WILD BY NATURE-PART ONE OF TWO

[GRAHAM_RANCH]

 While hanging out at the exciting Vivian Park, waiting for the Chula Taco Shop to open, I tried my darnest to keep the smirk off my face as I watched this guy try to coax a gray squirrel to come up to him and grab a nut from his finger tips. Obviously the guy was a squirrel lover, the "click..cru...click...cur..."" that came from his lips sounded like a squirrel and the Western Gray was responding to it by sitting on it's haunches and perking it's ears. It's little lower jaw opened as if it was anticipating the taste of the nifty nut. "Click...cru...click...", suddenly the seemingly cute little rodent shot like a bullet towards the guy! The poor man was obviously startled by the sudden aggressive movement of the squirrel and he lost his grip on the little nut as he literally stumbled to get out of the way of the rampaging beast. The cute little squirrel picked up the nut, stuffed it in it's mouth, and without a  "howdy-do" or a "thank you very much", shot up the Jeffery Pine, chipping all the way. Even though I spent most of my life in the mountains, it never failed to amaze me how folks treat the wildlife like pets then be surprised when the creatures act like wildlife. I learned at an early age that of all of God's little creatures-wildlife could be the biggest monsters.
 
It was at about age 13 when my brother, Tom, and I rode up from the Graham Ranch to spend an overnighter at the base of Table Mountain, just a little west of downtown. The horseback ride went well and darkness came quickly as we sat around a small campfire. Our individual beds were set up, consisting of a saddle blanket for ground cover, a saddle as our headboard and saddlebags as our pillows. Ah, life was perfect. Until about 2am, when we both got rudely awaken by our horses whinnying and nervously tugging at the tether line as the sounds of wild fighting hogs filled the small canyon behind the old Baptist Church. Now, there are no wild hogs up here, by the sounds resembled their angry snorts as the concert was accompanied by the snapping of branches and the heavy rustling of pine needles. Little whining also filled the air, with loud "clieek...ckeet clieeek" sounds. The noise went on for minutes as both Tom and I grabbed our hats, shoved them on our sweating heads and snatched the nearest bridle that we could find to get the horses out of there. The fire was completely out, not one ember remained...all we can see in the pitch dark was our horses and hear that gawd awful noise, as we got the heck out of Dodge. We returned a little after daylight and studied the hillside where we heard the scary ruckus during the night. Despite the heavy matting of pine needles, we found no anticipated animal track or blood. Just an empty hillside that still scared our horses. Later that day we visited Ranger Steve at the Big Pines Station, who got a good chuckle out of our story. "Boys, boys....those were only some ground squirrel's fighting. Fighting or having love, whatever." Talking about rough s...never mind. I don't know about Tom, but I rode home a little red faced with embarrassment. Geesh, scared of a couple squirrels! Since that day, and as I grew up to manhood, I stopped being an animal lover and became an animal respecter.  
 
I remember that the mountains were once bursting with wildlife, and seeing black bear and deer roaming along the roads and on the slopes was no big deal. On occasional a mountain cat stalked around as the little raccoon bandits and coyotes roamed the nights. They were wild then and they still are now. That didn't stop a group in Wrightwood from starting the "Wrightwood Wildlife Protective League" over forty five years ago. One of the headlines in the February 22, 1962 issue of the Wrightwood Mountaineer announced: "Animal Protective League Formed"  The "WWPL" plan was simple, maybe noble...and it did not include a good target picture and a gentle trigger pull.
 
The Wrightwood Wildlife Protective League was formed for the purpose of feeding the starving wildlife in the area. Sounds noble enough, but through the thousands of years of fending for themselves in the real wild, why suddenly did the wildlife need our help? There were four officials assigned to this League: Mrs. Harold Ellis was president, Mr. Harold Ellis was vice-president, Mrs. Nancy Templeton-secretary and Mrs. Gladys Millington was the treasurer. In the two times that they were mentioned in the paper during 1962, there was no mention of how many members there were. However, there was one very active member named Mrs. Louri Zener, who did an outstanding job.
 
President Mrs Harold Ellis stated the WWPL's goal: "There is an obvious need of an organized effort to deal with the many wildlife problems rather than by scattered individual attempts. The recent fire, drought and snow have created a critical situation for the wildlife which have not been able to find enough food." According to her statements, Mrs. Ellis reported that wildlife have been forced into going to doors looking for food. "Because of this, the League was formed in the effort to more adequately meet the problem, particularly in regards to quantities of food and placement of feeding stations." She interjected that the feeding plan has received the "blessing of the Forest Service".
 
Wrightwood Wildlife Protective League member Mrs. Louri Zener enticed south land commercial pet food companies to make donations for the cause. She was able to collect a donation of 3200 pounds of pet food for the effort. The companies involved with the donations were big names like Carnation Co., Western Kennel Pet Supply, Standard Brands Co., Nutro Dog Food Co., Nelson Farmer Supply and Merchant's Pet Supply. Now, not much is known of the Wrightwood Wildlife Protective League. Any input on this group is appreciated. Is it still around...or, when was it ended? To complete history's picture input is encouraged, specially in the story of the WWPL.
 
But what of the feeding of wild animals-who are wild by nature?

[GRAHAM_RANCH]

I never understood the Forest Service giving their 'blessing' to the feeding project of the Wrightwood Wildlife Protective League. All National Parks and National Forest always had forbidden leaving food unattended or deliberately providing it to wildlife. This was mainly because the animals became less able to survive on their own, and on occasion the animals caused injury to forest visitors in their unending search of human food. This was good practice...and it still is today.
 
Bears, deer, elk, wild hogs, squirrels and raccoons-all wild animals- are individualistic and unpredictable. Animals that look calm and friendly when a human is in the area, may suddenly and without warning charge or attack them. So swift can their charge be, that there is no time for the human to make a fast retreat. People get injured simply because they are too close or in the animal's way. A cell phone ring, a jingle of car keys, an excited child or a person's movement that is perceived threatening by any animal, can trigger that animal into fight or flight behavior. Both females and males of most species are equally dangerous. Although animals may look or act tame, they are wild and can change quickly and unpredictably from "friendly" behavior to aggressive behavior even if you don't make a move.
 
The standing rules in a National Park and a National Forest is simply this: If an animal approaches you, it is your responsibility to move away to maintain a safe distance.
 
Wild animals, especially bears, should never be fed or allowed to get to unattended food or garbage. Wild animals that receive these "food treats" just once may become aggressive toward humans. To protect people and their property, these animals may have to be destroyed if transplanting them somewhere else doesn't work. There are some other reasons not to feed wild animals: Feeding them can increase the spread of rabies and other diseases, as well as attract other predators to the area.
 
So, how dangerous are these cute things anyway?

Deer, Elk and Moose have a problem of sometimes charging and attacking humans who approach them. People have been killed under their flaring front hooves. Bison weigh up to 2,000 pounds and can run up to 35 mph. Looking tame and docile when they are grazing, they frequently charge humans without warning...most encounters will the American Bison end up in someone dying...and most of the time its not the animal. Mountain Goats and Bighorn Sheep have become very aggressive towards people after being fed by them. Using head butts, the kicking of hooves and the horn goring of people who approached them, makes them the animal that you really wouldn't want to hand feed.

Chipmunks, Squirrels, Rabbits and Marmots never have a shortage of food and should not be fed peanuts or other nuts. Rabbits, squirrels and chipmunks have acted very aggressive to humans...being bit or severely scratched by these little fellows as you feed them should not be your main worry...specially when they are known to have rabies or hantavirus and carry the ticks that cause Lyme disease or the Rocky Mountain spotted fever. Coyotes, Raccoons and foxes remain the sneakiest of all the animals out there. Even though they may approach people in a friendly and non-threatening manner, they are not tamed, nor docile. They may carry rabies, but they are more apt to attack when they perceive a "wrong movement" from humans. The three are most active at the night time hours. Once they are fed, they usually go to the same location to get more nourishment. There is nothing entertaining about the nighttime beer runs from these animals. There have been several reported incidences of coyotes literally carrying away human young from yards in the Glendale Mountains in the last decade.

Now, I am not against animal lovers. But I promise you, if you are an animal "respecter", you would probably enjoy them more...and still keep most of your own hide after the encounter.

Just a small piece of history and a respectfully given small piece of advise.

Terry Graham, WW

Resource:

Wrightwood Mountaineer, Vol. 1, no.7, Feb. 22. 1962