My Childhood Animal Connections

 

These photos are not from San Francisco, but the animals were an influence on me. These are the animals I grew up with, saved, and cared for. The dogs were family pets, the birds, squirrel, coatis were wild animals we saved and eventually returned to the wild, I pampered the guinea pigs and the horses were my outdoor companions. Each one has a story. Quon, the Great Dane was saved by my father who couldn’t bear to see the young, abandoned animal disposed of -- this was in Germany. Nappy (Napoleon Bonaparte) was our French Poodle mut. Chirp was the first bird I saved at age 7.  Cyrano and Pinocchio were two Coati Mundi babies that we found in the open market in Paraguay when we lived there -- the mother had been killed by a hunter. The Guinea Pigs were being disposed of by a neighbor -- I spent hours building and creating habitats that they would like. The squirrel I found lying in the middle of the road, it had been stunned by a car -- he survived. The baby Robin had fallen out of its nest -- he would follow me around in the house, hopping in back of me -- when he learned to fly he was shooed out-of-doors, but he returned to me whenever I called him. And the horses were part of being in the out-of-doors of Texas where my parents retired.   My Dad took these photos -- he liked taking people, but he took these for me.