My name is Daniel Curry I believe that I have one main purpose during my life on this planet, that is to be a bridge between animals and people. Ever since a young child I always could relate to animals better than people. I believe that because of the gifts that have been given to me it is my duty to share this amazing bond that people can have with animals. I think that everyone on our planet is connected together, to the environment, and to each and every animal. I believe that this connection has been forgotten about or altogether lost in some way. Finding our center with nature and maintaining that balance will be key to a prosperous future for all of earths inhabitants. I am honored to play any part that I can in helping build this bridge again.
 
     I started working with animals from the moment I could legally work. I started at a pet store running the reptilian, aquatic, and avian departments. This was a fun intro into working with animals and people. Not only did you have to match the person with the animal, you then had to teach most of the people how to properly care for the animal. The next step for me was to work as a veterinarian technician. I worked at two different vet clinics over the span of two years. Working in the field of medicine was extremely rewarding in many ways. It was the most challenging thing I had yet to do for a job. Assisting in surgeries, running a gamut of tests, prepping surgical equipment and always trying to make the animals more comfortable during their visit. The list goes on, it was like a never-ending conveyer belt of tasks that I had to learn, that quickly turned into life skills. It was an amazing feeling to help a sick or injured animal recover and regain their health. And just as enriching to reunite them with their human family. My journey then led me to the most reputably renowned wolf sanctuary in the united states, Wolf Haven International(WHI). I started at WHI when I was twenty years old and worked their until I was twenty-nine. This was truly a gift to not only be a part of this sanctuary as the second senior employee and lead Animal Care Specialist, but to know those animals and call them my family. Truly something that I will cherish forever. I quickly learned more than I ever knew I would that wolves and people proved to have quite a bit of a gap between them for whatever reason. So, with the work written clearly on the wall I began to use WHI, which turned out to be the perfect platform at the time to continue to try to figure out how to help rebuild this lost bridge, between people and wolves. During my time at WHI, I was blessed with numerous encounters with people that gave me the opportunity to do just that. My time with those animals and those people was so important in helping me carve out my path further into this world of helping not only people and animals, but myself in rebuilding this connection with nature in all its forms. Eventually though, I felt like a race car stuck with its emergency brake on with the throttle punched. I knew if I didn’t figure out how to unlock the brake so to speak that I would run out of rubber eventually and be stuck right where I was. I knew not only that I could, but that I needed to be doing more. I also knew that I could no longer do it from this safe vantage point within the sanctuary limits.
 
     So, at twenty-nine years old I left with a plan to help the people and the wild wolves of Washington state, co-exist. Though I had all of my animal family with me, my main partner in this endeavor was my horse and best friend Griph. I literally found a map of the active known wolf packs in Washington, and put my finger in the middle of them. I travelled to the Colville area in the corner of North East Washington. I found a place to rent that was perfect for my needs at the time. I then came back over to Western Washington and collected all of my family and belongings and moved to the Colville area. So after I moved myself and all of my animal family to our new home and settled into this new place that we had no familiar ties what so ever, I realized my plan was pretty vague. I knew what I wanted to do, but no concept at that time in how to go about accomplishing that goal. The realization of this epic transition set in. I ran through the usual thoughts that a person does when something pulls them so hard that they make huge life changes to meet this pull head on and accomplish their goal, without thinking necessarily of the how aspect. I lived in North East Washington for eight months not knowing what I was truly doing there. I did odd jobs for people to make ends meet. This allowed me to get to know the people and the area, and also allow a glimpse into how dramatically different life is on the East side of Washington compared to the West. All the while I blundered around surviving day by day in this completely unfamiliar area I kept my focus on why I had put myself here.
 
     Eventually after brainstorming so much my brain rain just dried up. I had no clue how to accomplish my goals of helping people in just half of one state to be able to co-exist with just one species of animal. It seemed such a simple equation, half a state and one species. Come on man figure it out, is what I kept telling myself. Finally, I asked myself what do you love? I thought animals and helping people get along with animals in whatever form that came in. Why did you move up here? To help wolves and people get along to the point where both this Apex predator and this unique culture could thrive, not just co-exist. Then I saw Griph in my horse pasture. The light clicked and the idea was born, Range Riding. I want to Range Ride, I thought out loud. What a great idea, combining my niche skill set of working with wolves, my vet medicine background, and my abilities with horses.  I immediately called everyone that I could think of that might be looking for a range rider or could point me in the right direction. I quickly learned through educating myself that the opportunity to Range Riding was not offered anywhere by anyone. I attended any meeting I could regarding wolves in Washington. That is how I learned that Range Riding was needed and would eventually be one of the main deterrents to be utilized in Washington state to mitigate conflict with wolves and ranchers. It was needed, nobody was hiring for it, and nobody was doing it. That is when I thought what better way to get hired for a job that you are passionate about than to hire yourself. That is When Griph and I started G.R.I.P.H. Since then G.R.I.P.H has grown into something very special. This business is the first and currently only one of its kind. We focus on all aspects of helping both humans and predators (and other dangerous wildlife) to be able to co-exist in peace with one another. It has been an honor to be able to build this business and to have it be a direct part in reconnecting people with animals. I look forward to where the path will lead to next.
 
     I believe that when we look at how we revolve around everything in our life and not how everything in our life revolves around us we gain a perspective that allows first, the realization that there is a connection and second the ability to strengthen that connection. It is when we have a strong positive connection to things around us that we truly find who we are as individuals and how we constructively fit into the world. I am humbly honored to be able to live my life in a way that can act as an example of how that can be done on the small scale of bridging the gap between humans and animals.
 
 
 
 
 
 
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