Friday, May 29, 2009

Watch out critters! It be huntin' season!

I hate spring. All those stupid animals having their stupid little babies right in my stupid backyard. STUPID!

Ok, that came out all wrong. Let me start again. I actually love Spring. The beautiful weather, blossoming creation...yes even the new little families starting all around us. Baby ducks, baby birds, baby bunnies. Could they BE any cuter? I just wish the "circle of life" didn't stress me out so badly!

If I see one more ducky couple trying to cross a busy intersection or highway, I'm gonna die. I just can't handle it. They're in their own little worlds, lollygaggin' across the street, like they don't even sense the impending doom of cars flying past them at 70mph. And Heaven forbid they have a little family of ducklings following them. I'd be apt to stop traffic to see them to safety. (My coworker Anne actually did just that, escorting 6 little momma-less ducklings out of the middle of the road. She's my hero.)

And then you have the "local wildlife:" the animals that insist on settling down in my backyard. Couldn't they at least live in my front yard? Haven't they heard tale of the "Bunny Massacre of 2008?" Don't they know what my dogs are capable of? The little monsters. Well, Cubby and Wrigley are monsters. (MoJo isn't interested in anything that's not on the other side of a fence or window. Put it right in front of him and it's like it disappears.)

Last night we had our first traumatic incident of Spring '09. We had just gotten home from Bible study. I was changing into my jammies and Jeremy had just let the dogs outside. I heard him calmly say, "Wrigley, leave it." but it quickly escalated into, "Wrigley...WRIGLEY! LEAVE IT! WRIGLEY! NO! WRIIIIGGGLLLEY!" So I came running down the stairs and into the yard to see what was going on. I found Jeremy playing defense on behalf of a small robin. Wrigley and Cubby were lunging and pouncing, trying to get past Jeremy's legs. (MoJo was in the back corner of the yard, having it out with his nemesis, the evil and menacing "Dog-On-Other-Side-Of-Large-Wooden-Wall.") I ran out and somehow caught hold of Wrigley's collar, dragging him back into the house. Then I went back for Cubby, whom I scared so badly he piddled all the way across the patio. He's SO not used to getting in trouble. :( And I tossed MoJo in the house too, for good measure.

With the hunters safely corralled, Jeremy told me what had happened. Apparently, this young robin was flying low, across the yard. Wrigley saw it, jumped up and caught it - IN THE AIR! As if it were a tennis ball and he was a Labrador! Holy moley!!! Who the heck does he think he is, anyway? He had the whole bird in his mouth, but then, not really knowing what to do with it, he dropped it. That's when Cubby joined in the excitement as the poor thing flopped around on the ground.

Well my animal-savior instinct kicked in and I immediately went to pick it up to see if it was hurt. (Like I'd even be able to tell, right?) It proceeded to flap it's way right out of my hands. Pretty sure neither of its wings were broken, but it was obviously still a little stunned from the horror it had just endured. So after MUCH discussion about what should be done (my sister and I used to rescue baby birds in distress and try to nurse them back to health...so my initial thought was to take it "under my wing." Get it? Get it? *haha*) I decided it would probably be fine on it's own...but not in my backyard. I wanted to give it a chance to regain its equilibrium in a safer area, so I took it to the front of our house and released it in the flowerbed at the furthest end of our yard. I have to say, I did enjoy holding the little guy. He was so soft and sweet. *awww*

Both Jeremy and I checked the area this morning and our little feathered friend was nowhere to be seen. So either it WAS fine and flew off into the sunset, or someone else's monster pet (likely a cat) got it. But at least I know it wasn't one of MY monsters that finished it off. I'm hoping for the nicer scenario, of course.

I'm a little worried, though, because this incident seems to have awakened something in Wrigley. Now he's much more interested in going outside and sniffing around. *sigh* So now you know why MoJo is my favorite dog...in the Spring. ;)

4 comments:

Camevil said...

Those annoying little critters. Kill 'em all!

Oh wait, I'm getting carried away here.

But seriously? Since spring, I've been noticing that I've had to share my outdoor space with wildlife and their wild, pro-creating ways. So many cute, annoying little babies everywhere. gah!

And, I've been where you are. I once "rescued" a pigeon and rushed it to an animal sanctuary only to find out that the darned thing wasn't hurt but just a clumsy fledgling. STOOPID bird!

;-P

Ginny said...

Oh man, we've had our first "spring" incident... Last year Marley was only a few months old so we didn't have any issues... This year there was a robin's nest somewhere close, so as the babies were kicked out of the nest and left to learn how to fly, they ended up in our backyard with Marley thinking they were there to play with her :/ The first time took me a while to figure out what was happening, but by the third bird, Chris and I were able to rescue quite a bit quicker. And like you, no fatalities on our watch :)

I think every young kid must try and rescue injured birds, cause I did (*cough, cough* still do... I cried about a failed attempt about 2 years ago :) But when I was younger and one of my rescue attempts died, I was crying in my mom's lap and she told me the verse about not even a sparrow falling without God knowing about it... That memory is so clear it feels like it happened yesterday :)

(wow, sorry about the comment that is "post" length)

Cheerful Homemaker said...

Ugh, Spring. We have bird nests all over our department at work. I pulled something out of top stock the other day and there were five eggs in it. I refused to commit bird murder, though, so I made someone help me move the top so that I could put it back later.

Dancing Sweet Pea said...

Aw, poor little birdie! You are going to be a good mama someday! :)