.jpg)
Looking back at my yearBy Morris Dean
Yesterday I went through the blog's 2012 archive [accessible through the bottom section of the sidebar]. The blog began the year as "Moristotle: A sometimes ironic celebration of life on Earth"—or was it still "An ironic celebration of life, love, laughter, and learning" or "...of evolving life and learning on Earth"? However exactly it started out the year, you can see by the masthead how we think of it now.
Most months it was difficult to select only one post that touched me in some special way, the special ways were many:
February. "Finches and a Wren ahopping"—My heart danced many times during the year at the sight of frolicking, feeding birds.
March. "Frozen by Frozen Planet?"—The TV series Frozen Planet reminded me that "nature programs" are among the most violent TV shows or movies we can watch.
May. "Dog-tired"—Siegfried delighted me and my wife literally every day of the year. He's family.
June. "Two's company, three's a crowd?"—Digiscoping seldom gets better than this, a series of photos of distant crows courting and making jealous(?).
.jpg)
August. "Life as we live it"—I joined a book club during the summer and discovered both congenial neighbors and a very fine new writer.
September. "Welcome contributing editors"—Moristotle's editorial staff expanded from a one-man operation to a company of mostly congenial colleagues.
November. "Triptina for end of year's persimmon season"—Persimmons in both flesh and verse provided many occasions for visual, gustatory, tactile, kinetic, photographic, and poetic enjoyment.
Happy birthday to my daughter!
She's probably out there on the water in the swirl_______________
Of wind she loves so much she's seen to leap and twirl—
It makes me happy
To be her pappy—
Happy today and many future birthdays, Pineapple Girl!
Copyright © 2012 by Morris Dean
| Please comment |
Today's glad looking back might seem to give the lie to Saturday's dark "Sonnet at the end of another year." Looking back can affect a person in different ways. It all depends on your attitude and what you're looking for. Saturday (and the day before), I was looking to write a sonnet on the depression that December and Winter cast on many people, including a certain cousin in North Little Rock.
ReplyDeleteJudging by the notch on my belt which has had its ups and downs my year has ended as it began....
DeleteNice measuring device, Jim!
Delete'Slooking like I'll use your essay, "Opinions," on my birthday—that is, unless that editor's roast materializes....It would work for your own birthday, wouldn't it?
In my "opinion" it would work either day...
ReplyDeleteThe January pick, "Humanitarian inclusion," is an interesting post. The local farms have been trying to deal with a fox that has been eating family pets, including other people's cats and my chickens. I lost 3 chickens recently and a duck. We have tried not shooting the fox and have set traps in various places. Traps are almost a useless way to catch a fox. So, either someone shoots the one fox or the fox continues to kill multiple animals in an equally non-humanitarian way. My neighbor had the misfortune of having heard the death cry of one of my chickens as he watched the fox catch it. Not a good thing to hear or see. I've had various philosophies and points of view on hunting, but in the face of death—either a lot of small animals or one fox—I've learned the value of saving the multiples over one.
ReplyDeleteIndeed, many ethical choices involve trade-offs. Life is complicated.
DeleteMy primary concern is to try to get people to think about the individual animals involved as sentient beings who should, in a fair world, have some rights. But humans being virtually all-powerful relative to other animals, the other animals have rights only if humans agree to grant them.
Bettina, the fox is killing and eating cats? Chickens would be a likely choice, but eating cats would be highly unusual. Most cats are roughly the same size as the average fox and they have a lot of weapons (sharp retractable claws) that a fox lacks, so most fox don't take them on. Many cats, Maine coons and Norwegian forest cats, for example, are even bigger than most fox and I can vouch from personal experience a fox will flee from them. Are you absolutely positive you aren't dealing with a coyote?
DeleteIf it is a fox, or a coyote, now that it has found a place to eat and likes the menu, you do indeed face a tough ethical choice about how to deal with it. Before you have to resort to shooting, is there a way to add a dog into the equation? Even a small terrier will intimidate a fox, but if the animal in question is a coyote I would recommend a dog at least in the 50-pound range.
Begging for attention motomynd (just teasing). We live in a rural area of WV. There is little other than farms in the area. I have a farm with chickens, dogs, and thoroughbreds. I use to have ducks until the fox ate them. As of today, I have three of seven chickens remaining. Yes, the fox ate those, too. Chickens and ducks are common place feed for fox. Farmers pretty much have that knowledge understood.
ReplyDeleteMy neighbor has watch her cats (yes plural) being chased by the fox. She is well educated, farm raised, and worked at the Pentagon, so hopefully she knows what she's talking about. The other neighbor has had the same problem. The cat/fox thing is nothing new around here. Again, quite common place. Needless to say, there are few cats around now, but I do have two recent strays living with my chickens in the chicken house. Wonder how long they'll last...
The fox is perfectly willing to come within a few feet of humans. Three of us have experienced this, so I'm not sure how a small terrier would be of concern to it. I will say that the fox we have is smart enough to avoid my dogs. You would find it interesting to know that my dogs get along with my chickens (and ducks when I had them). The chickens would frequently run to the dog fence to get protection from the fox. I have seen this several times. The ducks did the same. I have four shar pei, not always the sweetest or best tempered dogs.
Speaking of dogs, last year one of my dogs (50 lbs) took a 150 lb deer down. Few would believe this. We actually had a sheriff's deputy come out to end the life of the deer as it was still alive, though suffering. (You are welcome to ask why a sheriff's deputy, but I'll see if you can figure that out). The dog had a vet check the following day, and other than a scratch on the nose, there was little else wrong with him.
Now, back to the subject at hand.
Here's what a fox sounds like: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uIR8RtI9kaw
Here's what a coyote sounds like: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5FcN5kBXAiw
When the fox is barking as he runs across acres of pasture and on up in to the horse paddocks, it is hard to not know what you're looking at and listening too. Their bark is very different from a coyote, as is their appearance.
Regarding size, this particular fox is much larger then house cat. My apology for disagreeing with you on this note, too. We see the fox on a regular basis. Sometimes he runs among the thoroughbred paddocks and sometimes he sits out in the pasture looking on. He runs from farm to farm, navigating my horse board fencing, wire fencing, dog kennel, barns, shed, front yard, and house. At night, when he walks around my immediate yard, his presence turns the motion detector lights on, which then sets the dogs off. During the early morning hours he chases wild geese around the ponds. He eats dog biscuits and chicken eggs when I make them available. Getting over the fact that he ate my ducks and chickens, he’s really a beautiful creature to behold.
Bettina, this is an intriguing and eye-opening onslaught of information you are providing. I am being forced to completely re-evaluate my own hard-earned firsthand knowledge about foxes. Are you feeding this fox anything laced with steroids? (Just teasing you back.)
ReplyDeleteAccording to any number of reliable sources, our beautiful native gray fox generally weighs 10-15 pounds, although there are exceptions. Quoting Wikipedia here: "The gray fox typically weighs 3.6 to 7 kg (7.9 to 15 lb), though exceptionally can weigh as much as 9 kg (20 lb)." That said, most I have encountered, including two that live in our backyard here in rural North Carolina, look to weigh well on the light side of 15, so you may have a potential record on your hands. You certainly have one with over-the-top personality, because I have never seen them be so bold.
When I was a child growing up in Virginia, we raised chickens at home for meals, and I also had pet ducks. One year a fox took a couple of each. It was against the law to fire a gun in the pseudo-suburb where we lived, so we were in a quandary. The situation was resolved by my little dog, a 14-pound Jack Russell/rat terrier cross-breed. That particular blend of genetics gave him the speed to catch the fox and the jaw strength to kill it, and one night he did just that. It wasn't clean, by any means, but it was over in a couple of minutes. That was why I suggested that a small dog might be firepower enough to resolve your situation. Based on your story and your fox, perhaps I didn't give my dog, Wiggles, enough credit for what he accomplished.
As for cats, I can readily see how a huge fox could be a threat to a small cat, but my experience is with normal size fox and Maine coon hybrid cats that weigh 20 pounds and have a reach of 42 inches from front paws to back. I used to live in a cabin at a nature preserve, and a stunning thick-coated gray fox lived nearby; I can vouch he would run for it anytime the cats were outside. If they weren't out he would steal cat food, but the moment he saw them he fled. Of course, these cats successfully caught and killed a crow, and ran off a raccoon that tried to steal their food, so again, perhaps I am not giving credit where it is due.
Your dog took down a deer? My first question would be how did it catch the deer? It seems very fortunate to have emerged without serious injury. I saw a coyote chase a two-month-old fawn in July of 2011, and the fawn's mother - who we call Little Spot - charged and caught him from the side. It did not end well for the coyote. Last fall she also chased a neighbor's German shepherd back into its yard, so your dog taking a deer by itself was quite the accomplishment. As to why the deputy instead of a game warden, no good guess here: please do tell.
It sounds like you live in a very interesting setting. Would you consider posting a regular update on the fox and other news from your area?