just after midnight Tuesday morning and got just a few hours sleep before I had to be up nice and early to prepare for the shelter's annual open house. Normally the shelter is closed to visitors, but one day each year (Canada Day) we open the doors and allow people to take a look around and see the animals. This year was the biggest yet, 1200 people showed up and we raised over $6000. I spent 8 hours with Brock the baby deer, answering questions and showing him off to everyone. It was a lot of fun and i'm glad that we had such a fantastic event.

I'm sorry that there are no photos in this post. I have lots I want to share but my internet connection seems to have taken a nosedive. I suspect it may have something to do with all the thunderstorms we've been having recently. If I manage to upload them at some point i'll make a comment in my next post saying so.

Mixed emotions

The past couple of days at the shelter have been extremely stressful and emotional. Last week one of the horses here, Cass, gave birth to her foal, Rocky. However it became apparent soon after he was born that something wasn't right. His front legs were bent strangely and he couldn't stand at all. He was rushed to the vets where his legs were bandaged and he was given medication and shots to combat the problem. As he couldn't stand to drink we had to milk Cass and bottle feed Rocky. However it was extremely difficult and he wasn't getting enough milk to sustain himself. He passed away today (Monday June 16th).

To make things even worse, one of the bears, Fisher, has become gravely ill. We brought him back down to the hospital to monitor him and took him to the vets to have tests done. We are still waiting for the results, but he is eating so there is still hope, even if he very weak right now, he hasn't given up yet.

In my last post I told you about the moose we got from Prince George that had a large hernia. We decided to give surgery a go, seeing as her chances of survival without it were zero, she would have died and we wanted to do everything we could to prevent that. Miraculously she woke up from the surgery and recovered from the sedation very well. However not long after she started refusing milk and it all went downhill. Sadly she also passed away at around 10am this morning. During the last few hours we spent with her, we decided to name her Trooper after her fighting spirit.

Honestly, I have spent most of the past day crying. I was bottle feeding Trooper every three hours. Even during the night, waking up and midnight, 3am and again at 6am to ensure she never went hungry. Sometimes it was a struggle and sometimes she happily drank. I spent a lot of time just sitting with her, playing with her and trying to help with that feeling of loneliness that many orphaned animals have to deal with. For the five days I cared for Trooper I became very attached and it has been extremely hard to let her go.

There is a quote, from a show called Code Geass, which articulates that if happiness were to resemble a physical object it would be that of glass as it is often all around you, yet invisible, you merely have to change your perspective a little to see it. I often find myself thinking about this quote and the truth behind it. I also find myself thinking similarly in terms of other emotions and given my current situation I propose that if happiness resembles glass then sadness must resemble the bricks surrounding that glass in a window. Without those bricks the glass could not stay supported - It is the sadness in life that brings meaning to the happy times and never have I seen this more in losing an animal that I was caring for.With the terrible sadness I felt upon learning that Trooper didn't survive I am able to value the fact that the other animals did. We have already released nine bears, two foxes, two owls and a hawk back into the wild. We have more bears, a deer, a hare, a goose and a whole bunch of ducks that have a great chance of being released within the next year and continue their lives where they should be - In the wild.

I apologise for getting sentimental and for writing such a depressing post, but it's not really in my capacity to write about much else at the moment. I hope that normal service will resume next time, but for now all that's left to say is rest in peace, Trooper and Rocky.

Animals everywhere

When they said that spring time at a wildlife shelter can get pretty busy, they really weren't kidding.

Our bear cub count is now up to six. Norman, Jo and Fisher have been joined by Artio, a black and brown cub from just down the road, who was found wandering around on a neighbour's driveway all alone. Maya, an extremely small and very quiet cub from Vanderhoof and a still unnamed male cub from Prince George. Feeding time is more than a bit chaotic right now as they are all on milk and will often try to steal milk from another bears bowl leading to a few scuffles each night.

Artio

Maya

We also got the first moose of the season in a few days ago from Prince George. She is very small, and at most only two or three days old. Conservation officers found her drowning in a ditch and we picked her up. She is drinking milk well and seems quite alert. However we discovered a large lump on her right side during our initial check up. Upon further inspection by a vet, we learnt that she has a very large abdominal hernia. It doesn't seem to be causing her any discomfort and the hole is quite large so the vet doesn't think she is at risk of any pinching of the guts. Surgery is an option, however there are risks. Moose are already extremely sensitive to sedation and with this moose being so young surgery isn't a guarantee of survival. The vet suggested that we could try to push the lump back in and wrap a tight bandage around her middle to hold it and hope that it heals by itself. In the meantime i'm having a great time bottle feeding, she needs to be fed every three hours, so we share the job between the three volunteers to ensure we at least get some sleep.

Just yesterday we picked up our first deer as well. A concerned neighbour had been watching it all afternoon and when no mum came back to it we were called to investigate. The deer is around 2 days old, very weak and has an infection in the right eye. He has been put on the same feeding schedule as the moose and we administered eye drops to try and clear the infection.

We also packed up five more bears to be released and as I write this the shelter owners are continuing their drive right to the BC/America border to release one of them. All the bears we rehab are released into the same region from where they came. There hasn't been much study into the genetics of black bears and we don't want to mix gene pools to be on the safe side. This does mean however that we have to drive thousands of miles each spring to take them back. In just a few weeks time I will be going to the Queen Charlotte islands to release our last bear from last year, Zippy. That is a five hour drive, followed by a seven hour ferry and another hour drive to reach.

What a truck, loaded with 5 bears, looks like

A busy week.

It has been a whirlwind week here at the shelter. Just last night at around 3am we picked up another cub. It's mother was hit by a car and killed and 3 days later some loggers found the corpse at the side of the logging road, with the cub sitting on it, still trying to nurse of the dead body. The sight was so heart-wrenching that the loggers were in tears when they made the call to us, to ask if we could help. The little bear came in weighing only 7.6lbs, around 10lbs underweight of a healthy bear at this age.

Speaking of healthy bears yesterday we moved the three little cubs up to the outside enclosure. Norman met Jo and Fisher and I he is so happy to have some friends. In the outside enclosure they have much more room to run around and climb. They have trees to explore and are exposed to the elements and to other wildlife. This will help them learn more about the environment they will be released into next year and will give them a much better chance at survival.

Norman (top), Fisher (left) and Jo (right) exploring their new enclosure

Earlier on in the week we received a small gosling, named Ninja, after he tried to walk right into someone's fire pit all by himself. After it was determined there were no other geese around he was sent to us. He is pretty darn cute. We don't have any other goslings here and he was getting pretty lonely so in the meantime I put a small wind up Easter chick toy into his cage and he started following it around when I wound it up! Adorable. We then received 8 ducklings after their mum got hit by a lawnmower and we put Ninja in with them and he seems to have adopted all of them, which is great. Not to mention super cute when we walked in the next morning and saw all the ducklings cuddled up against Ninja. 

Ninja and part of his new flock

Finally we received a call just under a week ago about a grizzly bear in Fernie, right in the south of BC on the Alberta border. This shelter is the only place in the entire world licensed to rehab Grizzly bears, and since the pilot project started they have successfully raised and released 11 Grizzly bears. 

The cub is around 16 months old and severely malnourished. It is theorised that he has been alone since last Autumn, that he hibernated alone after his mother was killed last year. The shelter owners drove for 2 and a half days to pick him up and found that he was all skin and bone. From a distance he looks better but his fur is still very fluffy so it is deceiving. When he arrived at the shelter we put him on the scale and found he weighed a measly 48lbs. Around 100lbs underweight of a healthy Grizzly for this time of year.

'Little Foot' the Grizzly bear

This is huge for the shelter and global news instantly contacted saying they wanted to run a story so we have been filming and taking pictures constantly and sending them copies. Footage that I filmed of his arrival even appeared on National news!

He appears to be doing well and is eating lots. He will hopefully continue to put on weight here and be released later in August.

Born to be Wild

So before I get onto the really, really good news I should probably tell you all about the two new additions to the shelter.

A few days ago we got a call about two tiny cubs that had been seen alone in the Cranbrook area, which is right in the south of BC, near the US border. Someone went to check it out and they found the cubs in extremely bad shape. They were so small and weak that they could easily be picked up and put in a transport box with no fighting or anything. The female, Jo, weighed 5lbs and the male, Fisher weighed 6lbs. For comparison, Norman who is the same age and still a little underweight weighs 15lbs. They saw a vet as soon as possible and were deemed to be starving, dehydrated and if they hadn't have been found when they were, they most likely wouldn't have survived the night.

From there an intricate mission started to get them to the shelter. We first tried to arrange to get them on a flight straight to Smithers as this would be the quickest way to get them here. However it was a long weekend and the guy in charge who we needed to agree to transporting bears wouldn't be back in the office for another three days and that just wouldn't do. Driving to Cranbrook is a trip that could take anywhere between 15 and 20 hours so we put out a message asking for help and we got several people to drive the bears north so we could meet them in the middle.

It was a huge group effort and the bears are here now. They are eating, but it is clear they have a long way to go. They are severely underweight and I haven't heard one sound come from either of them, which is very unusual.

Jo (left) and Fisher (right) enjoying some milk.

In other (happier) bear news Norman is doing great, we had to move him out of his hospital pen to make room for Jo and Fisher. He protested a bit at first, refusing to drink his milk, instead opting to flip the bowl over and make a mess. He screamed and generally caused trouble until we dragged in a huge hollow log and that seemed to mellow him out a bit. He sits inside there for hours on end, quite content with his new home.

Norman, enjoying his new bed

Finally just a few days ago we released our first black bear, Berwyn. When he arrived at the shelter way back in October he weighed only 40lbs. Unfortunately he didn't gain enough weight to successfully hibernate through the winter, but he steadily grew and when we weighed him a few hours before release, he was up to 106lbs! We drove up into a provincial park, in the same region as where we found him. Along the way we saw two wild black bears, two moose and grizzly tracks, pretty good for a 2 hour drive. Then when it came to release we opened the box and he ran out, ready to explore and continue his life where he is meant to be - In the wild. It was a very emotional experience, having seen him come in as a tiny little bear, taking his little paw prints a few weeks after arriving. I took his paw prints again on release day and they are now as big as my hand. As he ran out of the box i'm not even ashamed to say that I was crying, happy tears of course, but crying all the same. I have suggested that a box of tissues become part of the release kit as i'm sure that i'll be crying on other releases I get to go on.

Bye Berwyn!

I'm a mummy!

No, not like that. Don't have a heart attack mum. I've become a surrogate mummy to Norman the bear cub that arrived a few weeks ago. He is now off bottle feeding and has started eating more fruit, albeit, pureed together to form a kind of mixed fruit smoothie. He still gets milk and porridge and all of those combined have helped him put on another two pounds since he arrived, almost doubling his weight to 4.52lbs.

He has to be fed four times a day. The first feeding being at six in the morning and the last at eleven at night. I have taken the morning feeding slot as i'm up around that time anyway. Yes to any of my family reading this, you read that correctly. I'm a morning person now. I wake up between six and six thirty each morning without an alarm. So It just seemed to make sense that I do the early shifts.

Also because Norman is currently the only small bear cub here, we also have the task of playing with him to allow him to exhibit his natural play behaviours and help develop his physical and mental skills. So for part of each day I become Norman's playmate. I thought he was cute before but seeing this tiny little furball trying to attack my knee or play fighting with his teddy bear is just too adorable. I like to wait until he runs towards me, then with either my hands or a teddy tickle his tummy until he rolls over. He then runs away only to come running back for more. He thinks it's a great game. I also use the teddy when I give him milk. I place the milk bowl down and then put the teddy next to the bowl as if it is drinking the milk. This usually causes Norman to com running over and try to push the teddy away so he can drink the milk himself. This is a great behaviour to have and will help him tremendously when he does get released as he will inevitably face competition in the wild.

Yes I know, I have a tough job. But someone's got to do it right?

Norman the bear

Spring has sprung at the shelter, all the snow has completely disappeared, the sun is shining, and occasionally the rain comes pelting down, but being from England i'm pretty used to this and always receive some weird looks when i'm feeding animals in my rain coat insisting that it's 'just water, calm down'.

With spring comes baby animals so we are busy preparing for the baby season which starts next month. However we did receive a very cute guest a few days ago.

Meet Norman.

Norman is a baby black bear around 3 months in age. He was found alone in the Penticton region of BC which is around 650 miles south of where the shelter is. He was transported up to us and currently resides in the hospital pen where he is doing very well.

Norman is in relatively good shape, if a little underweight. For comparison the three cubs we looked after in March, despite being a month younger, weighed more then Norman when they arrived. These bears are good examples of what the prime weight should be, as they have (except for one night) never been separated from their mother. The fact that Norman weighs less than them and is around the same size could be cause for concern. However he is very active has been put on a diet of milk, porridge and apples.

Did I mention that he is also too cute for words? He has two cuddly toys for comfort and watching him play fight with them, or attack pieces of straw is adorable. He shows that straw who's boss. In the hospital pen there is a shelf around a meter of the ground. Norman, despite being tiny, somehow managed to climb his way up onto the shelf, only to then get stuck and was unable to get down without help. He kept doing this until we eventually made a ramp so he wouldn't get stuck anymore. Only now that there is access to the shelf he suddenly isn't as interested in going up there any more. Typical man.

Norman will stay in the hospital until he gains weight and starts eating more solid food once he is off the milk and big enough he will eventually be transported to one of the outside pens up on the hill, where he will continue to hopefully gain weight and be monitored until it is time for release in just over a years time.

The time we saved a whole family of bears.

So a while ago something absolutely incredible happened here at the shelter. I put off posting about it because I was afraid that if something went wrong or if it didn't all go according to plan I would have to make a very sad follow up post. However now that it's all over and everything turned out ok I think I can share the experience.

On March 9th we got a call at the shelter asking if we had room for 3 bear cubs. Black bear cubs are all born at the end of January or beginning of February which would have made these cubs around a month old. Of course the answer was an immediate yes, but we weren't quite expecting what followed. We were asked if along with the cubs we could take their 275lb mother! That was a first for the shelter. 

It turns out that the den of the bears had been disturbed and woken the mother bear up. It was close to a residential area and could have been dangerous. The conservation officer wanted to try and save all the bears so asked if we could take them all. We couldn't turn them down.

However as it turned out tranquilising a fully grown, adult bear was more difficult than expected. The CO managed to eventually knock her out, only she was in a tree at the time and got stuck. They had to fell the tree in the end and then we picked up the bears and drove them back to the shelter.

Because of the whole ordeal of getting mum out of the tree we would have to assess for injuries, so the cubs had to be separated for a while. Since they were so young and they can't go more than 10 hours without milk this meant that for one evening we had to bottle feed. Cue me, sitting at the kitchen table at 1am, with a tiny 3lb cub sitting on my lap trying to get it to drink milk from a little bottle. I am not hesitating when I say it was the most adorable sight I have ever seen. I placed the cub on the ground in order to reheat the milk and I kid you not the cub stumbled around in the cutest way ever. They could barely hold themselves up at this age and I nearly melted at the sight. We then had to repeat this process again at 6am before it was established that mum was fine and they could all be transported up to our grizzly enclosure where hopefully they would fall back asleep for a while.

In order to protect the cubs from the harsh cold wind we carried them up after mum had been placed in the den (still tranquilised). I then rubbed the cub I had all over the mother's fur in order to cover up the human smell. We also rubbed vapor rub on the mother bears nose to further disguise the human scent. Finally we helped the cubs latch onto their mum so they could nurse and the happy sounds they made whilst drinking I don't think I will ever forget. Again, I was standing in a den with an adult bear and her three cubs. It was quite surreal to say the least!

Thankfully the bears stayed in the den and in hibernation for a few more weeks before we saw any activity. It wasn't long after that the CO's returned and we could transport them back home. An area was found where they would be away from people and hopefully undisturbed. Before leaving we once again weighed the cubs and checked over the mum. All bears were alive and well and the cubs had even gained weight. A trap was set right outside the artificial den in our enclosure and we didn't have to wait long before mum came out and we were ready to go.

They were released a few weeks ago with ear tags and a radio collar and we can do no more now other than hope that they will make it.

I feel so extremely grateful to have been part of something this incredible. We saved the lives of an entire family of bears, and even though I left covered with scratches (bear cubs have wicked sharp claws) it was all worth it in the end.

Horsing around

Hey, guess what - It's still winter here! Honestly it's getting kind of stupid now. It warmed up considerably, reaching 9 degrees on a couple of days (meaning I was sweating buckets because apparently anything above freezing is too hot for me now), so all the snow started melting (giving way to sloppy mud - joy!) only for it to dip back to zero one night, snow all day and all night and put us right back to where we started again. How I long for winter in England where we get two days of snow and lots of rain. Really I never thought I would be hoping for rain.

So another week, another  blog. I confess I am still struggling with this whole writing thing. I am still finding it difficult to come up with topics that I think are interesting enough to warrant a blog post, and most of all I am very much struggling with the fact that anything I write down I think is utter crap. I received some encouragement from my family though and was told some wise words spoken by my late grandfather who I unfortunately never got the chance to meet.

He said: "There is no such thing as useless information - Just information whose time has not yet arrived". This did put into perspective my idea that the stuff I am writing about is boring and dull because 'honestly who wants to read about endless days of snow'.

Enough of the depressing - onto the blog. With this seemingly endless winter continuing on, much to my chagrin, I have taken some advice and decided to talk about horse riding and horses in general.

When I planned my trip here I had no clue horses would be involved at all. I knew bears, moose, big cats and a whole host of other wildlife of varying sizes in between. What I didn't know was the shelter has a sister business in the shape of a trail riding company. When I first arrived here in summer I was invited to come on a couple of trail rides. Having never been on or near a horse before this was a bit daunting and also a bit exciting. There are also a few stories to tell because let's face it, it wouldn't be me if stuff didn't go hilariously and horribly wrong would it?

On my first trail ride, I was originally planning on riding a beautiful draft horse named Pixi. I fell in love with her as soon as I got her on the halter, only it turns out that she had been having some issues with bolting in the middle of trails recently. Putting someone with no horse experience on a horse that was likely to gallop off into the sunset without any prior warning was not the best idea it was concluded and instead I was left with Oprah. Oprah is a very sweet, very lovely old horse who unfortunately comes in one speed setting only - agonizingly slow. No matter what you do, what cues you give she will not go faster than her own snails pace, which meant that I ended up significantly and embarrassingly far behind the rest of the trail.

My second trail ride was arguably better and simultaneously worse at the same time. This time I was riding Tonka, another gorgeous white horse (Pictures of him can be seen back in my 'meet (some of) the animals' post from November), who did not have the tendency to go running away with his rider. He was very attentive, payed attention to my cues and this time I was able to keep up with the rest of the trail. Only Tonka seems to have his own agenda when it came to which horses he did and did not like. He appeared to have a strong dislike of the horse in front of me and kept nipping at it's butt. This didn't seem to be an issue (other than the noises of discomfort coming from the horse ahead), until it decided enough was enough and it kicked back at Tonka (who frankly deserved it at this point) sending him into a bit of a fit where he sped up and kicked back. Pretty nerve wracking when i'm on back clinging for dear life.


I also had the joy of going and visiting Ricki yesterday. Ricki is a foal born 2 months before I arrived at the shelter. He is quite possibly the cutest thing I have ever seen in my life and I got to work with him a fair bit, feeding him each day. He has a huge personality for a young horse and we seemed to get along very well. He moved to a farm a short drive away as they were willing too look after him for the winter and with their heated stalls and huge acreage this was an opportunity we couldn't pass up. I visited him for the first time since we dropped him off before Christmas and I was so happy that he recognised me and instantly walked up for cuddles. It was the highlight of the week for me!

There are also seven foals being born this year, in May and June. I am hoping I will get to help out at least a little bit as I have discovered working here that I really do love horses. However there are going to be volunteers dedicated entirely to the horses and with baby season at the same time, I might not have enough time to do both. I will at least get to see cute little foals around the farm for a few months which I am looking forward too!

As I said in a previous post, we are hoping to start riding again soon, and this time I will also hopefully be having actual lessons, which should make me feel a bit more at ease with the whole trusting a horse with my life thing, because frankly I don't want to be bucked off anytime soon. I'll make sure to keep you posted about how the riding goes, because honestly it will probably be entertaining to say the least.

Just how do you deal with a pissed off moose?

One of my favourite parts of working at the shelter is going up to feed the moose and deer each evening. I never thought I would get to be so up close to wild moose and honestly i'm not even going to lie - it's pretty amazing.

I think a lot of people don't realise how big moose can be. Let me try and put it into perspective. The biggest moose I have dealt with is Bully he was rehabbed at the shelter in 2011, meaning he is now only 3 years old, he came back this winter (as many previous moose do) because we put out food to help them as it's so cold and food is so scarce. While we feed up on the hill there are many wild deer that also come to eat, these fully grown deer can walk underneath Bully with the fur on their back just lightly brushing the fur on his underside. Bully is big! He also has shovel antlers, very big shovel antlers, one of them actually fell off a few weeks ago and it seems we were having a spell of good luck as it fell off right by the feeding station meaning we were easily able to pick it up and it will be painted and maybe engraved with Bully's name and the date he lost the antler and put in the volunteer quarters.

Another moose I deal with frequently is Gilbert. He is another male who was rehabbed previously at the shelter, he is younger and slightly smaller than Bully. He also has these tiny little adorable mini shovels, seriously they are too cute! He was however quite aggressive. I have seen him rear up on his hind legs and kick at deer, other moose, even our quad a few too many times. I say was aggressive because we fixed this. I quickly developed what I like to call my 'stern voice' that I would use to basically shout at Gilbert when he would come running towards me. I would stick to my path, walk towards him with confidence shouting 'NO' and he quickly learnt to back off and have some respect, otherwise he would receive a smack to the nose. So essentially what i'm trying to say is don't get on my wrong side once i'm back in England! Dealing with angry moose was a common occurrence and i'm pretty good at scaring them away now.

The deer are also lovely to feed and spend time with. Many of the wild deer are understandably very skittish and try to keep their distance. There are however two shelter deer from previous years that don't mind saying hello. Bella and Ping, they both have little numbered ear tags so we can tell them apart. There is also another deer, that has a government issue ear tag, not a shelter one, but is the friendliest deer in the world it seems. She adores cuddles and usually just follows me around while I spread the food out until I give her some attention. Pretty cool for an evenings work i'd say!

The bane of every writer

Writer's block is a bitch. I was considering just posting that and being done with it but with over 2 weeks without an update or a post I don't feel like that would be sufficient for my friends and family that consistently read this blog.

I am really struggling with actually coming up with topics to write about these days. I thought being in Canada, experiencing a whole new culture and working with wild animals I would never run out of topics to write about. It seems I was gravely mistaken. I have a few writer friends who I spoke to about this and of course I consulted everyone's best friend - Google.

Writers block is something that will affect every writer at one time or another. It is frustrating and has at times, made me want to rip my hair out, however there are apparently several things you can do to help. One suggestion was try to write something completely different to what you usually write. I just write about my life and my thoughts so, I thought, what is the exact opposite of this. Well that's easy, writing about somebody else. So I turned to fiction with varying degrees of success (read - to zero degrees of success). Turns out I'm even worse at writing fiction than I am at writing this blog, wonderful.

Another suggestion was try using a different writing tool. I usually just type everything, so I grabbed some paper and a pen and tried handwriting whatever was on my mind. All I ended up with was ripped up paper and a couple of dozen pens thrown across my room. Safe to say that didn't work either.

I think I'll just have to deal with not having much to write about for a while. I'm sure that within a couple of weeks I would have done something else stupid and hilarious that I can write about so until then i'll just have to get used to it. I know that in a few months we can start riding horses again, and i'm awkward and clumsy enough when my feet are stuck firmly on the ground, so i'm sure there will be some stories to tell once I start riding.

Oh yeah, update about the shelter, that's what this blog is meant to be about isn't it? Not much has changed. It's still winter so the bears are still sleeping, not many animals are coming in and they probably won't until spring, whenever that is. I swear winter lasts forever here, we've already had snow for four months now and quite honestly i'm sick of white. I just want to see some actual grass again! Going up to feed the moose and deer is still fun though, there is one deer that is very friendly and loves cuddles, so that's a nice highlight to every evening.

Help! I'm turning into a Canadian!

This coming Tuesday (the 11th) will mark six months since I came to Canada and the halfway point of my stay here. It's hard to believe that I have lived here for so long. It honestly feels like just a few weeks ago I was waving goodbye to my friends and family at the airport.

I was struggling to think of what to write to mark this occasion. In fact I was struggling to think of what to write at all lately( I appear to have been hit with a pretty bad case of writers block). Then yesterday, I went to clean some windows without really thinking about how cold it was, and as soon as I sprayed the Windex it instantly froze to the glass and I realised that cleaning windows in -25C was more than a bit futile. After being laughed at for a good few minutes by my host (It seems I provide a lot of entertainment around here by doing stupid things), I explained it's probably because I never have to factor in temperature when doing simple things such as cleaning back at home as it is so mild. But then it was pointed out that perhaps I have become so used to the extreme cold that maybe that's why I didn't think about it. It got me thinking about how I have changed here and how maybe I have adopted the Canadian way of life much better than I thought I would, so I have decided to compose a list of all they ways i'm becoming more Canadian vs all the things that have helped me stay true to my British roots.

Signs i've become a Canadian.

• When I check the thermometer and it is -10C and I just think 'huh it's warm out today'.
• When I'm walking around in a t-shirt and hoodie and it's -15C outside.
• It's been pointed out that my usage of the word 'eh?' at the end of sentences has increased tenfold since I arrived here 6 months ago.
• I called a hat a toque yesterday.
• I don't find it weird anymore that I occasionally, when walking back to my room, spot a moose casually staring at me from the field.
• Pancakes, doused in maple syrup have become a staple part of my diet.
• I now know that Tim Hortons is the best, and anyone who says otherwise is just wrong and this is fact.

Signs i'm still a true Brit at heart

• The undeniable squeal that I involuntarily let out when my host family bought me Marmite and scones (Not to be eaten together of course).
• My usage of the words 'bloody hell' and 'twit'.
• The unsubtle groan that escapes my lips every time a member of the royal family appears on TV or on the news. I hear enough about them at home thank you very much.
• I still can't seem to function without a cup of tea.
• I miss dunking biscuits in said tea.

So it seems that I am adapting to life up here pretty well, thankfully though I haven't appeared to have picked up the accent at all, as I think it was subtly implied before I left home that if I came back with an accent I might be disowned. Now, off to eat some poutine, with Timbits and Nanaimo bars for dessert, ride my dog sled up to feed the moose, catch a hockey game, call some people hosers, and go shopping in Canadian Tire to use up all my loonies eh? (some of this may or may not be true, i'll leave it up to you to decide which is which though).

Dangers

Today I was reminded of just how dangerous working with animals can be, whether they are wild or domestic. Of course I am always well aware of the dangers involved with my job, however after many months of calm, it can be very easy to become... complacent . In a related note I also discovered today that horses are terrified apparently, of moose.

Let me paint the scene, it is a usual day the other volunteer and I are driving down to the fields to feed the horses. Everything is going fine, we managed to get Ibis and Raven, the yearling horses, on the halters, tie them to the gate and they are happily eating away at their food, all is well. Until that is, we hear the two dogs barking and yelping, clearly agitated by something. The other volunteer jumps on the quad and shoots off back to the farm to check on them, leaving me with the horses, again all is well. Until that is, I hear some rustling from the tree behind me and I see Baby and Belle the two baby moose we are raising here making their way through the trees. All the horses, the 30 or so in the field and the two girls, flip out when the moose appear. The horses in the field start running around, while the girls start pulling at their halters and kicking the gate. Raven slips and falls into the fence, Ibis is freaking out, and I am standing in a field full of spooked horses, honestly not knowing where is safer, in the field or out with the girls. All I can do at this point is scream for the other volunteer to come back. Trying to help Ibis or Raven was completely out of the question, with the way they were freaking out going anywhere near them was way too dangerous.

To make matters worse Jasper the dog, came running down barking at the moose, scaring the horses even more. Luckily the other volunteer heard my screams and came to help. We managed to somehow get the two girls back into the field, and luckily everyone, horses and human escaped the whole ordeal with no injuries.

I'm not going to lie, I was pretty terrified, I am relatively new to working with horses, and the power they have can be pretty scary, so being surrounded by freaked out horses was terrifying to say the least, and being unable to help Raven and Ibis when they were clearly scared was even worse. I felt so helpless, but it was for my own safety that I stayed back, and i'm glad I did as my first instinct was to rush forwards and help.

It was a complete accident, and nothing really could have been done to prevent it. Later when we went up feeding, the moose were back up on the hill, so hopefully this is all over now and it won't happen again, because honestly I don't know if my heart could take another day like this.

To ski or not to ski

To most of the people that know me, they understand that I am ... not the most graceful of people. I fall down a lot, trip over things, drop things, and am generally a bit of a klutz. Put me then, on two long strips of wood, on a snowy mountainside, holding onto two sticks and trembling with fear and we only have a recipe for disaster. I am of course, talking about skiing. I was lucky enough, for Christmas, to be given a ski day pass by the family here, as "You can't come to Canada in winter and not going skiing at least once". 

I was feeling both excited and terrified (Terracited as I have since dubbed it) as we were driven up the mountain in a creaky, yellow, old school bus. I put on my boots, strapped into my skis and started to walk/waddle the way I had been shown by a friend who came along too. Five minutes later I had not moved forward an inch having just performed the ski edition of the running man. Ten minutes later, I was on my butt in the snow, unable to get up. It was then decided that perhaps I needed an actual lesson, to avoid me spending the day sitting in the snow outside the lodge.

To give the instructor credit he was very patient with me, lifting me up countless times when I would fall over. He taught me how to form a 'pizza' with my skis so in theory I could slide slowly down the slope. He showed me how to hold on to the pulley to be pulled up the mountain and after about an hour I was skiing by myself and had gotten slightly more comfortable. 

Then he decided to take me up the T-Bar to a higher and steeper slope. Then everything went wrong again. As it turns out I have immense trouble actually steering myself, also going slowly. I ended up hurtling straight down the mountain, at speeds which were probably not considered safe for the bunny hill. The instructor screaming "Pizza! Pizza!" All the way down. Usually I would be happy to hear anything about pizza, only when faced with trying to stop without causing serious injury, I had to put my thoughts of food on hold and try to figure out a way to stop before I actually hit a child or something. I finally did this by just falling on my butt again. He picked me up and we tried again, only this time I couldn't right my skis and ended up going the whole way down the slope backwards. Strangely enough this was my best run of the day, I didn't fall over once and even managed to stop myself correctly. I can only assume that I just do things better in reverse. When I asked him if it was okay to do things backwards from now on I just got a big laugh in return. My guess is, it's not okay.

Safe to say skiing does not come naturally to me at all. I was later told that "They say you aren't doing it right or trying hard enough, if you aren't falling down a lot." Which made me feel a lot better. Shame it couldn't do much about the five year old's skiing circles around me all day though.

Things change, and then we deal with it

Change is something that the majority of people find scary. Understandably so I think. Reaching out of your comfort zone to something that you might not have any idea whether or not will be successful. Whether cutting your hair, changing your style or moving half way across the world. Change will always be scary for the simple fact that it is different. For example a lot of people get nervous starting a new job. What if you don't do very well? What if the people, who have already established friendships, don't like you? What if you aren't as good as you think you are? There are a whole ton of things to be anxious about and it is completely natural.

However, change can be good, change can be positive if you know how to embrace it and do it right. New Years is a time when a good chunk of the country decides to make some mostly positive changes. In most blogs this is the time when the author would go on to list out all of their resolutions. I however, don't do resolutions. I'm just not that type of person. I firmly believe that if you want to make a change in yourself that strongly then it can be done immediately, not waiting for some arbitrary date that really doesn't mean anything. 'New year = New you' No thanks.

Making these changes however is a positive thing that I can greatly appreciate. It should be noted though that change is not something that happens just because you will it so. It requires time, effort and a healthy dose of motivation to make those resolutions happen at whatever time of year.

Bringing this haphazard post back to life at the shelter. Things here are about to change quite dramatically. With the money raised through Dawson's Lights, lots of building work will be starting soon, a new enclosure and new volunteer quarters. The other volunteer here leaves in less than a month, opening a vacancy that will have to be filled. In the upcoming months baby animals will start arriving, throwing my current schedule out the window, leading to a huge increase in work, and reducing the likelihood of getting more than an hours sleep at a time to almost zero. A lot is changing but really, compared to leaving home behind and moving to Canada, nothing can scare me anymore so I am going to embrace it, learn from it and hope that it will all work out in the end.