Earthfire Stories

From our wildlife ambassadors to rehabilitation patients and local wildlife, these posts tell the stories of animals that call Earthfire Institute home.

Orphaned bear cub peeking around the edge of a transport crate

We recently received two starving, orphaned black bear cubs from Idaho Fish and Game. This weekend, they brought us a third. And there are likely more on the way. This...

White buffalo looking through a wooden fence at a herd of cows
Grace and Grit: Life on the Ranch

We are surrounded by beauty, magic and connection on a daily basis here at Earthfire. The native land on which we reside. The majestic Teton Mountains to our east. The...

Susan Eirich with two deer, Buttercup and Fine Buck, at Earthfire Institute

Ultimately, Buttercup won. Not through mental agility, of which she cannot be accused, but through sheer persistence, stubbornness, and singleness of purpose. She wanted to eat the food the chickens...

Grizzly bear sitting in front of a waterfall

We have a feature in our monthly newsletter called Grace and Grit, because there is not only delight in caring and being with our animals, but also hard work and...

Beekeeper unloads a shipment of bees from their shipping container to move them into their new hive
Grace and Grit: Life on the Ranch

We are surrounded by beauty, magic and connection on a daily basis here at Earthfire. The native land on which we reside. The majestic Teton Mountains to our east. The...

A member of Earthfire's animal care staff laughing at a chicken perched on their shoulder

A friend of Heather received a very strange text message from her: Lu huh but GTG is at tug here4/5uu. Had Heather finally lost it? Had the pressures of the...

Two ground squirrels standing by the entrance to their underground burrow
Grace and Grit: Life on the Ranch
Runoff has begun in the Tetons as our abnormally warm winter turns into an abnormally warm spring. While there is still snow above the alpine, warming temperatures have already filled...
Hope the wolfdog in the Earthfire Institute office
Given how poorly humans treated Hope at the beginning of his life, it’s surprising he chose to trust us. His trust did not come easily, but that’s what made it...
Bramble, a Brown Bear that lives at Earthfire Institute, walks through the snow in his enclosure
Grace and Grit: Life on the Ranch

We are surrounded by beauty, magic and connection on a daily basis here at Earthfire. The native land on which we reside. The majestic Teton Mountains to our east. The...

Akela, a resident wolf at Earthfire Insititute, standing on some rocks in the wildlife garden

Named after the elderly leader of the wolf pack in Rudyard Kipling’s The Jungle Book, Akela is a handsome five-year-old wolf with a distinctively long snout and expressive golden eyes....

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