Animal house – The Colorado Sun

Good morning, friends!

If the forecast is to be believed, it’s going to be a pretty decent day out today, cutting down on the possibility that I will spend a bit more time than can be considered normal indoors, self-soothing by looking at animal-related videos on my phone.

If it’s nice out, I can take a short drive to the east and see some animals in real life — no need to replay that glorious 60 seconds of a kayaker being “swallowed” by a humpback whale and spit back out again, or watching spaniel dogs doing spaniel things over and over again. I can visit a little farm not far away where cute minidonkeys post up against the fence, or maybe head a few miles farther to a Weld County rescue stocked with cows, goats, sheep and a particularly fancy peacock. These in-person encounters, say, tickling the chin of a grateful horse friend, just feel nice. I’m thankful for the humans who make these moments possible, whether it is their intention or not, and always wonder what motivates them to commit to saving creatures large and small.

I learned about what sparked the creation of one particularly eclectic rescue (baby yak, anyone?) in this week’s cover story by Tracy Ross. I hope it leaves you with warm feelings and a sense of hope to start your week.

2-leggeds helping 4-leggeds of every shape

Tails of Two Cities sanctuary founder Jess Osborne pets her dog, Darwin, while giving a pig, Berlin, left, a belly rub while Bolton eats. The pigs are the newest arrivals to the sanctuary after having been discovered trotting along a road near Nederland. (Alyte Katilius, Special to The Colorado Sun)

I know there are endless studies explaining why interacting with certain animals helps humans, but I’ve never needed studies to become a believer, because my two dogs, Boone and Daisy, are a complete wellness toolkit. They get me up and out of the house for a walk when it’s 5 below zero. They test — and increase — my patience with their constant yanking on their leashes to smell this pee-marked rock or that pile of elk poop (we’re working on heeling!). They make me eat more broccoli just because they love it so much. And Boone, in particular, has snuggled my blues away more times than I care to admit I’ve struggled with the blues.

But what Jess and Myles Osborne are doing at Tails of Two Cities Animal Sanctuary just down the road from me outside of Nederland takes the healing power of pet love to a whole new level — one that is helping animals and people in 2,000-pound-Percheron-draft-horse-size doses.

I don’t even want to try to explain what they’re doing in this note, because their power is in their story.

And what a story it was to write — the kind requiring zero overbearing analysis and all showing. Despite them being just a couple of miles away, I only heard of them in February when Stephanie Andelman posted a story on her Facebook page about a dramatic rescue she, another neighbor and Jess did for two malnourished pigs in Gilpin County. It required a chase, a transfer of ownership scratched on a piece of scrap paper and Andelman’s ski pants with bright yellow flowers.

I’m betting those three facts will be enough to lure you into reading. And I hope the story can be a respite from the craziness we’re all enduring, just like Tails of Two Cities is a respite for lucky critters.

READ THIS WEEK’S COLORADO SUNDAY FEATURE

This week we’re sharply focused on one photojournalist’s work. William Woody, who is based in Montrose, went out to document 4,200 sheep being sheared Wednesday. It’s heavy, dirty work done in service to the fashion industry, which places a premium on fiber produced from Merino sheep. Ralph Lauren, whose family is headquartered at Double RL ranch not far away, used the material in blazers worn by TEAM USA during the 2024 Paris Olympics.

Sheep must be shorn regularly to prevent excess wool from interfering with their bodies’ ability to thermo-regulate. Removing the excess wool also cuts down on parasites and predator attacks. The removal of wool takes only a few minutes per animal. The clippers are moved over the animal first in short cuts, then long, from the back of the animal to the front. (William Woody, Special to The Colorado Sun)
The act of using mechanical metal clippers to remove the wool from the animal can be considered an art form. Some of the shearers working in Colorado this season come from Peru, Australia, New Zealand and other countries where sheep industries are thriving. (William Woody, Special to The Colorado Sun)
Ranch workers carry the fleece of newly shorn sheep away from the shearing area Wednesday. The wool is baled and shipped away for use in a variety of products, including fiber used in clothing. (William Woody, Special to The Colorado Sun)
Each animal yields about 10 pounds of wool. Colorado is one of the largest producers of wool in the United States, second to California. But, the Colorado wool industry has been in decline for decades. Ranchers used to see good profits in wool. Now, they say, wool sales barely cover the cost of shearing their animals. (William Woody, Special to The Colorado Sun)

The real superstars of Aspen

(Peter Moore, Special to The Colorado Sun)

In Aspen, the stars come out during the day. A recent, highly reliable assessment, based on an Instagram account, ranked Aspen the No. 2 spot in the world for close encounters of the celeb kind, with 151 celebrity sightings per hundred people. That means that everybody in town sees approximately half a famous person every year. Which is about right for Kylie Jenner.

The number No. 1 celeb spotting place, you ask? The Watch Hill neighborhood in Westerly, Rhode Island. It’s where Taylor Swift has a seaside manse, which means a parade of celebrity visitors — and we’re not just talking about Travis Kelce. But the skiing there sucks!

If you want to Instagram somebody who is workin’ hard for the money, Aspen is good for that, too, given the cost of housing, food and party-jet maintenance.

Give it up please, for these #RealSuperstarsofAspenColorado, starting with the guy who washes your dishes at the three-star restaurant.

(Peter Moore, Special to The Colorado Sun)

SEE MORE OF PETER’S IRL ASPEN STARS

“Gold-Fated Family”: Another side of the Molly Brown saga

EXCERPT: The story of Margaret “Molly” Brown is writ large across the pages of Colorado history. But author Jody Pritzl looked deeper into her husband, J.J., and their children to complete the family portrait in this Colorado Authors League finalist for History. In this excerpt she focuses in large part on their son, Lawrence, as he struggled to find his place in the world.

READ THE SUNLIT EXCERPT

THE SUNLIT INTERVIEW: Pritzl knew all about Margaret “Molly” Brown from working as a docent at the Molly Brown House Museum in Denver. But visitors frequently asked one question that set her on a path of research that resulted in “Gold-Fated Family.” Here’s a slice of her Q&A:

SunLit: Why did the Browns’ marriage disintegrate?

Pritzl: This is a top-five question asked by guests touring the Molly Brown House Museum. I think the couple was initially deeply in love. But money enabled them to pursue individual interests. They were very different personalities — he was more introverted, she was the life of the party.

Ultimately they grew apart and were incompatible. The children tattled on the activities of their mother to their father, and father to mother, which didn’t help. I don’t think Margaret-Molly and J.J. spoke for at least 10 years before he died in 1922.

READ THE INTERVIEW WITH JODY PRITZL

LISTEN TO A PODCAST WITH THE AUTHOR

A curated list of what you may have missed from The Colorado Sun this week.

A black-footed ferret looks out from a prairie dog burrow in Colorado after its release. (Olivia Sun, The Colorado Sun via Report for America)

Colorado’s beloved — and successful — black-footed ferret recovery program took a tough blow when the DOGE ax hit three of 11 U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service workers at the National Black-Footed Ferret Conservation Center in Carr. Parker Yamasaki has the details on the intricate web of organizations that helped bring these animals back from the brink.

In other news around cuts and freezes that we are just beginning to understand, Attorney General Phil Weiser and seven other attorneys general sued the federal government to restore funding to training programs for rural teachers. Erica Breunlin learned the program has gone a long way toward keeping classrooms staffed in some of the smallest districts in Colorado.

A couple hundred people lined up along South Broadway in Boulder on Monday to protest federal job cuts at agencies, including the National Weather Service. They were called there by former U.S. Rep. David Skaggs, for whom the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration building is named. The crowd included a lot of environmental activists, and Parker Yamasaki heard some of them grousing that they weren’t actually blocking Broadway, as they did to protest Rocky Flats in 1978.

Colorado companies still don’t have a handle on what big tariffs on imported goods will mean to them. Tamara Chuang went to the International Trade Center to talk with a few company leaders who are starting to understand. And she reported on the Small Business Administration’s threat to move the agency’s office out of Denver because it is a so-called sanctuary city.

Denver Mayor Michael Johnston got called on the congressional carpet to defend the city’s acceptance of thousands of Central and South American immigrants who arrived by bus in the dead of winter. He said it was his Christian duty to care for them, but Jennifer Brown reports that Republican U.S. representatives had some choice words for Johnston and threatened him with jail.

At the statehouse, House Speaker Julie McCluskie has proposed an interim school finance formula that would curb some of the big cuts demanded by the state’s $1.2 billion budget shortfall.

At least two groups are working to stop reintroduction of gray wolves in Colorado. One of them put out a story map to help make the case, but it’s riddled with misinformation, Tracy Ross reports. Related: The Colorado Parks and Wildlife Commission OK’d nearly $350,000 in payments to two Grand County ranches for predation claims.

There’s good news and bad in the announcement that unlimited pass skiing is back at Arapahoe Basin. Jason Blevins lays out both cases in the news that came along with the resort’s acquisition by Alterra Mountain Co.

An outbreak of measles in Texas and New Mexico is moving disturbingly close to the Colorado border. John Ingold reports on what you can do to protect yourself from the highly contagious illness that has been mostly absent from here since the 1990s.

As always, we appreciate you and the time you spend with us on Colorado Sundays. If you have a friend or family member you think would enjoy what this newsletter offers, please point them in the direction of coloradosun.com/join and we’ll see you all here next week.

— Dana & the whole staff of The Sun

Corrections & Clarifications

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