This year will be my second visit to Earthfire Institute, and while there are many good friends there, I am especially looking forward to spending more time with Windwalker the cougar.
Windwalker has a powerful presence and a great heart that is both awe-inspiring and humbling. His love for wildlife expert and friend Jean Simpson of Earthfire is very clear as you will see in the photos.
But Windwalker is something more—in my opinion he is a spiritual Master Teacher/Healer. And I’m not the only one who thinks so. Other workshop attendees and workshop leaders/animal communicators such as Penelope Smith and Polly Klein have expressed the same opinion.
It was that belief that caused me to offer Windwalker a Reiki attunement after the 2010 A Walk on the Wild Side event concluded.
It was an experience that had its moments of humor as well as energetic depth and spiritual connection. I thought to offer Windwalker a distance attunement using a plush stuffed animal as a surrogate. However Windwalker wanted my Tiger—big time. And he did not have spiritual intentions—Windwalker wanted a play toy—an encounter I doubted that Tiger would survive.
Once Tiger was moved out of Windwalker’s sight I again had his full attention, and I mean FULL attention. He took up a position where he was looking directly at me, into my eyes, and he barely blinked the entire time. I could feel the intensity of our connection in the energy of the attunement and it moved me deeply.
Windwalker and I have stayed in touch in the almost year since, and he makes requests of me from time to time, or offers opinions (sometimes out of the blue). Lately I have felt a very strong pull from him, and the feeling that he was going to play a larger role in the upcoming workshop.
That feeling was confirmed when I spoke with Polly Klein upon her return from her August workshop. She’d had a conversation with Windwalker where he expressed his determination to remain in his body, no matter the cost, so long as the people kept coming, for he had a mission. And his request to me was to assist him in staying in his body as long as possible (he is an elder, at least 13, and has the pains of old age). And so, Windwalker has now been added to my weekly client schedule and is also receiving daily Reiki from Debbie Noyes and myself (he has requested that others not send Reiki directly, preferring to work with only a few people, but is open to Reiki and prayers for the situation).
I was so moved by the synchronicity of experiences and Windwalker’s desire that I asked Diane if she would be willing to be interviewed, and she gladly agreed, feeling that it was important (as I did) to get Windwalker’s call to the people out.
And so, I present a transcript of our interview which I hope you will share with others. Read or listen to the recording and learn how one person heard and responded to Windwalker’s Call.
This is Rose De Dan, and I’m talking to Diane Stringfellow about her experiences at Earthfire Institute with a cougar named Windwalker.
Hi Diane, how you doing?
Diane: I’m good, Rose, thank you.
Rose: First, I’m curious, what drew you to Earthfire Institute in the first place?
Diane: Well, it was kind of odd, actually for me, I’m a very kind of practical person, and I was looking at not working for a year, and was starting that process last fall/spring. My daughter had gone to a psychic and she kept encouraging me to go see this woman, she thought it would be fun and interesting. So I went and saw this woman, and during the session she said that they (the people on the other side) were telling her that I needed to check out Earthfire Institute, and I asked her what was that and she said, “I have no idea, this is what they are telling me that you need to do.” And I kind of went, ‘Okay, yeah right.’
And I came home and I Googled Earthfire Institute and there really was a place. I mean it was like there really was this place. And the hair stood up on the back of my neck—I just could not believe that there really was this place. So I started looking at the 2011 programs and they weren’t posted yet, but I actually saw yours from last year and I was really drawn to it. And so I kept checking, waiting for the calendar for 2011 to come up and eventually I phoned and spoke to Linda the office manager there. She was telling me about the various programs, and I was really drawn to do yours but it wasn’t until the fall. I was going to be stopping work mid-May and wanted to kind of do a trip and go to Earthfire.
So I signed up for the Heart-to-Heart with Susan and Jean, and I started off on my road trip, went down the coast of the States, up through desert up to Driggs, Idaho.
I ended up kind of building this whole kind of journey, this kind of walkabout around ending up at Earthfire, right? But I really wasn’t clear. I was attracted, I’ve always had a really strong relationship with animals, probably more so than people. I’m more comfortable with animals than people. I was inspired by what was happening at Earthfire and I wanted to go see that, but that was as much as I knew at that point. So that took me to Earthfire in the middle of June.
Rose: And so, I understand you had a powerful experience with one of the resident Animal Teachers there. What was your experience meeting Windwalker like?
Jean and Windwalker @2011
Diane: Windwalker? Oh, it was profound! We went up to his compound, and he was laying up on top of his house, or den, or whatever the right word is for that. And he kept calling to Jean, he really wanted Jean to go in, and Jean had a different idea of how the day was going to look, so he really didn’t want to go in, but Windwalker was really persistent.
Finally Jean went in, and he went up to Windwalker and Windwalker reached out his paw and touched Jean’s face. The love and reverence in that touch, I mean I just (I’m going to cry again)…I just lost it, I just started crying. The beauty of his spirit, of Windwalker’s spirit, was just, I mean it just…I don’t even have words for it! It was like this profound, energetic emotional connection that I had with Windwalker, I mean it wasn’t about words it was about something much different than that. I realized in that moment that it was Windwalker that had called me to be at Earthfire. It was really clear to me but I was kind of just reeling.
We were there with him for a while, and Jean was in with him for a while, and then I look up at Jean and said, ‘Hi, can I just have a hug?’ I mean I was trying to get grounded, I mean it just knocked me over, you know?
And I’m usually pretty stoic—part of me was embarrassed that I was bawling my eyes out next to Windwalker there. But I mean he’s just…Windwalker’s amazing. He’s just this wonderful old soul. You know, I think that he’s a healer. Kind of what’s come through to me later—it took kind of a while for me to kind of find words for that. I think he’s a healer, I think he calls people to be awake, that he calls people to be in a circle. Yes, my time at Earthfire, my time with Windwalker—all the animals were really special but he was kind of the big piece on the end of an amazing few days that I spent there.
Rose: Yeah, it is a really incredible place.
Diane: Kind of in hindsight it was like the redwoods called me. When I was standing in the redwoods on the coast there, I realized that these trees had called me. And then when I was in the desert it was the same thing; I realized that the desert had called me, and I’ve never had a lot of interest in the desert. So it was really interesting that there were all these pieces, including Windwalker, that kind of called me on this, this journey that I did.
Rose: Yes, indeed.
Diane: So after the workshop it was kind of like Windwalker kept kind of saying, ‘Well, you’ve got to come back—you’ve got to come back in September.’ And I went, ‘Well, I’m not sure the money’s going to last…you know there’s other things that I’m going to be doing.’ I mean you, know, all those justifications that we make.
Rose: Mmm-hmm (agreeing)
Diane: And then the other week —it was actually Sunday night (Aug. 21)—I was almost asleep, and I saw these paws, and I instantly knew that they were Windwalker’s. And then his face came into view and it was like he filled my bedroom—he was there, he was there with me. And he said, ‘You have to come back. I’ve been calling and you’re not listening. You have to come back.’ And I said, “Well, why?’ And he said, ‘Well, you need to be in ceremony with Rose, you need to come and meet Rose. You need to be in ceremony with her.’ And I said, ‘Well, why?’ And he said, ‘Well, that will be revealed when you get here.’
But I mean, like his presence, his presence was like…I mean it was just amazing. I mean there was no doubt, it was just absolutely no matter what I have to go back to Earthfire. So I actually went online and booked your seminar, your workshop.
Rose: A Walk on the Wild Side
Diane: Yes, that’s right.
Rose: And the subtext on that one is Answering the Call of the Wild and it certainly sounds like that’s what you’re doing by answering Windwalker’s call.
And I would definitely agree, I too believe that he is a Master Teacher/Healer, but his time is growing short, and so this call may be his last. We don’t know.
Diane: I think that’s true, I think that’s true. I hope not.
Rose: I hope not, too. We will sit in dialogue and ceremony with him once again and we’re planning on building the ceremony, as much as we can, involving him, around him, with him—he’ll be a central focal point.
Diane: I was just struck by the beauty of his spirit, you know?
Rose: I know—you won’t get any argument from me. I’ve got my own stories to tell about Windwalker, which I’ll probably talk about in the article that I’ll be writing.
Diane: Oh, that will be wonderful!
Rose: So, thank you. It is my understanding that you have not had many psychic or visionary experiences prior to this?
Diane: Truthfully, there’s always been times in my life at different times where there’s been inspiration kind of from the universe. But I’m a very practical, pragmatic kind of person in the world. So I tend to go okay, yeah, that’s interesting, but…So it’s interesting that this came through loudly enough that there was no ignoring it. And it’s still amazing to me that I found Earthfire based on going and seeing a psychic. That this woman was telling me about this place—she did not even know what she was telling me about. She said, ‘I have no idea, this is what they are telling me.’
And that was Windwalker. I think that was Windwalker putting it out to the universe on behalf of Earthfire or his own need, whatever that is. Sorry, to sound vague but I don’t have a lot of words, it is like this feeling, this energetic feeling as opposed to something I have words for.
Rose: (laughs) I understand. So, I look forward to meeting you in person and sharing that time together with Windwalker, and of course Susan and Jean and all the other animals at Earthfire—it’s coming up soon!
Diane: I know, it’s going to be wonderful to be back, yes, absolutely.
Rose: Thank you, Diane, and I’ll be seeing you soon!
Susan Eirich ED of Earthfire reads from her book Into the Space and Silence which expresses the compassion that Earthfire Institute promotes, not only towards animals, but towards ourselves too. The video was edited by Manuel Barenboim with music by Jxel Rajchenberg during the CalArts residency program last July.
“What happens when you put an experimental animator from Argentina, a musician from Mexico City, a performing artist from New Jersey, and an ecologist from California in the Earthfire Institute pasture? They become part of Bluebells the bison’s herd.” Mike Bryant.
There has been a utter explosion of creativity here at Earthfire with the combined talents of three artists, a scientist, Jean, Susan and the animals – through the California Institute of
the Arts residency program currently at Earthfire. The animals have simply awed the students. One of them has already made a life-time commitment to conservation; science lectures at CalArts will now be enhanced with understandings gained here, an on-line children’s book has been conceived, and that’s just in the first three days of a two week program.
The Michelle Lund/Earthfire Institute Residency program has made possible the encounters between CalArts students and faculty with Cucumber the wolf, Bluebell the bison, Pimpernel the coyote, Firefly the fox and many other Earthfire animals. The goal of the residency to is to produce a powerful multi-media art project, informed by science, on the new ways of seeing and practicing conservation.
Johnnie Martin, a performing artist says “The animals here at Earthfire have gone through a lot of different transitions. Bluebell’s herd has passed away and she has come to embrace humans as her herd. There is a real, raw, love that comes out of Bluebell. It’s almost overwhelming to hold this animal that’s 1500 lbs in your arms as she licks your shoelaces. There is nothing else quite like that.” He goes on “I think Earthfire presents a really interesting model for an animal sanctuary, in that its an ethical venture, yes, to take care of animals that can’t live in the wild, but takes it to another place to educate people about wildlife. In the larger picture of conservation the number of animals that are here aren’t very many, but through their role of spokes-animals they can encourage people to support conservation in a really big way. I wish that more animal sanctuaries had that two-fold component.”
Mike Bryant, part of the science faculty at CalArts is using his experience to expand on his conservation lectures. He states “Inspired in part, by Earthfire’s physical location, which “guards” the southern portion of the Yellowstone to Yukon Wildlife Corridor, and by drawing from the personal connection with the wildlife at Earthfire, I am exploring the many facets of the term connectivity as it applies to Conservation Biology. Earthfire is bringing the level of my personal connection to wildlife up, which leads me into something that I haven’t done before in my lectures to the CalArts students - to really focus on the role of advocacy as an ecologist. That is what I have been working on here.”
The students will be hosting a free public presentation of their work done over the two week residency at Pierre’s Playhouse in Victor, ID on July 30th at 12pm. We hope to see you there!
So many of you have asked about Major Bear; sent prayers, suggestions, love. So many of you asked how he was doing.
Major Bear left his body three weeks ago. We were with him. It broke our hearts. All of you who have gone through a loved one’s suffering and leaving know.
We lit candles by his head while we dug a grave for him. We buried him on our land, in our animal graveyard where all the animals we have ever had lie. One day we will have the time and funds to make it a sacred and beautiful place. Until then it is bathed in love and memories.
Following the tradition in many religions about the length of time the soul stays around the body and then begins its journey, we held a service for him a few days after his passing to help him on his way. We called in the love and wishes all of you have sent, to go with him. K’Lea came and played the Tibetan singing bowls again for him at his graveside. First they had been for healing. Then it was to support the highest and best outcome for him, whatever that would be, rather than try to make him live, for us. Now she played them for safe and good passage to wherever he was going. It was a lovely evening, wind whispering through the cottonwoods, birds singing.
Sad as we are, death is also an opportunity to get closer to that veil that separates the living from the dead, to understand more deeply the beauty of life and the great mystery of it all. For that we are always grateful. And as all of you know who have lost loved ones, the sweetness and richness of having had them in our lives far outweighs the sadness. We only wish that he was with us longer. . .
For those of you who would “send flowers” we ask that any loving gifts be sent care of the Major Bear Memorial Bear Garden for the five bears that remain. Just indicate your intent on the donation page.
We’ll be preparing a celebratory retrospective of his life in video to be posted shortly, we will send you the link via e-mail.
For those of you who never had the chance to hear a cougar purr. . . here is the sound of a happy cougar. Jean put the tape recorder right up against Windwalker as he held and petted him. We all know that cougars can be dangerous, but that is the only side of them that is usually portrayed. They can also be remarkably loving.
This recording was inspired by Bernie Krause and facilitated by Volker Widman, a Sounds of Nature workshop participant.
After nine days traveling in the silence, tuned to eternal rhythms, we arrived at a lake to settle in for a week. Moments after our ar-rival, on the far side of the lake, three wolves emerged from the forest.
They casually loped along the edge of the water, stopping to sniff; explore, play. They trotted along the entire length of the lake from end to end and around, slowly disappearing into the trees.
A long, unhurried visit; beings arisen from this untrammeled place. My immediate reaction was an unexpected upwelling of tears. It felt as if they had come to welcome me.
Being in a place so vast; so silent; so whole, lets deeper things come to the fore; makes it possible to tune to fainter energies. Did they sense me because I love them so and come to visit? Did I call them without realizing it, physical wolves responding to spirit?
The wolves came again the morning I was leaving. Perhaps it was just coincidence, nothing more, their coming just as I arrived ; coming again just as I left. But how do we ever know such things? If we see it as a coincidence, and it isn’t, then what have we missed!
*Excerpt from Into the Space and Silence by Susan B. Eirich, a book inspired by a three week trip into the Muskwa-Ketchika, the most remote area of the Yellowstone to Yukon Wildlife Corridor
When an animal is sick we use all possible approaches to healing, because in our experience, wild animals are very receptive to energies. What we did do (actually we started as soon as we saw how poorly he was feeling) was contact people who loved Major Bear and asked for them to pray for him. Several of our friends are energy healers and they sent long distance reiki and other healing energy. One friend and admirer did a long distance shamanic healing ritual for him. Interestingly, she said in the process of going on a shamanic healing journey she could find no cancer masses in him…later verified by the vets at Washington State. Another healer, who had done something quite unfathomable to me in healing Teton Totem the grizzly bear from his paralysis when conventional medical care could not help, (see Teton’s stories on the web site) said whereas Teton had been willing and eager to receive the energy, Major Bear had flatly refused it, basically blocking it all off. She respected that feedback she did not even do an intuitive body scan. She gave us some hope though, saying that sometimes an animal will go into deep withdrawal, and starve themselves as a way to try to heal.
Day after day we offered him food which he refused. Though he was uncharacteristically secretive and we never saw him leave his box, we realized that he was drinking, as in the mo rning the water in his bucket would be down. Regarding the food, we had an onrush of very happy plump ground squirrels who discovered a bear enclosure full of food with no bear guarding it. We found apples and kiwis and watermelon nibbled to a nubbin by tiny little teeth.
Major Bear’s Auntie came to visit and sit with him, bearing gifts of organic grape juice, apple juice, blueberries and liquid probiotics in honey to help his digestion. A trained nurse herself she had followed the medical aspects of his care with absorbed interest, offering helpful suggestions along the way. We pondered together- could he somehow have never woken up from hibernation? He had already been 5 months without food during hibernation…did his appetite somehow never get awakened? Allergic reactions to parasites? Other possible reasons for the increased calcium in his blood? We pestered the vets with our ideas. She stood by the enclosure talking to him. She told him she loved him. She offered to peel him grapes.
I invited K’Lea, an energy healer trained in the use of Tibetan singing bowls to come help….it couldn’t hurt and perhaps it would bring him some ease. Despite her very busy schedule she immediately agreed to come the next day. It was cold snowy and wet weather, but she packed up and brought her 100 pounds of bowls and paraphernalia to his enclosure prepared to sit in the cold for the hour the healing would take. She had meditated deeply before in preparation on what healings to use.
It was drizzling, sleeting, muddy, gray and cold. Jean set up a piece of plywood just outside the enclosure so she would be off the ground and the wood would help carry the vibrations. Thus ensconced, she meditated again, and began. She did a healing for whatever would be for his highest good; a healing for depression, and once for peace. Major Bear was lying in his box, on his side, Jean just outside. His eyes opened at each new sound as she sounded different bowls with different vibrations. It was hard to tell what effect it might be having, but a sense of peace pervaded the whole scene, K’Lea sounding the bowls deeply concentrating, Jean and I feeling the vibrations and sending loving energy to Major.
A day later we noticed the grape juice with the probiotics was gone. Unlikely the little squirrels had drunk it all. A little lettuce was gone; then more grape juice. A little of his favorite very high quality dog food. The squirrels? Except………there was small pile of bear poop. Indubitable proof. The first food he ate in a month.
K’Lea came again one more time before she left on a trip. It was even more peaceful than the first time; she more connected now she had met him and had time to think about it. We had the feeling no matter what happened, if he was preparing to leave, or to heal, either way the bowls would ease the passage; support whatever the transition would be. I hope she can come again.
That is where we are now. He is not eating enough to sustain himself but at least he has an interest in food, which means an interest in life. Was it the loving gifts and visit of his Auntie and the love behind her offer to peel him grapes? The Tibetan bowls? Less romantic…a delayed reaction to the steroid? All the love combined, from visits and from people sending him love and healing long distance?
For now we wait, hoping against hope that something has changed inside him and he has found a way to heal himself along with all he loving support he has received.
In the last e-newsletter I wrote about trying to give a bear a pill. Because so many of you asked what happened, here is the next chapter in Major Bear’s journey. It has been difficult, but the good news so far is that Major Bear is still with us.
When I last wrote, we were trying to give him an antibiotic for what looked like a tooth abscess. I say looked like, because it is hard to get close enough to a bear to be sure- they are not into letting you let you pry open their mouth.
As time went on Major Bear stopped eating altogether and it was clear there was something very wrong. Was he not eating because of pain from his teeth? Was there something wrong with his jaw that it hurt too much to eat? We reluctantly agreed to have Don, our vet, tranquilize him to get the urgently needed antibiotics into him and do a proper exam. In our experience it is a trauma for a bear (or I suspect any wild animal) to be tranquilized. They have such a strong life force and sense of self preservation that it seems they experience the drug taking them over as impending death, and they fight it with everything they have. It is a major stressor on its own. It is a skill to give enough to put them under but not administer too much. The danger lies in misjudging the amount because of their fighting it and thus assuming you gave them too little…then you give them more and their system gets overwhelmed and they die. It took us three hours of waiting and watching but Don was patient, finessed it and succeeded.
The abscess was bad, but we were reluctant to pull the tooth without the antibiotics being in him beforehand. Also it was a canine which goes in a couple of inches deep to the bone so it would have meant a significant surgery, better done by a specialist. The x-rays were inconclusive. The blood tests were all normal except for an increased calcium level, which is a marker for possible cancer. Don gave him a long acting antibiotic shot (though there is so little research in bears, how long acting is a question). Our conclusion was that unless Major Bear received expert specialized care, soon, he was not likely to make it. The closest specialty teaching hospital was in Washington State, a 14 hour drive. They were not going to let us do a payment plan. The travel alone would be close to $1000 dollars and they requested we bring a blank check with us for potentially $3-4000 dollars – and that was just for immediate diagnosis and treatment. We have never had the luxury of setting aside enough money for a vet emergency fund. What to do? Let a bear die because of lack of money? We have never let that happen with an animal here and weren’t about to start.
It was Good Friday afternoon of Easter weekend when we got the test results back and the vets in Washington made themselves available for phone for consultation. At the very least, there was a bear dentist so we could ease that source of infection and discomfort. I contacted Major Bear’s official Auntie and most ardent admirer and shared with her his plight. She would have never forgiven us if we kept her in the dark until was too late, and we didn’t know how long Major Bear would last. The stress of the journey might prove fatal. Tuesday morning we received and e-mail from her – funds will be arriving immediately! It is hard to express the profoundly loving quality of many of our supporters but this is an example. The love and heartfulness behind the gifts are as nurturing and helpful as the gifts themselves.
The moment we knew we could bring the hospital a check, Jean swung into action, preparing a travel trailer. Could Jean have him there 8 am Wednesday morning when all the doctors could be standing by? Jean would find a way. I started all the necessary logistic and legal arrangements for traveling with a bear across state borders. Late Tuesday afternoon we were finally ready and went to get Major Bear, wondering how it would work. Usually we invited him to go where we needed with food but he was completely uninterested at this point, and had been lying in his box unwilling to come out for days. How to get him to come out? Then to enter the travel trailer?
Jean backed the travel trailer as close as possible to his enclosure, about 30 feet, and opened the back to exhibit a spacious cozy travel cage filled with fresh fragrant hay and a bucket of cool well water. We opened the door to his enclosure, backed away and waited. Major Bear looked up, gradually got to his feet and peeked out of his box. Very slowly he came out and looked around. He explored a bit as we held our breath. He walked to the trailer, put his head inside the doors and sniffed- it looked like he was about to go in…then a bird flew across the trailer screeching and startled him. Major Bear backed out. We waited. Five minutes. Ten minutes. Then, miracle of miracles – Major Bear, dear Major Bear, quietly, willingly, slowly, on his own, entered the trailer and the cage. His home with his own private box filled with hay was behind him; he knew what a travel cage was, having travelled before …yet he went in.
Jean took off, driving through the night on deserted roads to arrive at the vet hospital on time. The doctor and vet students came to see him and tranquilize him, 15 people standing there looking, all that energy coming at him. Major looked at Jean in a panic for reassurance. The doctor injected Major with a tranquilizer through the bars, Jean staying with him until he was under. As they took him off Jean asked to accompany him to the exam room. They were adamant that it was against hospital rules. Jean had to stand there as they took away his gentle bear. Jean, gentle also, and more obedient than I, exhausted from worry, stressful driving through the night and no sleep, told Major would be waiting right outside. I called a few minutes later to talk with Jean and they told me he was fast sleep in the waiting room.
Before they started the head doctor called and asked what to do if they found something ultimately incurable. Did I want to give a Do Not Resuscitate order? No! I did not! No matter what, especially after that pleading look he gave Jean, Major Bear was going to wake up and come back, to heal, or die, at home.
They worked on him all day, doing CAT scans, ultrasound, x-rays, extensive blood work. They could find nothing, yet all the doctors felt something else was going on beside his teeth. The blood work again suggested a cancer, but if so, where? They did what they could – removed his infected teeth; gave him more antibiotics, and a steroid in case it was lymphoma as they suspected. They hoped it would at least give him temporary relief and help his appetite. They felt really badly they couldn’t help more. Chemotherapy wasn’t an option. Not only didn’t we have a clear diagnosis; no one would know what the doses were, let alone how to administer and monitor it. Also, while we will go to great lengths if we feel the animal wants to live, and there is a good chance of recovery and a good life, chemotherapy with no guarantee of results did not seem a reasonable option. So home he came.
Jean, not wanting to leave him any longer than necessary in a strange place, loaded him up late Wednesday and headed home again through the night. He finally reached his limit a few hours from home somewhere in Montana, took a nap in the truck and arrived, a bedraggled man, Thursday morning. He backed up the trailer, opened the door, and Major Bear, showing more animation than he had in a long time, made a bear bee-line for his box. He wanted out and he wanted home. Bears are very emotional beings.
His belly had been shaved for the ultrasound. As he walked out we saw masses of pink bear belly skin contrasting with his black fur. Jean, who had a chance to look closely, said there were stretch marks. Major Bear had been a plump bear before this (hence Major Bear). Somehow, the picture of stretch marks on his pink exposed belly made him seem so vulnerable.
It is worth noting that the bear dentist, who had been very removed and formal and medical-like, saying she would only approach him tranquilized, obviously was touched by him when she met him. She wrote on the end of her detailed medical report. “Thank you for bringing us Major Bear. He was a wonderful patient” in large letters. Even sick, Major Bear struck a blow for bear appreciation and understanding.
We hoped after a couple of days of recovering from the tooth surgery he would feel better, but he still did not eat. We tried one more round of antibiotics to help with the infection and another steroid shot to try to stimulate his appetite. At this point we had done all that the best available conventional medicine could provide. Now there were prayers, visits and anything else we could think of as long as it was un-intrusive. We had bothered him enough. One kind lady had suggested acupuncture. From a health point of view it would have been a good thing to try – but we would have to find an acupuncturist who was willing. And Major Bear would have had to allow it. If anyone knows of an acupuncturist willing to work on a large un-sedated and unhappy bear please let us know for the future!
Named after a passionate earth-mother wolf with a fire in her belly to protect anything vulnerable, Earthfire was founded in 2000 to develop a new model of relating to nature through the voices of the rescued wildlife>
This year will be my second visit to Earthfire Institute, and while there are many good friends there, I am especially looking forward to spending more time with Windwalker the cougar.
So many of you have asked about 
A Small Exchange with a Grizzly by Caitlin Sullivan
