Please Don't Eat Our Best Friends

[AlienSlof]

4 hours ago, UsernameWithA9 said:

Your dog thinks you're a god. Your cat thinks the dog's an asshole.

 

'Dogs have owners, cats have staff' - on one of my fridge magnets!

[Karna5]

I appreciate this thread very much. I did not see the troll post by the person in question, but he did send me a private message stating how much he loves eating cats and dogs. I have, of course, blocked that person so I won't see his posts and messages anymore. I probably should have reported him as well, but without the context to know he was trolling everyone I didn't realize the magnitude of his crime against humanity, the crime of trying to make everyone he meets sad.

When I lived in a city, up to around six years ago, I was always concerned that the wildlife there was being displaced by concrete and human houses and roads and worse. I had a small plot of land, maybe 1/8 acre, and my girlfriend over the years built up an organic garden with countless edible fruit trees and plants (which I financed, of course, because until 2015 I had a job, and even for several years after my savings were considerable). Instead of using pesticides, we regularly purchased beneficial insects and spiders so that a proper ecosystem could deal with blights rather than poisons which kill everything.

I used to sit on the porch a couple of hours a night, even in the winter (which hit -6 F fairly often), and the families of raccoons, opossums, foxes, skunks, hedge hogs and other animals would come sit by me regularly. I still treasure the memories of baby raccoons pawing at my bare toes or trying to reach into my pockets. I also was a feral cat colony caretaker, of course, and many of the cats I have today (I have 12 currently) are rescues. I only wish I had been able to rescue more.

Eventually I found a house up north which I purchased for cash (USD $90,000 for 4000 square foot house, an additional guest house, a pond and 13.52 acres). We don't allow hunting in my area, though as it's very far from any city, hunting is fairly common though of course controlled by licenses and time of year. A couple of times my closest neighbor (who lives nearly a mile away) brought us 80 pounds of deer meat and a turkey as a gift, and we accepted it for the kindness it was intended. But generally my girlfriend and I stick to pasta and vegetarian food including even delicious vegan cheeseburgers. But mostly I like pasta and the like.

My girlfriend used to have a pet snake for the first many years she lived with me. But feeding Wiggles was always painful because often we grew a bond with the feeder mice in the time it took us to bring the mouse home for Wiggles. So we ended up buying mouse cages and keeping many pet mice as well.

I love animals. They're people. They're all individuals with their own personalities, not just by species but each animal. I love them. Are there mean or emotional broken animals? Sure, just like humans. But any animal (especially if it's not big enough to eat you) who gets to know you or, more importantly, who feels safe and is in a loving environment, is loving in return and kind in return. 

I can tell stories of pain, but I don't want to do that here. That other troll guy already told too many stories of pain. Instead, I want to say thank you for the stories of love.

*bows*

[Guest deleted156886133]

You're welcome. I might actually send the person in question a thank you message for the inspiration to start this thread because it's been fantastic so far. Nah. 

22 minutes ago, Karna5 said:

When I lived in a city, up to around six years ago, I was always concerned that the wildlife there was being displaced by concrete and human houses and roads and worse.

I oftentimes feel the same way. But I have a phrase that reminds me not to get caught up in something I have little to no power in changing. "Not my problem." It's my summation of...

and it pains me to quote this here but this is some good goddamned wisdom...

the AA Serenity Prayer:

(Insert name of your favorite entity here) grant me the serenity
To accept the things I cannot change;
Courage to change the things I can;
And wisdom to know the difference.

Some animals learn to adapt though. So it's not all bad. Raccoons, for example, thrive in urban environments. Birds are another, not counting sea gulls and pigeons. Then bears, although their presence is usually met with much less tolerance. It's always funny to me to see videos of bears getting over on humans though. There's a television show called Caught! that features differently themed episodes of user submitted video footage or garnered from somewhere, I don't know. But anyways, during an animal themed episode there was a pair of black bear cubs just ripping the interior of this person's car apart. They had somehow gotten in and the door closed behind them. It's dark. Car alarm's going off and Mama's standing up in the upper right hand corner of the camera shot, which is being provided by the neighbor of the car owner. He can't go out to let the bears out because, you know... Mama, and his neighbor doesn't seem to be home. I forget how the cops show up but they finally do and pull up alongside the car to manipulate the door handle enough to let the cubs out. Smart move. Mama gathered up the cubs and the car owner's left with thousands of dollars in damage. Karma, huh?

I try to not put myself above animals. We, humans, are nothing more than intelligent animals. We require the exact same necessities for base survival; food, shelter and water, as any woodland creature. No more, no less. And without opposable thumbs, would we still be the dominant species? Maybe, maybe not. That's humbling. That makes operating that ground leveling bulldozer a little tougher. But wait! How would the plans to build that bulldozer ever be drawn or written out? You'd also have to be very crafty in your efforts to fend of a puma attack with no way to grip a weapon or wield tools to construct traps. But hey, those legs work fine. To quote from Monty Python, "Run away!" No, that's absolutely what you do not want to do. But it's still funny.

 

[Karna5]

1 hour ago, UsernameWithA9 said:

I oftentimes feel the same way. But I have a phrase that reminds me not to get caught up in something I have little to no power in changing. "Not my problem." It's my summation of....

My philosophy is similar but not identical. I recognize the pain and make it part of me. It always hurts, but I also constantly make the effort to compartmentalize pain as well. It's never gone, but it's not all of me, allowing for positive experiences as well.

The older I get, the more compartments I have, both good and bad. Like scars and tattoos, never erased, but all me.

[Guest deleted156886133]

Whatever works that allows you to deal with the weird world we live in I can respect. I too compartmentalize. So, I can see eye to eye with you on that. Also, a sense of humor helps me... even if it's sometimes dark. 

[HeyYou]

9 hours ago, UsernameWithA9 said:

You're welcome. I might actually send the person in question a thank you message for the inspiration to start this thread because it's been fantastic so far. Nah. 

I oftentimes feel the same way. But I have a phrase that reminds me not to get caught up in something I have little to no power in changing. "Not my problem." It's my summation of...

and it pains me to quote this here but this is some good goddamned wisdom...

the AA Serenity Prayer:

(Insert name of your favorite entity here) grant me the serenity
To accept the things I cannot change;
Courage to change the things I can;
And wisdom to know the difference.

Some animals learn to adapt though. So it's not all bad. Raccoons, for example, thrive in urban environments. Birds are another, not counting sea gulls and pigeons. Then bears, although their presence is usually met with much less tolerance. It's always funny to me to see videos of bears getting over on humans though. There's a television show called Caught! that features differently themed episodes of user submitted video footage or garnered from somewhere, I don't know. But anyways, during an animal themed episode there was a pair of black bear cubs just ripping the interior of this person's car apart. They had somehow gotten in and the door closed behind them. It's dark. Car alarm's going off and Mama's standing up in the upper right hand corner of the camera shot, which is being provided by the neighbor of the car owner. He can't go out to let the bears out because, you know... Mama, and his neighbor doesn't seem to be home. I forget how the cops show up but they finally do and pull up alongside the car to manipulate the door handle enough to let the cubs out. Smart move. Mama gathered up the cubs and the car owner's left with thousands of dollars in damage. Karma, huh?

I try to not put myself above animals. We, humans, are nothing more than intelligent animals. We require the exact same necessities for base survival; food, shelter and water, as any woodland creature. No more, no less. And without opposable thumbs, would we still be the dominant species? Maybe, maybe not. That's humbling. That makes operating that ground leveling bulldozer a little tougher. But wait! How would the plans to build that bulldozer ever be drawn or written out? You'd also have to be very crafty in your efforts to fend of a puma attack with no way to grip a weapon or wield tools to construct traps. But hey, those legs work fine. To quote from Monty Python, "Run away!" No, that's absolutely what you do not want to do. But it's still funny.

 

Try explaining THAT one to your insurance adjuster..... "Is this covered under comprehensive?"

Much as I love animals, there are some I would just as soon NOT deal with.... Bears are simply not an issue here. 'Coons come around every now and again, but, I tend to trap them, then release them elsewhere. Skunks? Nope. Don't wanna deal with 'em..... but, I haven't seen one for several years either.... Which is kind of a surprise, considering where I live.... Possums? They don't last long. The dogs think they are tasty..... Same for woodchucks... Sophie is getting too old for that behavior though. The last adult woodchuck she caught, she didn't have the dexterity to kill.... She did get a little one a day or so later though. I think the others got the hint, and moved on. I don't want them burrowing under my barn floor.... that's just not good for concrete.... If the dogs don't get them, I do. They are just far too destructive to be allowed to stay.

We have deer that wander thru the yard on a daily basis. And I have had turkeys sitting right outside my window, eating the apples that fell from the tree. That gets the dogs attention.... but, I do NOT let them out when various critters are around.

One thing that does rather annoy me, that I can do absolutely nothing about though, is deer poop...... for some obscure reason, my dogs seem to view as perfume, and roll in it...... which means, bath time.

Sophie found a dead coon once upon a time. He had been there a few days, so was REALLY ripe..... so of course, she rolled in it. Very thoroughly. When I called her to come inside, she came trotting up, all happy with herself, and I about fainted from the smell...... She got a COLD bath OUTSIDE before she was allowed in the house, and then bathed again, VERY thoroughly. Then I went and took care of mr. dead coon..... That was NOT pleasant.

[Karna5]

48 minutes ago, HeyYou said:

Skunks? Nope. Don't wanna deal with 'em

Skunks are a source of metaphorical sadness for me. I've written more than a few poems and films inspired by skunks, which I love and pity at the same time. One of my recent films was one about a devil hiding in a dumpster, dying of loneliness because everyone was afraid to be his friend. I used Devil in the song/film, but it's inspired by skunks.

I remember one time, back when I had a job many years ago, I came home for lunch, and there was a skunk on my porch eating some of the food I kept out for the feral cats. But I could see the skunk was extremely damaged, with broken bones and a bad limp, and he was as scared of me as a piece of me was scared of him. So I sat on the grass in front of him, so as not to further scare him, and we stared in each others eyes quietly for around twenty minutes. Finally he staggered and collapsed and fell of the porch and limped away, no doubt to die eventually, but I'll never know.

I love that skunk. He or she changed me. I love that skunk and am so happy and sad to have met it.

Everyone fears skunks, but they're gentle people, cursed by nature to be feared and hated.

[Guest deleted156886133]

49 minutes ago, HeyYou said:

One thing that does rather annoy me, that I can do absolutely nothing about though, is deer poop...... for some obscure reason, my dogs seem to view as perfume, and roll in it

Scent plays a huge part in how they interpret their environment. They aren't offended by it as we are. I wouldn't be too concerned as long as they don't start eating the scat. That's a problem. Just keep a water hose, copious dog shampoo and fresh towels at the ready.

[HeyYou]

1 minute ago, Karna5 said:

Skunks are a source of metaphorical sadness for me. I've written more than a few poems and films inspired by skunks, which I love and pity at the same time. One of my recent films was one about a devil hiding in a dumpster, dying of loneliness because everyone was afraid to be his friend. I used Devil in the song/film, but it's inspired by skunks.

I remember one time, back when I had a job many years ago, I came home for lunch, and there was a skunk on my porch eating some of the food I kept out for the feral cats. But I could see the skunk was extremely damaged, with broken bones and a bad limp, and he was as scared of me as a piece of me was scared of him. So I sat on the grass in front of him, so as not to further scare him, and we stared in each others eyes quietly for around twenty minutes. Finally he staggered and collapsed and fell of the porch and limped away, no doubt to die eventually, but I'll never know.

I love that skunk. He or she changed me. I love that skunk and am so happy and sad to have met it.

Everyone fears skunks, but they're gentle people, cursed by nature to be feared and hated.

Trying to get the skunk smell out of a dog hair is an exercise..... and the dogs sleep in my room.... (well,  Sophie doesn't any more, she can't make it up the stairs.... Daisy, on the other hand, sleeps in the bed with me....) So, stinky dog just isn't part of the plan. Tomato juice works ok, but, I haven't found anything that is as effective as NOT having skunks around. I don't kill them, I just try and make sure there isn't anything to attract them when they are prowling around at night. I may have 50 skunks around here, and just not know about it, as we don't have the same 'active hours'.

We generally leave a bowl of food out during the day for the neighborhood cats. (and our three as well....) but, the population of barn cats has been diminishing over time.... and I am not sure why. Used to have several that lived in my barn, today? None.... We get a couple visitors now and again, but, they are the neighbors cats. (they just moved in this summer....)

I am starting to get a good collection of barn swallows though. Had a couple show up a year or three ago, but, it was just a pair of 'em, and they avoided me like the plague. However, recently, they have discovered that when I am out mowing.... I stir up the bugs in a big way..... The other day when I was mowing, there were half a dozen orbiting me while I rode around on the tractor. They come awful close, but, never make contact, they are better flyers than that. At  a previous address, there was a HUGE abandoned barn across the street, that was chock full of swallows. They learned right quick that when the mower started up, it was buffet time. And there were HUNDREDS of them. My wife would look out the window to see where I was at, and all she would see is swallows, with an occasional glimpse of a tractor in the middle. At first, I was nervous having that many birds, flying so close. But, as I said, they are good flyers, and it didn't take me long to figure out I was in zero danger...

We had snakes there too. I spent an hour or so picking up sticks in the yard one day, prior to mowing, and imagine my surprise, when about halfway thru it, I see this PILE of sticks in the yard..... I didn't quite understand how I could possibly have missed those previously, but, stopped the tractor, got off, started walking toward the pile.... and the pile moved...... Holy smokes. There were a LOT of snakes there.... I just took a break for a while to let them disperse, then finished the yard.

[Guest deleted156886133]

@Karna5 Skunks have my humblest respect and not just because of their spray. They don't bother anything. They're just trying to survive like the rest of us. I've came across a few in the wild and I always allow them their distance. Fortunate for me because I have yet to be sprayed.