The boulder-strewn and pine-scented steep canyons of Central Idaho’s Big Salmon River was a wondrous place to find one’s sense of self. The land was fierce but fertile, more than sufficient to sustain livestock as well as the abundant wildlife that flourished there. The author lived and labored for decades on her family-owned sheep ranch where a constant but delightful parade of domestic and wild animals coursed through their lives. Wild Things Among Us features firsthand accounts of a backyard Bullwinkle, the Big Bad Wolf, cougars in the kitchen, and a pet skunk named Ollie juxtaposed with a sheep rancher’s struggle to survive. Ranchers are conservationists and ardent protectors of the land by nature, but sadly they are often embattled and even defeated by special interest groups with a propensity to meddle in their livelihoods. This is one such story.