Ending the journey

Wolf Run Final Reflection Video

Memories

Jericho looking sweet

Halo checking Katie out

Meeshka being shy

beautiful buck

Lucy and Kenzie

Looking Back and Moving Forward

The following is the nostalgic post detailing my final thoughts about the Wolf Run Wildlife Refuge and our group project as a whole. I also look back at my favorite and most challenging parts of our visits.

Video Link: https://youtu.be/MAMd86dGQf8

The wolf dog Nibbles enjoys the attention of his visitors.

Nayeli has a keen habit of flopping on her back so people can rub her belly.
 Not that we ever complained. It is just too cute.

The refuge's chubby raccoon looks down on us from 

his perch up high.

Lucy the farm dog follows our group around as
 we complete our daily chores.

My Last Steps Into the Wild

...Or were they? This short video provides a reflection on my time volunteering at Wolf Run. It's very surreal to think that my time there is done. That being said, I don't think that it is the last time I will ever set foot there. I enjoyed the experience so much, I will definitely be back! Having it not count towards my grade is just an added bonus (:

Here are some photos and videos from my last visit to Wolf Run! We fed and watered the animals, watched some wolves howling, pulled weeds outside of the pup enclosure, played with the pups, and fed the pigs some pumpkins!

Rowdy the Raccoon, begging for strawberry pop tarts and rice crispy treats--his two favorite snacks!

Two of the pups waiting to be fed!

Journey taking a rest while the volunteers pull weeds.

Jericho enjoying some chin scratches!

Journey starting the entire population of wolf dogs at the farm howling. If you listen closely, you can hear the rest of them barking too!

Whiskey the pig enjoying some pumpkins donated by members of the community.

Final Video Reflection- Katie Bernardo

Hey everyone! Here is my final video reflection about my experience at Wolf Run.  In the video I just cover some of my favorite and least favorite aspects of my time at the refuge.  Below are some additional pictures that I was able to take during these last few months at this amazing organization.

The herd of deer, posing for a picture.

Nayeli and our group on Halloween.

One of the big cats at the refuge,
patiently waiting for food.

Halo and I getting to know each other.

A beautiful wolf-dog, greeting me at their fence.

Abuse From the Eyes of a Wolf Hybrid

Bandit

I want to talk about some very sad cases of a misunderstood animals who ended up at Wolf Run. Bandit, a wolf-hybrid who is now a permanent resident at Wolf Run, once loved people. He was not owned by anyone in particular, but acted as a kind-of mascot at a local golf course. The regular visitors knew Bandit and loved him. Bandit had no hesitation approaching people until, one day, a man who had never seen Bandit before began beating him violently with a golf club, fearing he was being attacked by a wolf when Bandit had only been trying to greet the golfer. Thankfully, before the man could beat Bandit to death, someone stopped the violence and explained to the visitor that Bandit was not a threat. Bandit was in bad shape. The man who had stopped the confrontation drove Bandit in his own car to a nearby animal hospital, where Bandit was treated for a shattered back hip. Bandit now walks with a permanent limp and trusts no human, not even the Wolf Run volunteers who have been taking care of him for quite some time now. Not once can any volunteer recall actually touching Bandit since he has arrived at the reserve.

Nibbles (left) and Meeshka (right)

Another terrifying case is that of Nibbles. Thankfully, as is pictured in my last post, Nibbles fears no one and is one of the most loving and playful wolf hybrids at Wolf Run, but he almost lost his life in the most unfortunate of circumstances. Nibbles was bred by a man who later gave Nibbles to his grandmother when Nibbles was just a puppy, but Nibbles is a cross breed of one of the largest domestic dog breeds and one of the largest wolf breeds. Therefore, he grew up to be a massive animal. The older woman grew to fear Nibbles and his immense size and would stab Nibbles with knives when he neared her. As shown in the photo to the left, Nibbles can seem pretty scary if you have never seen him be the sweet animal he is. Finally, after having enough of fearing her own pet, she tied Nibbles to a tree, called Wolf Run, and threatened to shoot him if Wolf Run would not take him. Of course, Wolf Run was there within the hour and Nibbles has been a happy resident of The Wolf Run Wildlife Reserve ever since.

These close calls vividly depict the need for an informed public with concern to exotic animals, wolf hybrids specifically. Maybe if people were more informed of wolf hybrid characteristics and resources like Wolf Run, these situations may have not gotten so out of hand.

Pulling, Petting, and Pumpkins

Today, Kenzie and I went to Wolf Run, and we had a blast.  At first, it was hard to get out of my warm bed to layer up and brave the chilly temperatures, but it ended up being very worth it.  We got to Wolf Run around 9:15 this morning.  Around this time, the staff members were just finishing up the daily feeding.  We got the chance to follow one of the staff members over to the raccoon cage to visit, Rowdy.  Rowdy may or may not have a weight issue, but he is still stuff the cutest little thing.  We were a little afraid of not being about to help out much, but ended up getting to help once a bigger group of volunteers arrived.

Rowdy, drinking from his water bucket on this
beautiful Sunday morning.

At first, we went into the yearling enclosure to socialize with the animals.  For some of the other volunteers, it was their first visit to the refuge so it was nice to see how excited they were to meet some of the wolf-dogs.  After meeting all of the wolf-dogs, we started on the task of pulling weeds from the outside of the yearling enclosure.  The weeds had started to block the enclosure so much that you couldn't even see the wolves from the outside.

Kara's sweatshirt after entering
the yearling cage with a handful
of meat.  I thought this perfect
paw print was pretty awesome.

While we were pulling weeds from the enclosure, the staff members were tending to the rest of the animals and also doing some yard work.  We spent about an hour or an and a half pulling these weed and throwing them over the fence.  Unfortunately, we weren't able to clear out all of the weeds, but we were able to make a significant dent in one area!

Nayeli loving scratches and being a goofy pup
 as always.

Before leaving the refuge, we were able to help feed the pigs.  Now, some people may think that a bunch of chubby pigs wouldn't be too cute, especially when they are eating; however, watching these pigs eat some pumpkins was probably one of the cutest things I have yet to see at Wolf Run!  Before the pumpkin feeing, I hadn't met any of the pigs.  Staff member, Kara told us that these pigs were put up for adoption at the refuge after their owners didn't want them anymore.  Of course, it was very sad to know that no one wanted to keep these sweet pigs, but I definitely think that they are enjoying their time at Wolf                                                                                      Run!

At the end of the day, no matter how hard it has been to schedule volunteer times at the refuge, I am so happy to be apart of such an amazing organization.  We are nearing the end of the semester and the end of our time at Wolf Run, but I sincerely hope to be able to come back a volunteer for many more months to come.  I have had such a positive experience with all of the staff members and animals.  Everyday, Wolf Run is becoming more and more prevalent in the Nicholasville and Lexington area.  In even more exciting news, the refuge was featured in a LEX 18 report this past Friday (11/20/15).  You can check it out by following this link: LEX 18 Wildlife Report .  

Kibble and Kisses

Sharing a special moment with Jericho.

This was another great Wolf Run visit. The first thing we did when we got there was help feed some of the dogs on the property. There are two dogs, Lucy and Gypsy, who live at the front of the property. After Lucy ate, we let her out to roam the property and help us feed out the rest of the animals! Everyone just got fed meat the previous day, so today was a kibble feeding day. Next we went to feed Sage and Cloud. Sage had to have her coat shaved down because she had so many burs on her, so that's why her coat was so short! She was very cold, so we put her inside to feed her.

Sage with her shaved down coat heading inside to eat.

The entire group of volunteers then went into the deer enclosure! Keeping a watchful eye, we traveled to the back barn. No one told me why we were going or what was in there, but I was delightfully surprised by three baby deer! One of the youngest ones even was brave enough to put his nose up to my hand. It was such an incredible moment, and I felt so special!

A fawn from the deer enclosure.

After we finished feeding the rest of the wolf dogs, we had time to socialize them! This is really just a fancy way of saying cuddle, hug, and play with the animals. In some of the enclosures, the wolf dogs are a little more unsure of the people. These are the situations where you must find a spot by yourself, sit down, and be patient. If you are lucky, one of the animals will feel brave enough to come up to you. This was the case with Jericho. He is one of the babies, and is a higher content wolf dog. This means that he has a lot more wolf-like than dog-like characteristics. While he is not as skittish as some of the animals, he requires a little more patience than the other pups. After sitting alone for about ten minutes, he finally decided that I was not a threat and came over for some chin scratches.

Jericho enjoying his chin scratches.

The opposite type of dog is Nibbles. Nibbles is an enormous boy, weighing in at over 200 pounds!! While you would think it would be intimidating being faced with a huge wolf dog bigger than yourself, my only fear was being kissed to death. Nibbles was so overwhelmed with joy of all of the attention from the volunteers, and he just kept running from group to group for more scratches and love.

Cuddling with Nibbles.

Nibbles giving lots of kisses.

I feel so incredibly blessed that I have the opportunity to volunteer at such an amazing organization. I feel so affected by all of these animals. As corny as it sounds, when they look into your eyes it is like they are looking right at your soul. While I am learning a lot about wolves and wolf dog hybrids through this experience, I feel as though they are teaching me more and more about myself every day.

Loving Licks and Playful Paws

This past Saturday at Wolf Run was a day dedicated to making the residents feel loved.

 First, we fed the wolves. Luckily, we didn't have to handle any raw meat since they had meat on Friday, so we just had to feel them kibble. While doing this we met Sage for the first time. She was slightly afraid of us and shivering from the cold because she had been shaved due to an immense amount of burrs embedded in her fur. Slowly, though, she came up to us and let us rub on her for a little bit. After we fed Sage, we helped Kara, one of the lead volunteers, by gathering the food for the wolves we couldn't feed ourselves. 

After the feeding was over, we got to go into Nibbles and Meeshka's enclosure for the first time. Meeshka is a higher content wolf-hybrid, so she stayed away from us, but Nibbles is the complete opposite. Nibbles, who is part great German Shepard and part wolf, is very affectionate and friendly, not to mention enormous. 

The beautiful Ms. Meeshka

Nibbles, featuring Celia and Mikayla

After vising with Nibbles for a while, we visited with our pals Nayelli, Aries, and Jericho. We also got to see how Halo was doing and he even let Kara pet him without her having to chase him down! It was amazing to see, even though it seems small, it is a step in the right direction for Halo and his trust for people.

Lastly, I got into the enclosure with Razz, who was a little too playful for some of the volunteers, but Kenzie and I absolutely loved the enthusiasm. We were jumped on and licked and almost knocked to the ground more than once, but it was tons of fun. And we know Razz had a good time, too.

Saturday was a great day filled with mud on our clothes, paw prints on our legs, and puppy kisses on our cheeks. Oh, and an awfully cute baby deer, too.

Second Visit At Wolf Run!

On Saturday I got to visit Wolf Run for the second time, and it was a great experience! I went with 4 of the 5 Wolf Run volunteers from our class.

I liked my second experience much more than my first because we got to interact with the animals a lot more.  When we arrived, one of the Wolf Run workers, Kara, sent us to feed the animals.  We filled up their feed bowls and buckets with dog food. As we fed the animals, she allowed us to go into some of the enclosures and meet the wolf dogs.  I was so happy to get to meet Nibbles, an incredibly sweet and friendly wolf dog that looks just like an extremely overgrown puppy.

Nibbles

He was so excited to receive all the attention we gave him. So excited that he actually jumped up and knocked down one of the other volunteers! No harm was done and everyone loved getting to hang out with such a sweet, beautiful animal.

Taken while standing inside the barn with the baby deer.

Another really cool experience was meeting the deer that live on the refuge. I had gotten to see them during my orientation, but this Saturday was my first time in the enclosure. It was really special to see two baby deer. 

Before we left for the day, we got to feed and see Nayelli again. She is so well trained and I'm always amazed at how well behaved she is. She was very happy to get lots of love from the volunteers. 

My second visit at Wolf Run was fun and I felt like we really helped out a lot. I'm very fortunate to get to work with such a great organization, and I'm so excited for next time!

Old Friends and New

On Saturday the 14th, four of us bloggers once again set out on a morning journey to the Wolf Run Wildlife Refuge. It was a chilly November morning, but the sunshine made it the prefect temperature for our visit. While at the refuge, we performed our usual tasks: filling the animals' food bowls and socializing with the animals.

Of course, socializing was our favorite part of the visit. We had the chance to visit with many animals with whom we had not visited before. The first two wolf dogs that we visited were Cloud and Sage. Cloud had difficulty with moving around due to her age, and Sage shivered in the morning air, her hair having been shaved off due to an overwhelming amount of burrs stuck in her coat. However, these two were friendly and welcoming all the same. 

Cloud lounges back as I go to rub her tummy.
Photo taken by McKenzie Adamski.

Sage surveys her visitors before going back into her
warm enclosure.

After visiting with Cloud and Sage, we visited the wolf dogs Nibbles and Meeshka. Meeshka was a little more skittish than Nibbles, but Nibbles had no trouble with being the center of attention. The wolf dog just walked around in a constant loop among us visitors, getting petted and loved. She was so overwhelmed by the love that she often jumped up on us visitors, almost knocking us down with her weight. But we didn't mind. She was too cute for us to care. 

Nibbles revels in the attention of all of her visitors.
Photo taken by McKenzie Adamski.

Finally, we visited our old friends, such as Nayeli, Jericho, and Aries. We also had the chance to see baby Halo, who continues her progress in getting accustomed to humans. Kara, one of the workers at the refuge, let the other wolf dogs into Halo's pen one by one, and Halo was ecstatic at the chance to play around with her bigger friends. 

Once again, visiting the refuge was a great experience. We had the chance to spend more time with the animals than usual, for which I was thankful. Many of them possessed an energy that none of us could match, but we enjoyed it all the same. At the end of the day, us volunteers left with smiling faces, happy to have not only spent a few hours with such sweet animals, but also to have made a difference. 

Halloween Festivities at Wolf Run

Hey guys! In today's video blog, I talk a little bit about my Halloween visit to Wolf Run Wildlife Refuge. While it was a very rewarding experience, it definitely took a "spooky" turn when MiKayla's car mysteriously stopped working while we were driving! Thank goodness we got it to a body shop and her friend could come pick us up from the nearby Dairy Queen where we were camping out.

MiKayla, Hannah, Katie, and myself camping out at Dairy Queen after MiKayla's car broke down.

Nayeli modeling her Trick or Treat bandana.

Katie, Hannah, and myself socializing Halo.

Me hand-feeding one of the deer some pieces of grass.

Nayeli flopping over for a much-deserved belly rub.

Frans Lanting: Photos that give voice to the animal kingdom

Humans are shaped by animals’ bodies, minds, and spirits, but we often do not take the time to appreciate them in all of their beauty.

A photo of two elephants taken by Frans Lanting.

Frans Lanting gave this Ted Talk at a Ted Conference TED2014 in March of 2014. The purpose of his speech was to encourage people to look to animals, and live their lives more similarly to them. He was both promoting his photography, as well as encouraging humans to be better versions of themselves. Lanting has traveled the world in pursuit of his art. He has lived with the animals, and had many experiences that most humans will not have the joy of partaking in. With this, he brings the public the gift of his work.

Lanting speaks of a tribal story that talks of how all animals on earth are the same, and even though they look different on the outside, their souls are the same. When they would all meet together for a sacred ritual, they would all take off their skins and dance. A human came to the cave and laughed at the spectacle because of a lack of understanding. The animals were embarrassed, so they fled. And this was the last time that the animals revealed themselves so truly. It is this lack of understanding that Lanting wishes to address in his Ted Talk. His goal is to connect people with animals through his photography, and help them see into their souls. Lanting wants to reach beyond genetic differences, and allow people to see the similarities between all animals and species. Humans must rejoice in the unity of life and try to return to the time that once existed during the sacred dancing ritual, and learn to join the animals.

Lanting’s speech relied heavily on the visual aids, as he was talking about his photography. His stories of his experiences provided sound, first hand evidence for his arguments. His gestures and movements were extremely minimal so as to not distract from the pictures being shown. His voice was calm, steady, and soothing, which helped the audience to be drawn into the natural beauty of all of the animals being showcased. The audience was captivated during the entire speech, remaining very quiet, but attentive to what Lanting was saying. Lanting is a very well known photographer, and has been featured in National Geographic, as well as Audubon and Time. Because of this, the audience most likely had very high expectations of Lanting’s work and ideas. Overall, this Ted talk was very influential, and should help many to see why the symbiotic relationship between humans and animals is so important, and that a greater understanding and friendship can and should be reached.

This Ted Talk can be found here.

Middle Class and Homeless

“I was neither a drug addict or an alcoholic, nor was I a criminal. But I had committed one of the basic American sins. I had failed.”  The Ted talk I chose is called “Middle Class and Homeless,” given at the TedxAmherst event by David Raether. David talks about how he went from being the main provider for his upper middle class family to ending up broke and homeless.

David first explains how he worked as a comedy TV writer, with a large salary of roughly $300,000 a year. He was successful in his work, but the long hours required of him were hurting his family life. So he took a couple years off, restoring balance to his life and family and doing his job of being a father. After about two years, he decided to go back to working in television. But, as David says, “television had other ideas.” The sitcoms like those that David had worked on were disappearing, and David was older than what most were looking to hire. He sent hundreds of emails and resumes to try and find work, but couldn’t. After a while of job searching, things went badly. The family lost their house and fell apart, leaving David alone and without a home. David explains the hardships of being homeless, and how this experience has affected how he lives his life today. He ends his speech by talking about the stigma of being poor in America, and how it shouldn’t be considered shameful to be poor.

This speech was given at a university, so most of the audience probably had no experience with this topic.  However, the speech is still relatable because the students in the audience would have to deal with money issues. Many young adults have experiences with poverty, whether it b

David is a very effective speaker. He speaks clearly and at an understandable speed.  His main points are emphasized well through both inflection and pauses. Its hard to judge his eye contact without being in the room, but he does a nice job of looking at different parts of the audience. The organization of his talk is set up well. He begins by telling where he was 6 years ago, homeless and then explains how it happened to him as well as what it was like to be homeless.

However, David does have some weaknesses.  He is calm and collected but is visibly nervous during some parts of the speech. His hand gestures convey this, as well as the way he stumbles over a few words.

Watch "Middle Class and Homeless" 

An Exploration of Healthcare Culture

The Ted Talk “Doctors make mistakes: can we talk about that?” was given by Dr. Brian Goldman, an emergency medical physician, at the TEDx Toronto 2010 conference. When I was assigned a Ted Talk analysis, I immediately remembered this Ted Talk I had stumbled across several year ago on Facebook. I re-watched the Ted Talk and experienced chills for a second time. Dr. Goldman discusses the taboo of talking about medical mistakes. Doctors are conditioned to deny or avoid their mistakes. Dr. Goldman argues that avoiding the discussion of medical mistakes is a mistake in of itself. People are led to believe that we should weed out the medical professionals who make mistakes in order to make the healthcare system better and safer, but if every time a doctor made a mistake was fired, we would be left with no one to give us medical care.

The audience was at a Ted Talk conference, therefore, I would infer that they are an educated audience, but that they are not all doctors, nor are they experts on the ins and outs of the medical field and healthcare system. To aid in his audience’s understanding, Dr. Goldman opens with an analogy to baseball. He compares a baseball player’s batting average to a medical professional’s success rate or patient outcomes.  He establishes with the audience that a perfect batting average is 1,000 and then engages the audience by asking them, theoretically, what a surgeons batting average should be. No one was surprised when a few audience members chimed in with “1000.” Dr. Goldman uses the baseball analogy and following discussion to make a base for his argument. He establishes the cultural expectation and then passionately and rationally tears it down.

Dr. Goldman uses his own experiences working in emergency medicine to describe the shame of making mistakes in his line of work. He describes the first time he ever cost someone their life and introduces the idea of “Do you remember” being the most gut wrenching words a physician could ever hear. He explains how he recalls the nurse asking, “Do you remember Mrs. Drucker?” before telling him that she had returned to the emergency room in a coma due to irreversible brain damage after he had sent her home. He returns to his “Do you remember?” theme each time he addresses one of his mistakes, and in his final sentence, the mic drop moment, he closes with “I do remember.” With a pause between each word and with the purpose in his tone, the weight of those words in the room is palpable. He is saying he remembers his mistakes and he admits them, that mistakes should foster learning and improvement of oneself, not ignorance of fault.

If I have one criticism of Dr. Brian Goldman’s speech, it is that his use of humor seems misplaced. Here he is, trying to persuade his audience that mistakes should be discussed, not to be skirted under the rug, giving personal examples of trying to discuss his own mistakes while other physicians make jokes and change the subject in the midst of awkwardness, but he jokes about his own topic to the very audience he is trying to persuade to do otherwise. This, to me, seems counter-intuitive. All in all, Dr. Goldman delivered a very clear message with passion. I think he made his point and I hope he continues to try to make a change in the convoluted spectrum of medicine. 

Doctors make mistakes. Can we talk about that?