Wyoming
Wyoming Man Donates Llama Ranch As Sanctuary For Veterans, First Responders
Llama expert, Navy veteran, and former commercial abalone diver Al Ellis imagined his 207-acre Sublette County ranch would one day become a sanctuary for veterans.
That vision is now taking shape after Ellis passed the deed for his property to the Boulder Crest Foundation just before Christmas.
“We want other people to enjoy this space — people who deserve it, people who we owe something to,” Ellis told Cowboy State Daily from the living room of his two-story log home.
“Llamas are the reason this house is here,” the 84-year-old said. “We visualized being old here and wheeling over to the big windows to watch the llamas.”
That’s what his wife, Sondra, enjoyed. She died in August after a lengthy health battle.
Butterfly Moments
Ellis talks about his life as a series of “butterfly moments” — events that happened at the perfect time to chart a remarkable path that led him to the underwater reefs off the California coast to the snowy peaks of the Rocky Mountains.
His story begins in San Francisco, where he spent much of his childhood in and around the bodega and produce stand his parents ran on the corner of Mission Street.
“By the time you’re 8, you can take your orange crate down the street,” he said about scrounging for stuff to put in their discarded wooden crates.
“Even in ’Frisco we got to be pretty feral,” he said.
Ellis learned to fish when he was 6. His aunt taught him.
That was a butterfly moment.
Ellis enlisted in the Navy when he was 17, a role he downplays today because he served during peace time between the Korean and Vietnam wars.
He worked on a salvage ship. Once, the ship ran up on a reef 1,500 miles from Brisbane, Australia.
Divers on the ship worked for days to blast the reef to free the ship.
When Ellis wasn’t standing watch, he paddled around on the reef and watched the divers work.
Another butterfly moment.
Watching the Navy divers blast the reef to free the ship, he developed an intense curiosity about diving.
Ellis found his way into competitive spearfishing, even then “an old, obscure sport,” he said.
Abalone And Urchins
A serendipitous meeting of a competitor who nearly speared the prizewinning fish that Ellis claimed at a meet off the coast of Santa Barbara led Ellis into the niche industry of abalone hunting.
Abalone — large marine snails with ear-shaped shells — were once prized along the California coast, and their meat is considered a delicacy.
Ellis and his business partner later opened their own abalone operation, finding ways for divers and processors to earn more for their work — but he missed diving.
By the time Ellis got back into diving, the sea urchin industry was booming.
“The timing was perfect to get into urchins,” he said. “I got good at it right at the time the price went up.”
Another butterfly moment.
He bought a fishery with an old freezer that had, during World War II, stored shark livers for their vitamin A.
He converted the fishery into a seafood restaurant named Andrea’s.
When the California freeway claimed part of that property, he and his wife opened a bigger seafood joint closer to the water.
His wife continued to work there for nine years after Ellis retired from the diving industry and moved to Wyoming.
Wyoming And Llamas
By 1982 when he was just 40, Ellis was ready to retire from diving.
He and Sondra bought property on the Snake River near Jackson Hole. They had fallen in love with the country after visiting a friend in Alpine.
They bought some horses, then Ellis got a backpack and started exploring the Rocky Mountains.
That’s when an article about mountain pack llamas by outdoors writer Doyle Markham caught his attention. Markham operated Snake River Llamas in Idaho Falls.
“As soon as I read the article, I called him,” Ellis said.
He drove to Markham’s property and saw his llamas up close.
“Within five minutes of being on his property I told him I wanted one,” Ellis said. “He wrote the article, but it was his stud, Snake River Bandit, that lit the fire.”
Markham told Ellis he could get on a six-year waiting list for a weanling.
“I was so hooked, I couldn’t wait six years,” Ellis told Cowboy State Daily.
What followed was a long and arduous process of learning where to find weanlings and how to separate those that would make good pack animals from those that would not.
Ellis acquired six pack llamas, bred them, and spent the next decade in the mountains with his beloved pack animals, guiding trips in the Wind River, Gros Ventre, Teton, and Wyoming mountain ranges.
“It was unbelievable how many people on my trips had never seen a night sky,” Ellis said.
Yup, They Spit
People would gather around the llamas at the trailheads, in awe and full of questions.
“The first question is always, ‘Do they spit?’” Ellis said. “Of course. Their spit is their first line of defense. But a well-raised llama won’t spit at a person.”
He learned after a chance meeting with Rod Eastman, the son of well-known wildlife photographer Gordon Eastman, that his llamas were perfect for wildlife filming.
Ellis’ backcountry photography led to extended wilderness expeditions supported by his llamas.
By the time his herd had grown to more than 30 animals, Ellis was facing a tough choice.
The 12 acres he owned on the Snake River was not enough to sustain his operation. He knew he had to sell the herd, stop breeding the animals, or move.
He also knew he had an extremely valuable operation going. Llamas were in high demand, both as working pack animals and as show animals.
“They’d hit the ground at a minimum of $5,000,” Ellis said, referring to a newborn llama’s worth at the time.
Ellis said he also believed the type of llamas he bred were in danger.
“It was really a mission for me,” he said. “I had to carry it on.”
Boulder Move
The Ellises bought a run-down cattle ranch in Boulder 12 miles south of Pinedale and sold their beloved property on the Snake River.
The ranch in Boulder was an eyesore at the time, Ellis said. The ground looked like a moonscape, and it was a tough sell for Sondra.
“I was enticing my wife from a 5,200-square-foot log home on the Snake River to come to a hell hole,” he said.
He promised her that they would build a nice log home on the property eventually. First, though, they had to set up adequate facilities for the llamas.
The Ellises moved to Boulder in 1998, and by 2012 were caring for 200 llamas on the Boulder property. Fewer than half — 60 — were pack llamas.
That summer, he was 70 and working on a broken foot. It was, he said, a wake-up call that it was time to be done.
By then he had introduced thousands of people to his beloved llamas.
Boulder Crest In Boulder
Fast-forward to summer 2025, a few months before Sondra died: another butterfly moment came.
Ellis was watching TV when he came across Johnny “Joey” Jones, a co-host on the FOX News Channel’s “The Big Weekend Show.”
Jones, a military veteran who had lost both his legs to a roadside bomb in Iraq, was talking about his New York Times bestseller “Behind the Badge: Answering the Call to Serve on America’s Homefront.”
“I really liked him,” Ellis said, adding that he decided to reach out to Jones.
Gifting his 207-acre property to serve veterans and first responders was fresh on his mind. Perhaps Jones could give him some direction.
It was a long shot, Ellis knew. He tracked down Jones’ email online and fired off a note, doubtful anything would come of it.
“But I’ll be damned, he saw it,” Ellis said.
Not only had Jones read Ellis’ email, he knew who could make that happen.
Jones reached out to Ken Falke, a retired Navy bomb disposal specialist and co-founder and chairman of the Boulder Crest Foundation.
Falke had met Jones at Bethesda Hospital in Washington, D.C., where he would often go to visit wounded soldiers.
Jones completed Boulder Crest’s Warrior PATHH program, which focuses on transforming struggles into strength and thriving in the aftermath of trauma. PATHH stands for Progressive and Alternative Training for Helping Heroes.
“As soon as I met him, it was like ‘wow,’” Falke told Cowboy State Daily. “I was a diver. He was a diver. I was in the Navy. He was in the navy. There was this really interesting connection.”
Another butterfly moment.
Llamas And Vets
Boulder marks the fourth Boulder Crest facility in the country, with others located outside Washington, D.C., and in Arizona and Texas.
“I think in Wyoming, we’re going to take a little different approach,” Falke said.
Falke told Cowboy State Daily he has learned there’s a big push to help female veterans and rural veterans who struggle to get care.
Falke is also well aware that Wyoming has the largest veteran suicide rate per capita in the country.
“Our hope is to regionalize our services around Wyoming and Montana, Idaho and Utah,” he said.
In Boulder, llamas will be a significant part of the nonprofit’s operation.
Ellis said he believes the llamas will especially benefit families of veterans and first responders, noting the animal’s innate ability to spread joy.
“Watching baby llamas play when they’re in a group is 100% contagious,” Ellis said.
Planning And Zoning Hurdles
The Boulder Crest Foundation will build a bunkhouse of sorts on the property for its Warrior PATHH program.
For the property to function as Boulder Crest envisions, a special conditional use permit was required, allowing the property to operate as a guest ranch.
That use permit was narrowly approved by the Sublette County Planning and Zoning Commission in December.
The approval faced pushback and initially failed on a previous reading.
At a September Sublette County Commission meeting, six area residents voiced opposition to the property being zoned to operate as a guest ranch.
According to the permit request staff report prepared by Sublette County Planning and Zoning Administrator Hayley Ruland, “Neighbors worried that once Boulder Crest assumes control, the operation could grow well beyond what is currently proposed.
“They fear future buildings and programs could shift the use toward a resort-like facility rather than a small guest ranch,” Ruland wrote.
The report also states that some residents “expressed concern about bringing trauma-affected individuals into a residential area without guaranteed on-site mental health professionals.
“They worry this could increase demands on local law enforcement and emergency services.”
Others voiced high praise for Boulder Crest’s reputation and the potential for Ellis’ property to benefit veterans, first responders and their families for years to come.
“I’m not religious,” Ellis told Cowboy State Daily, “but all these points come together. Boulder Crest could accept it and I could give it. It’s unbelievable.”
Kate Meadows can be reached at kate@cowboystatedaily.com.
A Buffalo-area family lost their home in a fire Thursday, and a son was hospitalized for smoke inhalation after reportedly trying to save a dog.
Adrian and Kathy Keeler were headed to a Billings, Montana, hospital Friday where the middle of their three sons, Garrett, spent the night after a fire broke out in their house about 3 p.m. on Thursday.
Adrian Keeler said his son was stable and set to be released.
“He’s in good condition and we’re heading there,” Adrian Keeler told Cowboy State Daily. “He had carbon monoxide, but his tests as of 3 a.m. this morning were good.”
Keeler said he did not have time to speak more about the incident.
Kathy Keeler provided an update later Friday on social media that her son had spent three hours in a hyperbaric oxygen chamber and slept well. The family was expected to head back to Buffalo later in the day.
Buffalo City Fire Chief Clarence Gammon said when the department arrived at the family’s one-story home in the 100 block of West Gatchell Street, flames were licking out a bedroom window and up into the eaves.
“Smoke was throughout the whole house coming out the eaves and through the attic vents,” he said. “Across the street you really couldn’t see to pull up. It was a well-working fire.”
The chief said the Keelers’ middle son was across the street with his father when he pulled up, and an ambulance arrived right after that to tend to the boy.
Gammon said he could not confirm whether the boy had been trying to save a family pet; however, a family friend reported that’s what happened.
Gammon said his understanding is that the boy was the only person in the home at the time of the blaze.
Heat from the fire was so intense that vents at both ends of the home’s attic space melted.
Gammon estimated a third of the house burned with the rest suffering from heat, smoke and water damage.
Fire Under Investigation
The cause of the fire remains under investigation.
“We’re still looking at that. It was accidental for sure,” the fire chief said. “We are looking if there was an alternative heat source. It was certainly accidental.”
He said three engines and firefighters from both his department and Johnson County Fire District 1 were able to knock down the fire 10-15 minutes, and then stayed on site for the next two hours.
Gammon said it’s likely the house may have to be torn down.
He said the fire departments were also assisted by Johnson County Ambulance, Buffalo City Police Department and Johnson County Sheriff’s Office.
Family friend Tad Anderson said he has known the Keeler family for 25 years or more.
He and Adrian Keeler used to work together as hunting and fishing guides, and he characterized the Keelers as “a great loving family.”
He called Adrian a “3 a.m. friend that you can call at any time … and you can hear them getting dressed, grabbing their keys to come help you out.”
Anderson wrote on the GoFundMe campaign he started for the family that Garrett Keeler was trying to save the family’s dog, but said he did not know details of the attempt to rescue the pet.
His understanding is that the pet did not survive.
The family lost everything in the fire, Anderson added.
Sheriff’s Office Support
The Johnson County Sheriff’s Office, where Adrian Keeler works as an investigator, also posted support for the family and another way to help.
“Help! One of our deputies has a challenge. When you get lemons, you make lemonade,” the department wrote. “But if you have a house fire, things are exponentially more difficult.
“The Keelers had a fire in their home yesterday. If anyone is able to help the Keeler family financially as they navigate this challenging time, the Bank of Buffalo has opened an account for the Keelers.”
Staff at the Buffalo Police Department/Johnson County Sheriff’s Office dispatch window were also collecting donations.
Kathy Keeler posted on social media the family’s appreciation for the community’s support.
“Our hearts overflow with gratitude for your kindness, prayers, thoughtful concern and generous donations,” she wrote. “We are humbled by the outpouring of love from our incredible network of friends, family, and community.”
Dale Killingbeck can be reached at dale@cowboystatedaily.com.
WYOMING, MI — A woman didn’t know if she would survive a raging apartment fire until firefighters staged a dramatic rescue with a 35-foot ladder.
“We were having problems breathing,” said the woman, who was rescued from a third-floor apartment Monday, Jan. 19, along with her sister and young niece.
The fire happened about 8:45 p.m. Monday at Crossroads Apartments, near Clyde Park Avenue SW and 44th Street.
The woman spoke to MLive/The Grand Rapids Press Thursday, Jan. 22, but asked not to be named.
She said she had been relaxing in her apartment when she realized there was a problem.
“We started hearing the alarms. We heard people screaming ‘fire, fire!’,” the woman said.
She called 911.
The woman and her family looked to escape out the main entrance, but found the stairs on fire.
“Everything was happening so fast,” she said.
They tied bed sheets together, thinking they might be able to climb down from the window.
But they also thought about jumping — until firefighters arrived and quickly extended a 35-foot ladder to the window.
Wyoming firefighters released a helmet-cam video on Tuesday, showing the rescue.
Firefighters can be heard telling the family “Do not jump!”
The video shows a firefighter first grab the child and bring her down.
“Thank you,” a woman can be heard, panicked. “My baby, my baby.”
Then the two women climb down to safety.
The woman who spoke to MLive said she left the apartment with only her clothes.
She lost everything in the fire — money, a cell phone and keepsakes.
The nearby Big Top Market, on Clyde Park Avenue, offered $200 food vouchers for residents displaced in the fire.
Vince Grill, a supervisor at the store, said the store owners just want to be good neighbors.
“They are in the community and we just wanted to help,” he said.
Wyoming Fire Marshal Brad Dornbos earlier said that 33 people in 33 units were displaced because of the fire.
The cause of the fire is under investigation.
Wyoming is known as the “Cowboy State.” Lately they have made several moves to prove just how committed they are to that saying.
One of the very public statements the state has made came in reaction to a request by PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals). According to the Cowboy State DailyPETA sent a request in 2024 that Wyoming institute a law to allow people to opt out of a license plate that proudly displays the silhouette of a cowboy riding the legendary saddle bronc horse Steamboat.
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The letter from PETA stated, “If you continue to promote rodeos, we ask that your license plates at least more accurately reflect the cruelty that animals exploited for entertainment endure with the silhouette of a bloody spur.”
In response, Wyoming decided to face the request head on with their solid answer. In January 2026, WYDOT unveiled a new license plate to give people another option. The option is a full on rodeo specific plate.
All reports lead to Sen. Brian Boner, R-Douglas, being behind the push for the response plate. When the new plate became available, Sen. Boner sent a letter to PETA.
“Our newest license plate elevates the very traditions you hoped we would set aside,” he wrote. “Rather than minimizing the presence of horses and riders on our roads, we opted to celebrate them even more prominently.”
A portion of the money from the rodeo plate will go to support the University of Wyoming and other community college rodeo programs within the state.
Wyoming Makes More Moves to Support Rodeo
The recent activity from the state of Wyoming continues to prove its commitment to rodeo and the western way of life. Two cities in particular have reached out in hopes of securing the ProRodeo Hall of Fame and the PRCA headquarters.
Cheyenne, Wyo. was the first location reported to be interested in getting the organization to move its headquarters. An email was sent to members on November 5, 2025 notifying them that a change was being considered. While at the time, the email indicated that this was simply a consideration and “far from certain”, Wyoming has gone on to become much more serious.
The economic development organization called Cheyenne LEADS has reportedly pledged $15 million to help entice the largest rodeo organization in the world to make the move. Along with that, just recently, the Wyoming Legislature’s Joint Appropriations Committee recommended that the state offer another $15 million as an incentive in its draft budget.
This money would be tagged as “tourism” related, but given that the ProRodeo Hall of Fame is being considered for the move as well, this would fit.
Now, the city of Cody, Wyo. has stepped forward, expressing their interest in being the home of the rodeo organization.
Cody has a strong Western heritage and culture. The nightly rodeos all throughout the summer, along with one of the biggest PRCA rodeos over the Fourth of July run, all add to the lure of Cody, Wyoming, and its support of cowboys and rodeo.
Cody has dubbed itself as the “Rodeo Capital of the World”, so its representatives feel like Cody would be a better location over Cheyenne, but did admit that the ultimate goal is to work for the state and that if the headquarters of the association is going to make a move, they just need to ensure that move is to Wyoming.
What Will the PRCA Do?
This is truly the biggest question facing all involved. While both Cody and Cheyenne say they have met with PRCA CEO Tom Glause on several occasions, the PRCA has downplayed the move.
In an interview with 5 KOAA News, PRCA Chief Marketing Officer Paul Woody said, “The move is beyond the preliminary stage. It’s been thought through and discussed at length, but there’s no pending vote from our board of directors on when or if we would accept an offer,” said Woody.
Not everyone is excited about the move. Even some of the Wyoming lawmakers have expressed concern over lack of transparency involved in the preliminary stages.
PRCA members have also voiced concerns. While certainly members have valid concerns, ultimately it will be the PRCA Board of Directors who will make the decision.
Should Wyoming go forward and make the $30 million a concrete offer, that could entice the association and its board beyond any concerns of their members.
The officials from the PRCA have said that they are simply exploring the opportunities and want to make sure that if and when a move were to happen, it will benefit the membership and the ProRodeo Hall of Fame.
There will, no doubt, be heated discussions on this topic, likely among many. Members of the PRCA, members of the Hall of Fame and even Wyoming government officials and residents have something to gain and something to lose in the transaction.
With the spotlight on the move, some in Texas have also stepped forward with the idea that it would make sense to have the headquarters located within their state.
Over the coming months, this is sure to be a hot topic and when more information becomes available, Rodeo On SI will be your source.
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