Adopt a dog?

Well, the last few weeks have been awesome with regards to outdoor field work...

The wildlife project has officially started as I'm working with a wildlife biologist for the Lower Elwha Tribe. Kim (the biologist) has several different projects on her plate, but currently we're looking for otter latrines on the side channels of the Elwha. We throw our waders and backpacks on, and try to stay as dry as possible. There's a potential for some canoe action soon due to the high water levels and extensive bush-wacking needed for some parts of the river (I'll be crossing my fingers for that one!). The focus of this project is to get some idea of the resident otter population in the area by extracting DNA material from hair and scat. The population numbers will be compared to those following the dam removal to see how otters are impacted by extensive river changes and their influence on the survivability rate of spawning salmon.

Meanwhile, the hydrology project has been very entertaining. We've had gorgeous weather (knock on wood) while trekking around the Dungeness. On our last outing near "the Lounge", Dwight and I heard what we thought were coyotes. However, as we came around the bend, we discovered a hound dog with some odd tracking device-collar thing...of course, I immediately wanted to stop and see what the deal was as we had not seen anyone the entire day. After coaxing the dog over towards the Jeep, I noticed he was really thin and had some foot issues (no bare ground up there). Thankfully Dwight let me put the dog in the back seat and agreed to drive down to cell service. About 3/4 mile from the first dog pick-up, we found another dog in the exact same condition. She jumped into the Jeep after seeing her friend in the back seat, and we continued our journey down the road. In the end, we contacted the owners who said they were part of a "coon dog" group (8 total). Apparently, they release the racoon-chasing dogs in all directions over a wide area. Once the racoon is treed, the dog is expected to stay at the tree, barking until the owner finds him/her. The owner spoke as though it's completely normal to have a dog out for a few days before they find it...while I won't get into the ethics of this activity, I will say I was disappointed and for just a second thought I may be surprising Ben and Chris with 2 lovely dogs (I know we could have made it work!)...