The War on Wildlife is free for everyone, but donations are always welcome! The War on Wildlife is the third in the wildlife series with these characters. If you enjoy this novel, the prequels, Spirit of the Wolf and Thundering Hooves are available in paperback! Click here to see all the episodes plus background information and the introduction! If you’ve joined the novel late, please click here to start with Episode One!
Episode Eleven - Hope Eternal
The snow was still quite deep on this beautiful sunny Wyoming early spring morning, and a young wolf stepped carefully on the crusty surface as she tried to avoid falling deep into the drifts. The pup was traversing the snowfield to reach the trees where it wasn’t so deep, and she would have a better chance of catching a rabbit for breakfast.
She paused and perked her ears when she heard a strange noise in the distance, but quickly continued her trek across the snow. As the noise grew louder the alarmed animal quickened her pace. The distance buzz soon became a terrifying roar, and the spirited pup began to run as hard as she could for the cover of the dense pines in the distance. Try as she might, the snow was too deep for her to outrun the powerful snowmobile, and she was soon overtaken. Her agility was the next most effective weapon in her defenses and she tried a sudden change in direction, away from the motorized menace. The exhausted wolf charged ahead in the new direction, as she desperately tried to save herself.
But the two legged monster on the death machine was relentless and tireless. The cowardly hunter soon caught up again and this time there was no escape. Her strength was gone and she was no longer able to avoid the terrifying steel monster. Suddenly the beautiful blue Wyoming sky was replaced by the crunching grinding track of a machine designed to pummel snow into submission, not living flesh. The terrified wolf felt her bones cracking as she was crushed under the 500 pound mechanized predator. She soon lost consciousness as shock from unbearable pain overcame her ability to bear such a brutal experience.
However she was quickly jolted back into consciousness when the man grabbed her by the throat and yanked her broken and defenseless body out of the blood stained snow. All she could do was try to sink her teeth into her ruthless attacker, but suddenly her jaws were sealed shut when the lawless beast violently taped her mouth shut with duct tape. Searing pain quickly delivered her back into shock again when she was ruthlessly tied, and thrown on the back of the snowmobile.
She drifted in and out of consciousness as her shattered body was overcome with pain each time the speeding snowmobile plowed over deep Wyoming snowdrifts. Suddenly the horrific roar stopped, and a brief moment of relief came to a violent end when the bearded miscreant untied her and yanked her to her feet. She tried to run, but piercing waves of pain from broken ribs would barely allow her to breath, much less reach the speed required for an escape.
When she was unable to stand, the man grabbed her by the scruff of the neck and dragged her into a strange structure filled with people. A bar full of sadistic drunken patrons cheered and jeered the injured canine, all the while egging the man on to take selfies and video. The crowd eventually lost interest and the beautiful pup’s crushed body lay lifeless on the floor, bleeding out for hours while her tormentor joked and bragged about himself to his callous audience. One last time the dying creature was yanked to her feet and dragged outside where a bullet ended her brief life.
The smell of fresh coffee wafted into Michelle’s nostrils as she rolled over to turn off her alarm. She threw on her robe and walked into the kitchen, where she found Caleb staring intently at his laptop.
“Caleb, aren’t you going for your morning run?”
“I was just going to check my emails real quick, but my news feed is filled with this story about a Wyoming guy who tortured a wolf pup.”
“What, how did he get a wolf pup?”
“Well, it turns out he ran it down with a snowmobile and instead of quickly putting it out of it’s misery, he took it into a local bar to show it off. Apparently there were a bunch of people in the bar shooting video and pictures, which eventually showed up on the internet”
“That’s awful, what are they going to do about it?”
“Not much so far. He was just fined for unlawful possession of a wild animal and let go.”
“That’s a slap on the wrist.”
Caleb replied, “Yeah, I guess word of the incident has gotten out all over the world and a lot of people aren’t satisfied with the punishment. Prosecutors are looking into ways to charge him with felony cruelty, but apparently this kind of thing is not uncommon in Wyoming.”
“I hope they nail him to the wall.” exclaimed Michelle.
“Good morning,” said Angie as she entered the room. She poured herself a cup of coffee and asked, “What’s going on?”
Caleb and Michelle filled her in on the details and she commented, “I’m not surprised. There were always a bunch of jackasses coming into the Tap up in Bozeman, bragging about all their killing conquests.”
“Constantly ,” replied Caleb. “I remember when your wildlife group had to come and bail me out of jail for letting a dog out of a trap.”
“I remember that too, you made quite a name for yourself among the local hunters up there.”
“Yeah, I wasn’t too popular in some of the local haunts,” chuckled Caleb.
“Well I have to get to work,” said Michelle. “Do you guys mind if I pour the rest of the coffee into my travel mug?”
Angie nodded and Caleb motioned for her to go ahead and take it, saying “No worries, I can make more.”
“Okay thanks guys, have a great day!”
“Try to stay out of trouble today!”
Michelle laughed and said, “That’s pretty easy to do most days. I’ll be lucky to see ten cars come through the north gate. I doubt we’ll see a repeat of any dog shootings.”
Angie took another sip of her morning brew and commented, “Maybe this would be a good time to put on our faux fur show. By the time we get it all set up we can probably start modeling fall and winter fashions.”
“Yeah, maybe you could donate part of the proceeds to some animal welfare charities. That might bring in a few people that might not normally attend”
Angie replied, “That’s a good idea. We might also be able to help out with support for the Denver fur ban.”
“What, Denver has a fur ban?”
“Yeah, they succeeded in getting a fur ban for the city of Denver on the ballot this fall. I guess it’s based on the ban that Boulder passed a couple years back. If the voters approve, it will be illegal to sell fur in Denver.”
“I guess we will find out how far out of the 1800’s Denver has managed to progress. I’m not optimistic,” commented Caleb.
“Yeah, hopefully enough money comes into the campaign to offset all the negative advertising from the hunting lobby. I’ll talk to Jessie, and we can start making some calls.”
A few days later Angie and Jessica arranged a meeting with the facility manager at the mall, and met in the food court for last minute preparations.
Angie commented, “Oh my God Jessie, I’m nervous, how about you?”
“Yeah, this will be our first big show. I hope they take us seriously!”
“Well, we’re about to find out. Let’s go!”
The two entrepreneurs walked the length of the mall to the facilities office and knocked on the door. They waited nervously for a few seconds, and soon the door swung open.
“Hi, you must be Angie and Jessie!”
“That’s us,” responded Angie.
“I’ve been following you both online for awhile, so it’s nice to finally meet you in person! By the way, I’m Donna, and I’m the facilities manager here at the mall.”
“It’s nice to meet you too!”
“I understand you want to organize a fashion show here in our facility.”
“Yes, we want to do a faux fur show to raise funds and awareness about the way fur bearing animals are treated. And we want to donate a portion of the proceeds to animal welfare groups.”
“That’s awesome! I think we can work something out, and maybe the mall can donate some funds for your cause.”
“That would be amazing!”
The three women worked out the details for a show to be performed in late August, just in time to advertise new fall and winter arrivals.
As they departed the building, Angie said excitedly “I can’t believe how well that went!”
“I know, and I can’t believe she actually knows who we are!”
“I know, right? Well I guess we’re committed now. We’d better get busy finding some businesses to participate!”
Jessica added, “I wonder if we could include some of our own designs?”
Angie laughed and said, “I guess we’d better get busy creating some designs if we want to do that!”
“I know, I’m so excited! I’m going to go right home and start working on something.”
“Okay, while you do that I’ll make some calls and see if I can find some participants.”
Caleb was still sitting at his desktop when Angie walked through the front door, and he blurted out
“My Facetime feed is flooded with posts about the tortured wolf. The online community has given her the name Hope, and animal welfare groups are offering thousands of dollars of reward money for information leading to a cruelty conviction.”
“Wow, sounds like it’s really blowing up!”
“Yup, maybe we should donate some money.”
“Yeah maybe, but guess what!”
“What?”
“We got a contract for our fashion show at the mall!”
“That’s great Angie, congratulations!”
“We are going to donate some of the proceeds to wildlife groups, so maybe we can donate some to Hope.”
“That would be amazing, this guy seriously needs to face some jail time.”
“Maybe you should write an article about it.”
“It looks like it’s already getting plenty of press, but I am getting an idea for a new book.”
“Cool, what’s it going to be about?”
“Well I’m not sure, but it looks like the Republicans are getting set to unleash a veritable war on the wildlife we’ve been working to save all these years. Maybe I can document all their different tactics to undermine the Endangered Species Act. And maybe I can track the progress of the wolf reintroduction project here in Colorado.”
“Sounds like that would be right up your alley.”
“Yeah, I’ll start writing down some notes, and see if I can come up with enough material for a book.”
“That’s a good idea. I’m sure you can do it, you always have.”
“When is your fashion show?”
“It’s tentatively set for late August. We are supposed to be receiving the full contract in the mail, along with dates and times.”
“Great, let me know if there’s anything I can do!”
“Oh, we are going to have plenty for you to do,” laughed Angie.
Caleb chuckled and replied, “I thought you might.”
Episode Ten ««« »»»Episdode Twelve
