Non-Fiction Books
Like other livestock in the Rocky Mountains, sheep need protection from predators, such as coyotes and wolves. Guardian dogs help ranchers protect their flocks. But they are not the typical herding dogs, and they are not native to the region. The breeds were imported from Europe, where they have been guarding livestock for thousands of years. As puppies, they are placed in fleece and learn to identify with the smell of sheep. It isn't long before they meet their first sheep and mingle with the flock. With little training, the dogs instinctively know that their job is to keep a lookout for danger and now and then do some babysitting. Cat Urbigkit's engaging photo-essay shows how guardian dogs form a bond with the sheep that lasts throughout the dogs' life.
A fascinating glimpse of the hard yet rewarded life led by Cass, a young shepherd on a farm in Wyoming. Cass makes sure the sheep on his family's farm good shelter, food, water, and protection from disease and predators--from spring, when they're born, to winter, when the their wool grows long. Although Cass cares for all the sheep on the farm, he built his own special herd from the orphaned lambs. These orphaned lambs need special attention, such as bottle feeding until they are able to eat and drink on their own. He makes sure these orphaned lambs get extra attention, bottle feeding them until they can eat and drink on their own.
Puppies bring a smile to every child's face, and so will this adorable book. Cat Urbigkit captures puppies playing, prancing, napping, and more with a simple rhyming text and colorful photographs. Young children will delight in page after page of puppies and their antics in this IRA/CBC Children's Choice.
American Farm Bureau Foundation for Education Recommended Book Cowboys aren't necessarily boys, and they aren't necessarily grown-ups, either. In this lively photo essay, young readers will meet girls and boys who live a unique way of life on their families' cattle ranches. Cowgirls and cowboys take part in many aspects of livestock operations, from calving and branding to haying and rounding up the herd. With a colorful and informative text, illustrated with action-packed photographs, Cat Urbigkit's book follows cattle kids through a year of ranching on the western range.
A fascinating look at a unique way of life. A wagon sits in the sagebrush-covered desert, while herders on horseback move sheep to high summer range. It looks like a scene from the Old West, but it's actually a sight you can see today. Shepherds still live in wagons, tending their flocks in Wyoming and other places in the American West just as they have done for more than a hundred years. You can still see the shepherds "trailing," moving their flocks to the mountains in the summer and bringing them down to the desert for the winter. From breeding season to lambing season, and shearing in between, Cat Urbigkit presents a lively, informative text and stunning photographs that show how sheep are raised over the course of a year.
Yellowstone Wolves provides a unique perspective on what is one of the most visible and contentious wildlife management experiments taking place in the American West today. It is a review of the discovery, persecution, and possible survival of the native wolves of the northern Rocky Mountains of the United States; it is a detailed chronicle of the debate over the legality and propriety of introducing wolves from Canada into Yellowstone National Park and central Idaho during the mid-1990s; and it is an account of the spread of the released Canadian wolves from Yellowstone and central Idaho into surrounding areas and the tensions created by these movements. Most of all, Yellowstone Wolves is a passionate and fact-filled illustration of the raging interplay that can develop among the many diverse interests that vest in experiments of this type. Insights gained from Yellowstone Wolves will be of value for dealing with innumerable other issues, environmental and beyond, where multiple perspectives converge, conflict, and demand and deserve sober, intelligent, and candid resolution. Cat Urbigkit, an advocate for the conservation of what were presumed to be remaining populations of wolves native to the Yellowstone area, a newspaper reporter who covered the debate over wolf reintroduction to Yellowstone and central Idaho during and after the mid-1990s, and one of the litigants who sued the US Fish and Wildlife Service to prevent the introduction of Canadian wolves into the region, is uniquely qualified to provide an intensely personal perspective on, and detailed record about, the debate over the Canadian wolf release and the circumstances that subsequently developed. The Foreword by Ronald M. Nowak provides authoritative context for understanding the broader significance of endangered species management and the record, and trends, of the United States in managing the nation s biological diversity and adhering to the mandates of the Endangered Species Act.
They are the fastest land mammals in North America, clocked at speeds of up to sixty miles per hour. Of all the world's land animals, only cheetahs are faster. When a herd of these animals passes at a run, their pounding hoofs sound like a fire raging across the prairie. These powerful, fast-running creatures are American pronghorn antelope, whose populations are found in southwestern Canada, throughout much of the United States, and in northern Mexico. This captivating book follows a herd of Wyoming pronghorn from the sagebrush desert in the spring, to the mountainous high country in summer, and, finally, to lower elevations where the herd returns for winter. The animals follow an ancient cycle. The Wyoming herd has traveled this migration route since the last Ice Age. With a simple, lyrical text, and stunning full-color photographs, this beautiful book offers a fascinating look at the life and behavior of an extraordinary animal.
Shepherds have used dogs to protect livestock for thousands of years. But burros also have a natural instinct to protect, which makes them a perfect guardian animals as well. Meet Rena and Roo, a super dog-and-burro guardian team at work on a sheep ranch in Wyoming. The animals have a close connection with the sheep they protect, but it takes time and effort for Rena and Roo to grow to trust one another. In this companion book to her award-winning Brave Dogs, Gentle Dogs, Cat Urbigkit uses simple, informative text and eye-catching photographs to show how Rena and Roo develop into guardian animals.
Cat Urbigkit journeys alone to spend a season on Wyoming’s open range tending to a herd of domestic sheep as they give birth amid the challenges of nature – from severe weather to a wealth of predators. Her only companions are the livestock guardian animals (BIG dogs and a pair of burros named Bill and Hillary!) that repeatedly prove their worth in devotion to protecting the herd. Cat Urbigkit journeys alone to spend a season on Wyoming’s open range tending to a herd of domestic sheep as they give birth amid the challenges of nature – from severe weather to a wealth of predators. Her only companions are the livestock guardian animals (BIG dogs and a pair of burros named Bill and Hillary!) that repeatedly prove their worth in devotion to protecting the herd. Urbigkit offers interesting reflections on the role of pastoralists around the globe and on the controversial issue in the Western US of private livestock herds being run on public lands. The intimate ways in which abstract public policy plays out on the open range is eye-opening. More than a tale of herding sheep, Shepherds of Coyote Rocks is an action-packed true story that reveals the broad spectrum of the human relationship with nature, from harmony to rugged adventure.
Sam Ives’s family set up camp in a Utah campground, cooked dinner, cleaned up and packed their gear away, and climbed into their multi-chambered tent to sleep. It was a great end to Father’s Day. Eleven-year-old Sam crawled into the smaller compartment of the two-room tent. Without his parents knowing it, Sam ate a granola bar and placed the empty wrapper in a pocket of the tent. Sometime during the night, a black bear entered the campsite, ripped open the side of the tent where Sam slept, grabbed the boy, and killed him. His parents heard a noise and got up to have a look around, but were unable to find Sam. Terrified, they immediately called for help and a search was quickly conducted, where Sam’s body was found about 400 yards from the campsite. Unfortunately, Sam’s story is not uncommon—every year there are numerous reports of predator attacks on humans, many of them resulting in fatalities. When Man Becomes Prey examines the details of fatal predator attacks on humans, providing an opportunity to learn about the factors and behaviors that led to attacks. The predators profiled in the book include black bears, grizzly bears, mountain lions, coyotes, and gray wolves—the first time all five species have been included in one volume. Compelling narratives of conflicts involving these top predators are accompanied by how-to information for avoiding such clashes.
Learn about the brave dogs who help guard livestock around the world! Wolf populations in the Rocky Mountains have reached recovery goals due in large part to an environmentally friendly method of predator control now in use on western ranches: livestock protection dogs (also called livestock guardian dogs). Although these dogs have been used around the world for thousands of years in primitive systems of livestock production, it’s only in the past four decades that they have been put to work in America in a systematic manner. Guardian dogs were imported to the United States, and their use has allowed the expansion of predator populations into areas where the animals were previously subject to lethal control. The use of guardian dogs is typical wherever livestock may encounter predatorsfrom fox and coyotes, to wolves and grizzly bears. In Brave and Loyal , Cat Urbigkit tracks her journeys from a Wyoming sheep ranch to learn about working livestock protection dogs around the globe. Using historic accounts, published research, personal interviews on four continents, and her own experience on western rangelands, she provides the reader an intimate look into the everyday lives of working livestock protection dogs. Brave and Loyal includes details on raising successful guardians, their behaviors, a discussion of breeds and historic use, an assessment of numbers for various predator challenges, the adoption and spread of programs to place guardians on American farms and ranches, problems and benefits associated with guardian dogs, predator ploys, and matching the dog to the predator challenge. Urbigkit’s work provides the best information on working livestock guardian dogs around the globe, accompanied by more than one hundred beautiful color photos.
The Yellowstone grizzly population has grown from an estimated 136 bears when first granted federal protection as a threatened species to as many as 1,000 grizzlies in a tri-state region today. No longer limited to remote wilderness areas, grizzlies now roam throughout the region—in state parks, school playgrounds, residential subdivisions, on farms and ranches, and in towns and cities throughout the region. Return of the Grizzly tells the story of the successful effort to recover this large carnivore, the policy changes and disputes between bear managers and bear advocates, and for the first time, provides insight to what recovery means for the people who now live with grizzlies across a broad landscape. From cowboys on horseback chased by a charging grizzly, and grizzlies claiming game animals downed by human hunters, to the numerous self-defense killing of grizzlies that occur each year, the manuscript examines increases in conflicts and human fatalities caused by grizzlies in this ecosystem inhabited by humans who live there year-round. Human–bear interactions, grizzly attacks and deaths, avoiding attacks, effects on agriculture, wildlife protesters, the consequences of bear habituation, and more are all covered.