Earthfire Experience with Bob Tondro

Earthfire Stories, Seen Thru New Eyes | July 15, 2010

Construction worker Bob Tondo didn’t know what to expect before coming to Earthfire.  His visit here changed him into becoming a more compassionate person for wildlife.

“Maybe there is some truth to being able to connect with animals or us as humans being able to connect with animals on their level.”

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Changing Perception

Earthfire Stories, Seen Thru New Eyes, Wellness & Spirtuality | April 20, 2010

Phakchok Rinpoche visited Earthfire Institute in October 2009. The visit changed his perception of wildlife as he met some of Earthfire’s residents and saw them as individuals.

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A Blow For Badger Awareness

Animal Story, Badger, Blog, Children & Families, Seen Thru New Eyes | February 4, 2010

We held a parent-child-animal event recently and everyone was fascinated with Miss Clover. It is rare to get a chance to get up close and personal to a badger. So many people have told us, as they walk up to her, “there’s the meanest thing on four legs.” (And some of these people teach!). Isn’t true. To prove it she usually licks Jean affectionately on his nose.

A fearsome reputation helps a lot if you are little and flat in a big dangerous world and can’t see too well to boot. It is useful to protect yourself by a shoot-first-and-ask-questions later philosophy. A wild animal feeling threatened protects itself! What a concept! But the tragic part is your bad reputation prevents people from seeing the sweetness that is there when you feel safe. If we approached the wild ones with a different attitude and care, we might have a different experience altogether. They have a huge sense of curiosity when not feeling threatened. They want to know about us, as we do about them – life in one form (badger) meeting itself in another form (human).

Miss Clover, a safe and relaxed badger, has a great sense of play and humor, and is extremely affectionate. She is very verbal and expresses her feelings quite clearly. All of them. She giggles and sings, and positively purrs at the sight of Jean. She follows him around on badger walks ( a bit slow as she stops frequently to dig). And when guests come she charms the pants off of them. ( “I didn’t know a badger could be like that!”). Miss Clover strikes another blow for badger awareness. And perhaps opens our mind to the possibility that other wild animals might have a sweet side too.

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Wolf Ballet

Animal Tales, Blog, Seen Thru New Eyes, Wolves | January 28, 2010

A wolf pair often moves in perfect unison. In one photo I took, the wolves are in full run, the left front paw of one in precisely the same position as the left front paw of the other. The first time I caught it in a photograph I thought I was brilliant, but since then realized it is a frequent form of communication. They hunt as one unit, in some wondrous form of exchange with one another. Stunning harmony. It is a beautiful thing to see.

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The Coat

Animal Story, Blog, Cats, Seen Thru New Eyes | January 12, 2010

I always wanted a lynx coat until I met a lynx! Mr. Pinkerton, the Earthfire Institute lynx and Philbin, an advisory circle member.

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Speedy the Paragliding Snail

Blog, Seen Thru New Eyes | December 21, 2009

For a short while I took a job in a cubicle with only a small high window I couldn’t see out of. Nothing alive or natural around me. It drove me crazy. So I got a goldfish. I got a plant for the goldfish and with the plant, unexpectedly, came a small brown snail. As I  watched the goldfish I began to notice the snail. Up he would glide; up the side of the bowl. Then he would lengthen his foot and launch himself across the water upside down just under the water line, moving smoothly, with grace. Once in the middle of the bowl he would suddenly pull in his foot and glide gently down to the bottom like a version of a paraglider under water. Back over the gravel he went, to the side of the bowl, up, across the water,  and do it again. And again. And again. And again. He would rest for a while, begin another series. I called him Speedy, he was so very fast and active. I quite fell in love with a snail. When I called people on the phone I would describe what he was doing- he was an important part of the conversation. People would even ask me about him.  He had personality. Of course I don’t know for sure, but it certainly seemed that he was just expressing the joy of being alive, of movement. There was something about the way he let go and glided to the bottom that just seemed to emanate snail joy. Buffalo glide on ice. Bears and wolves slide down snowfields for the fun of it. Why not snails doing the equivalent in their environment? Being alive is a joy.

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NGO Collaboration

Earthfire Stories, Retreats and Workshops, Seen Thru New Eyes | November 13, 2009

Earthfire Institute Collaborates with Wyoming Global Leadership Exchange

On September 18th the Earthfire Institute hosted a group of international delegates from non-governmental organizations (NGOs). For the second year in a row Jackson-based Wyoming Global Leadership Exchange (WGLE) called upon Earthfire to share their experience and insight with international leaders of NGOs looking to use Teton Valley non-profits as models for their own organizations.

The Bangladeshi group was composed of four NGO executive directors, a program director, and two translators. The delegation arrived at Earthfire Institute to witness examples of “how non-profits work to protect our natural resources,” said Nicole Prater, Executive Director of WGLE. Though visitors to non-profits are often allowed to view office environments and see power-point presentations, a visit to Earthfire is to go beyond simply meeting in a boardroom. To come to Earthfire, is not to hear how and what is being done, but instead to experience it for yourself.  This, according to Prater made it “a highlight of the group’s trip.”

Rather than hosting a large numbers of visitors, Earthfire’s goal is to work with small groups of influential people, who in turn influence others to act on behalf of wildlife and the environment.  After a short introduction, Dr. Eirich, founder and executive director of the Earthfire invited the group from Bangladesh to meet a few of the animal ambassadors.

The opportunity to enter a two-acre enclosed Wildlife Garden and meet wild animals was both exciting and a little bit unsettling.  Several members of the group chose to enter, while some at first opted to watch from outside the enclosed garden.

Major Bear, one of the black bears at Earthfire, was the first to meet the group.  Under the careful supervision of animal trainer Jean Simpson, each guest had the opportunity to greet and spend time with him.  As members of the group witnessed Major Bear up close, the nervous tension associated with an unfamiliarity of wild creatures began to dissipate.  Soft chatter filled the air, people began taking pictures and some of the guests that were initially afraid to enter the garden, decided to step through the gate.

Next, three wolves entered the Wildlife Garden and Dr. Eirich shared the story of wolves in the American West. As Apricot, Moonlight and Moonlit, splashed in a creek, swam in a pool and chased each other around the garden, the group learned about the critical role wolves play in Yellowstone ecology and the success of wolf reintroduction into the national park.

Earthfire’s vision is to create a bridge that connects humans with the natural world through the voices of rescued native wildlife under its care, bringing us the joy of interspecies understanding and giving us the will to protect wildlife for future generations.

“I was astonished to see people so conscious of disabled animals when so many people in this world don’t even know about the plight of disabled people.”

The effect of Earthfire’s vision hit home with the foreign group. Kaniz Fatema, Executive Director of Annanah Sangstha – an organization dedicated toward improving the lives of the underprivileged – turned to Dr. Eirich nearly in tears and said she would like to establish a place like Earthfire Institute in Bangladesh and would “share this thought of creating a similar facility with your professional counterparts in my country of Bangladesh.”

This opportunity was organized by the Wyoming Global Leadership Exchange, Jackson, Wyoming and sponsored by the International Visitor Leadership Program of the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs.

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