The many sounds of Aspen Valley Wildlife Sanctuary.
Coyotes are among the many sounds at Aspen Valley Wildlife Sanctuary.
Submitted photo
A car comes up the laneway and my wonderful mutt dog, Brodie, barks and continues barking until the entire situation, whatever that may be, is contended to with her satisfaction. Their other dog, Kelly, merely sighs loudly and no doubt wonders what all the fuss is about. Then a cat will meow to be let out the other door - all ordinary sounds, which could occur in any household, either in a sanctuary or downtown Toronto.
Only once or twice in all the years she has lived just across the meadow from my house have I heard Subira, our lion, roar.
However, in the morning, very early, I was sitting outside on a very comfortable chair on the front porch, watching the sunshine grow stronger and stronger over the greening tree tops – the wild clamour of 50 or so great Canadian Geese. Disturbed from somewhere, flying in a completely irregular couple of Vs, so low over the house and porch that the trees must have tickled their bellies – noise, noise, noise! Shattered quietness! The entire world must have been aware of the advance of the geese! And it took a few minutes before the racket faded away down the valley and the quietness once again closed in.
I know the soft whimpering of the tiny newborns, which are brought in to the sanctuary this time of year – the urgency of hungry raccoon kits, the inquiry of waiting bear cubs, the condemning silence of a waiting beaver – all these very familiar. After 40 years of responding as immediately as possible to every demand, one learns to move fast.
However, one morning a few days ago I was out on the front porch of my house, enjoying the quiet, the shadows in the valley, the sense that all through the meadows the creatures were moving so very, very silently. I sat and watched, as the full moon moved slowly, so slowly, down from the skies, for a moment shadowing the great pines and spruce. Down in the pond the frogs began to sing, almost quietly, as though they did not want to break the stillness. And then, just as the great moon was sinking below the tree line, the wolves began to sing.
Here at the sanctuary we have five wolves. They were born to live in the wild, to roam the deep woods and green fields, to know lakes and the rivers to sing from the hillsides. Instead their lives were twisted by human interference; born in tiny zoos, kidnapped as wee pups from the wild – their free heritage lost. They have the companionship of other wolves. And, thanks to the meat donations from Sobeys, they eat the most delicious meats available. Still, they are not free.
You will meet them if you walk one of the open trails on visiting days here. This morning they seem to be remembering the wilderness. One wolf, then two – music so beautiful. All the valley grew still and the wolves sang. Then Brodie joined in and that was that.
(Audrey Tournay is the executive director of Aspen Valley Wildlife Sanctuary and is a regular contributor to the Beacon Star.)