I was reminded, by reading this thread, of one of my favourite life moments.

During my volunteer work in the southern US after Katrina (2005), a group of strangers banded together to help animals in future disasters. One year after Katrina, we gathered in Colorado for our first membership meeting.

Our hosts lived in the Denver area and provided us with shelter, food, laughter and adventures. Unknown to us (we came from all over: US, Hawaii and Canada) the community was clambering to offer spaces in their homes as a thank-us for our work in 2005 helping the animals. One couple was back in New Orleans rebuilding their destroyed home... yet they offered us their Colorado home (an amazing structure built to eco-standards and respect for the natural surroundings) and everything within its walls for OUR comfort.

Our hosts had scheduled tours of the area and we eagerly grabbed our cameras to see the Colorado vistas. Little did we know that these tours included some of the area's best venues for the protection of wildlife.

It was a long long drive and our first stop was a small registered sanctuary in the high plateau. It was not for public display as we might consider a zoo but a place that was created from necessity... a place of rehabilitation and release. The silence was measurable as we witnessed the caretaker's work and heard her stories. (The silence ended when we were introduced to the exotic bird sanctuary building... who knew that Colorado had such a need for exotic bird rescue!)

We left for another long drive into the mountains, up roads with no lines and no edges. No signs and no evidence of humans. We entered Mission: Wolf, and everything I thought I knew about wolves was put away. Our hosts were friends of the caretaker and on a deeply personal level, they were connected... one of our host's beloved horses had died two weeks prior to our visit and they donated the body to the wolf sanctuary for food.

What I witnessed that day will be with me forever. These wolves, for varied reasons, needed sanctuary. Some for a while and some forever. We were given a extremely rare honour to meet two bonded wolves who licked our lips and teeth in greeting.

So when I read about culling and trapping, I turn inward to a most memorable day where I learned things that cannot be put into words, and am unbelievably sad to read about a wolf skull being left as a message of disrespect.