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Books > Sport & Leisure > Natural history, country life & pets > Wild animals > General
"Cindy Traisi has done it again. She has brought me joy with her
storytelling abilities and brought this self-perceived, tattooed
tough guy to tears with her accounts of the injured wild animals
passing through the Fund for Animals Wildlife Center in Southern
California.
"Cindy's first book, Because They Matter, was a constant
nightstand companion when my children were younger. My daughters
demanded "just one more" of the heart-touching stories of the
remarkable job of treating wild animals while they are trying to
get by as best they can in a world dominated by human hazards. Some
animals in her stories make it, too many don't, but every one of
Cindy's accounts of the work done by her husband, Chuck, and their
dedicated staff allows readers to appreciate the personalities and
endearing qualities of nature's wonders.
"Because They Matter, Too is filled with new heart-lifting and
heartbreaking stories of the wild animals that live all around us
in Southern California. If you love nature, or just love expert
story-telling, Because They Matter, Too is a must read. As my
daughters put it: just one more Cindy Better yet... keep them
coming, Cindy."
-Loren Nancarrow, Weathercaster and Environmental Reporter-
KGTV San Diego
Cesar Millan Doesn't Live Here is a collection of stories that are
snapshots into the daily life of Michelle and Jason. Stories
include Aurora knocking a king size bed off its frame with her
head, Porter's harrowing experience with Frosty the Snowman, the
basic decorating rule of never picking out paint while angry, and
other events that remind us that sometimes our horoscopes to stay
in bed are good advice.
Lee Stuart learned from an early age to respect all creatures
through his heritage as a Native American; he also learned what it
was like to be an unwanted citizen in this country. Throughout his
life, he demonstrated an uncanny knack for understanding and
communicating with animals, particularly those that were unwanted.
From Teddy the Bantam rooster to Sparky the pigeon, as well as a
wide variety of other pets, Stuart loved them all deeply and fought
to protect them from ill treatment. The deep bond that
developed between himself and the unwanted black Labrador retriever
his daughter named Boomer confirms that there is much to the
master/dog relationship, which is poignantly demonstrated when
Boomer saves Stuart's life in 1996
Secrets of an Ageless Journey (1997) the journey begins once again
when a sixteen year old girl, Sarah, ventures into the mysteries
surrounding her grandfather and the family ancestral ranch. While
visiting her cousins on the ranch she discovers an old journal
written over eighty years before. The journal becomes the focus of
her quest for discovering a mysterious influence that is about the
family; and in some way guiding her. (1915) the journal takes Sarah
back to one summer in the life of her great grandfather, Joseph,
and his twin sister, Ida Belle as they experience a similar
ancestral stirring in their lives. A great grandmother comes to
visit the twins, involving them in a mystery that has haunted her
and the clan. It is through the grandmother that the premise of an
invisible force and invisible world exist and was essential to the
culture and heritage of an American Indian nation.
When American explorers crossed the Texas Panhandle, they dubbed it
part of the ""Great American Desert."" A ""sea of grass,"" the
llano appeared empty, flat, and barely habitable. Contemporary
developments - cell phone towers, oil rigs, and wind turbines -
have only added to this stereotype. Yet in this lyrical ecomemoir,
Shelley Armitage charts a unique rediscovery of the largely unknown
land, a journey at once deeply personal and far-reaching in its
exploration of the connections between memory, spirit, and place.
Armitage begins her narrative with the intention to walk the llano
from her family farm thirty meandering miles along the Middle
Alamosa Creek to the Canadian River. Along the way, she seeks the
connection between her father and one of the area's first settlers,
Ysabel Gurule, who built his dugout on the banks of the Canadian.
Armitage, who grew up nearby in the small town of Vega, finds this
act of walking inseparable from the act of listening and writing.
""What does the land say to us?"" she asks as she witnesses human
alterations to the landscape - perhaps most catastrophic the
continued drainage of the land's most precious resource, the
Ogallala Aquifer. Yet the llano's wonders persist: dynamic mesas
and canyons, vast flora and fauna, diverse wildlife, rich
histories. Armitage recovers the voices of ancient, Native, and
Hispano peoples, their stories interwoven with her own: her
father's legacy, her mother's decline, a brother's love. The llano
holds not only the beauty of ecological surprises but a renewed
realization of kinship in a world ever changing. Reminiscent of the
work of Terry Tempest Williams and John McPhee, Walking the Llano
is both a celebration of an oft-overlooked region and a soaring
testimony to the power of the landscape to draw us into greater
understanding of ourselves and others by experiencing a deeper
connection with the places we inhabit.
'Important and empowering' - BENEDICT CUMBERBATCH 'Get this great
guide and be inspired' - STEPHEN FRY 'A handbook of hope ... Buy
it, read it, start changing things right now' - JOANNA LUMLEY
_______________ The enormity of climate change and biodiversity
loss can leave us feeling overwhelmed. How can an individual ever
make a difference? Isabella Tree and Charlie Burrell know firsthand
how spectacularly nature can bounce back if you give it the chance.
And what comes is not just wildlife in super-abundance, but
solutions to the other environmental crises we face. The Book of
Wilding is a handbook for how we can all help restore nature. It is
ambitious, visionary and pragmatic. The book has grown out of
Isabella and Charlie’s mission to help rewild Britain, Europe and
the rest of the world by sharing knowledge from their pioneering
project at Knepp in Sussex. It is inspired by the requests they
receive from people wanting to learn how to rewild everything from
unprofitable farms, landed estates and rivers, to ponds,
allotments, churchyards, urban parks, gardens, window boxes and
public spaces.. The Book of Wilding has the answers.
_______________ 'Brilliantly readable and incredibly hard-working'
- HUGH FEARNLEY-WHITTINGSTALL 'A deep, dazzling and indispensable
guide to the most important task of all: the restoration of the
living planet' - GEORGE MONBIOT
It was the pathetic mews of a hungry mother cat, scrounging in a
dumpster to feed her kittens that first caught Bob and Kathy Rude's
attention. They found the hungry cat and several more hungry
felines while helping out at the family restaurant one summer. The
chance meeting between the hungry strays and two government
computer programmers led to the creation of Rude Ranch Animal
Rescue, one of the United States' hardest working No-Kill Animal
Sanctuaries. Read on to meet these original Rude Cats and find what
can go right and wrong when you try to help a few stray animals and
inadvertently start an animal sanctuary.
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