Raccoons

Posted on | July 24, 2010 |

We’ve all got stories about raccoons invading the house, being generally fearless, and destroying things.

The masked bandits have descended on my backyard several times recently, and have romped, scurried, feasted on the tomatoes, and so on. It’s all rather picturesque, especially their wrestling matches. One night they killed something, with plenty in the way of ferocious sound effects, and left shreds of grayish fur behind. That was less pleasing.

But they are fearless. And just as we don’t recognize their right to be in our yards and trash, they don’t recognize our existence either. It’s one thing, I suppose, for us to have lost sight of what nature is about in our insulated world. That’s not interesting. But when creatures in the natural world lose sight of us as creature that can affect their lives, isn’t that different? Because we can affect them. I can get a trap or call the animal control officer and make their existence in these parts a thing of the past.

As the World Wildlife Fund concluded, in fifty years if things carry on in the world as they are now, humans will flourish but almost all other species will be extinct. And if humans were to disappear, in fifty years all other species would rebound and flourish.

So, enjoy the little creatures if you can. One way or another the fun can’t last.

Comments