Well bow-wow and pass the bacon! Cuz we’ve got a real treat for your today! Yes siree, Lassie! Our favoritest park ranger, Ranger Rose the Pawsome, is bringing you a guest post about her experience with animal rescues. So I’d listen up ‘fize you.

Ready? Set? Take it away, Ranger Rose!

 

Not Just a Walk in the Woods: Animal Rescues

By Rosanne S. McHenry

Author of Tales From a Rogue Ranger

Trip Tales: From Family Camping to Life as a Ranger

Have you ever encountered a wild animal that needed rescue? Where was it? What did you do?

My first animal rescues involved seals that became stuck on a beach at Rodeo Cove in the Marin Headlands, California.  Stormy tides would sometimes wash them up above the high tide mark, stranding them in the sand. This was my first park ranger assignment.  We often called a marine animal rescue center in San Francisco to help us care for these stray mammals.  It happened so frequently that eventually the Marin Mammal Rescue Center was established with a facility just above that beach.

When I worked at Mount Rainier National Park in Washington we frequently encountered black bears.  These critters became so used to humans that they would walk right through our housing complex, and sometimes right through the middle of my campfire programs, looking for food! Back then, park officials used to bait and trap bears, then transport them long distances away from people.  But they kept coming back and eventually we all realized it wasn’t the bears who needed to be educated, it was people.  Park staff taught visitors how to carry and contain all food sources so bears weren’t attracted to people anymore.  Bear-proof trash cans and food lockers became the norm.  All backpackers now have to carry bear canisters to hold their food.

In Death Valley National Park we had a coyote problem in camps.  They were coming from all over to eat human scraps… and human pets like cats and dogs, which were easy targets. Park visitors and staff alike had to be educated about how to properly dispose of food waste, and to keep pets indoors.  I laughed when I saw one employee with his cat on a leash, but this kept it from getting eaten!

My husband had an issue once with an attack goose who patrolled the picnic area at Folsom Lake in California.  It was terrorizing park visitors and chasing them up onto picnic tables, biting their legs if they stepped down. The goose was protecting its young in a nest nearby. Rangers had to net the birds, relocate the nests, and teach people about safety around bird life.

One time a pot-bellied pig was abandoned in a camping area.  The poor thing was wandering around, squealing and terrified.  My husband had to lure the pig up a ramp and into a truck and take it to a farm pen.  Thankfully, it was soon adopted by a family willing to care for it and treat it with kindness.

Animals don’t want to be at odds with humans.  Most of them just want to live in peace, like we do.  Learning how to treat animals with care and respect, and knowing more about their habits, can keep us all safe from harm. In my books Trip Tales: From Family Camping to Life as a Ranger, and Tales From a Rogue Ranger, you can read these animal rescue stories and laugh out loud.

***

 

Rosanne McHenry lives in Auburn, California with her husband, Vernon. Their home is next to the American River Canyon in the Sierra Nevada foothills.

Rosanne has worked as a National Park Ranger and a California State Park Ranger in many different locations over the years, including the Golden Gate National Recreation Area, Mt. Rainier National Park, Auburn State Recreation Area, Marshall Gold Discovery State Historic Park, and Death Valley National Park, among others.

Her time spent on camping trips with her family as a child gave her a tremendous love for the outdoors as well as a deep understanding of how important it is to protect our natural resources.

Trip Tales talks about how her childhood experiences shaped her decision to become a park ranger, and her first assignments working for the U.S. National Park Service in California and Washington.

“Being a park ranger gave me a unique opportunity to talk to people about our natural world, and to instill a deep sense of stewardship in each person I met. This beautiful planet, our Earth, is our shared heritage, and we all play an important role in protecting it.”

Read our review of Trip Tales: From Family Camping to Life as a Ranger here.

Read our review of Tales From a Rogue Ranger here.