A few days ago, I reported on the dead baby rabbits in my front garden. Was it Franklin the dog or was it the neighborhood cat from a few doors down who was close by peeking in very seriously from behind a yew?
I kept Franklin out of the garden or on a very short leash, and another one showed up. Aha, I said to myself, it was the cat, or some other predator. As I also reported earlier, a hawk had chased the mother a couple of weeks ago, coming within three or four feet of us one evening.
Yesterday, when I came home, Partner yelled down the stairs that Franklin had killed another baby rabbit when he took him outside after work. The dog's on a leash, and the rabbits are moving around among the perennials.
Later, I took the dog outside, and we went all the way near to the street. No baby rabbits had been sighted there. A neighbor stops by to talk, and asks for an identification of a plant she had put in the ground last year. It was a brilliant purplish blue flowered spiderwort. I took her to the edge of my garden to show her my pink flowered ones. As we chatted, the dog made a quick jump into the foilage and pulled out another baby rabbit.
I don't like to kill the animals running through our yard. I suppose if they were chewing everything in sight, I would think differently, but we have gotten along ok. I've kept the dog away from the mature rabbit when I've seen her and the dog has not. Last year I hit a squirrel with my car -- it made a suicidal dash right towards the front of my car at the last moment -- and I felt bad about it.
At the very least, I think there is probably a morally neutral relationship between the wildlife and the people who live beside them. If the hawk had gotten the mother rabbit, wouldn't that have been the circle of life? I don't put poisons or traps out. I certainly wouldn't condone cruel acts to them, and now better informed about Franklin and these rabbits, I will take him to the backyard -- where the chipmonks are, and the voles.
The other day, I saw a big fat squirrel on my neighbor's feeder, hanging from a long wire off of a very high white pine limb. How, I thought, did the squirrel get there and how will it get away. I waved my hands, and the squirrel then pulled itself up the hanging wire, much like a marine climbing a rope in a gymnasium. The squirrel was fat and fluffy, unlike any soldier in training. Bravo, I thought as the squirrel climbed back down the wire to continue feeding. That is an amazing skill.
My dog, a terrier, is a bred rodent killer. I've tried to discourage and prevent his blood lust. But it happened yesterday in the garden. Twice.
Tuesday, May 17, 2005
carnage, continued...
Posted by Don at 5/17/2005
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4 comments:
Yes, I certainly agree that we share space with these animals, and unless they are a threat to life (e.g., rabid racoons, or chewed through wires, major destruction of property, attacks on pets or people) I am quite content to live and let live.
One of the reasons that I don't put a lot of pesticide in my garden is because I like the fact that butterflies, bees, & hummingbirds have found it a hospitable place. I figure they enjoy the flowers (or find uses for them) that far exceeds my own few moments of pleasure in being in the garden.
I can't get mad at Franklin for doing what he was bred to do. But I do feel a responsibility in preventing and not encouraging such behavior.
Franklin is probably quite pleased with himself and can't figure out why you and Partner don't share his delight, yes?
Always a pleasure to read about Franklin - in a way I'm pleased that his injuries haven't stopped him from being a dog. At teh same time, I share your qualms - I've knowingly killed one squirrel and it still bothers me, years later.
While I was quite proud of our mutt, I mean CROSS-BREED (he was the sensitive type)for keeping the coyotes and deer out of the yard and garden , I was more than a bit upset when he started running them down and killing them. He insisted on bringing them too us as a gift. I guess there is a point at which we must admit that our beloved pets are ,after all, animals. Blessings on you, dog and the rabbits.
militant ... thanks for your words of blessing. I am sure that my dog is as perplexed by human behaviors as I am sometimes of his.
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