COVER STORY {by karen werner } Southwest Wildlife Conservation Southwest Wildlife Conservation Center helps people learn about Center helps people learn about wildlife and conserve its habitat wildlife and conserve its habitat Wild Side On the

Linda Searles and Don the coyote, the inspiration for Southwest Wildlife. Southwest Wildlife Conservation Center is home to about 350 350 WILD ANIMALS, WILD ANIMALS, including foxes, porcupines, coyotes, bobcats, owls, bears, hawks, raccoons, Mexican gray wolves and mountain lions. It started with a coyote named Don. In the early 90s, a local farmer riding his tractor accidentally ran over a den of newborn coyotes. Only one pup survived. The caring farmer wanted to help the coyote, but at the time, there were no vets in the area that treated injured or orphaned wildlife. So he gave him to a local family that, later, brought him to an animal lover named Linda Searles. “I named him after the book, ‘Don Coyote: The Good Times and the Bad Times of a Much Maligned American Original,’” Searles said. “Don hadn’t been fed properly, so he had nutritional cataracts and was imprinted because he had been raised by people. He didn’t know what a coyote was.” Don stayed with Searles and then lived in her care for 20 years. In that time, this much-maligned American original catalyzed the creation of one of the leading wildlife sanctuaries and rehab facilities in the Southwest. He also became an outstanding ambassador for nature, teaching thousands of people about the importance of wild animals in our shared ecosystem. APRIL 2 020 | FRONTDOORS MEDIA 21