Ferocity

on June 30, 2009 14 Comments

This place I live in is on the edge of the wilderness. Vancouver is a city wedged between ocean and mountains. It’s a place that isn’t really all that tamed, geography just doesn’t permit it. I love the wildness, the sort of rugged beauty. However, there are certain concessions that need to be made when you live in a place like this.

We have lots of black bears in our province, and we need to be ever mindful of them. We also have lots of raccoons, skunks and coyotes. These are the animals that you’re most likely to come across in developed areas. But the animal that scares me the most, and is thankfully considered extremely elusive, is the cougar. 165 pounds of wildcat is not my idea of a good time.

Cougar
Photo courtesy of digitalART2 on Flickr

Two weeks ago in Brackendale, an hour or so North of Vancouver, there was a cougar attack. The area of the attack is rural and mountainous. A family was picking berries in a local park when a cougar jumped on their 3-year-old daughter, pinning her to the ground.

Her mother took immediate action. The radio report I heard said she pulled the cougar off her daughter and placed herself between them. She managed to stand up and push the big cat off. And he backed down and ran off. The little girl has some puncture wounds to her head, but is just fine and apparently not all that shaken. The cougar was later hunted down and shot.

Listening to the report left me shaking. The actions of this mom struck me. She’s probably no different than I am, but she fought off a large predator without a second thought. The mere idea of facing down a wildcat to protect your child overwhelms me with emotion.

I can’t say for sure how I would react if a cougar attacked my child. But I bet I could be as fierce and strong as I needed to be. I could wrestle a cougar to keep my baby safe. And that’s what makes me shake. The power that is contained in the heart of a mother. It’s amazing and frightening and ferocious. And it cannot be contained.

So I’m putting the cougars on notice. They had better stay elusive, because they don’t want to see just how ferocious I can become.

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Squirrels

on June 25, 2009 8 Comments

As a child I loved squirrels. There weren’t any in my immediate neighbourhood, so I was always very excited to spot them on trips Stanley Park in Vancouver. I loved their fluffy tails and their twitchy little noses. I would totally have had one as a pet if my mother weren’t so dead set against it. She was always ruining my fun, let me tell you.

My love of squirrels ended abruptly in 1997. I moved into a third-floor apartment surrounded by trees and a lot of squirrels, who took up residence on our balcony. There was no sliding screen door, so in the heat of summer we had to keep the patio door shut tight. It was a minor annoyance, but I could live with them. That is, until they crossed the proverbial line.

Cheeky squirrel
A squirrel we came across on a recent walk

I bought a window box and planted bulbs, my first foray into a garden of my own. I carefully chose crocuses and tulips and an expensive bearded iris. I planted the cheap bulbs first, to see what the squirrels would do. And…nothing. But no sooner did I decide it would be safe to plant the iris than there were four squirrels digging that bulb up. That flower represented all my hopes and dreams and $10 I didn’t want to see wasted.

And more cheekiness
Your charms will not work on me, Mr. Squirrel

I tried to discourage the squirrels. I yelled and hollered and banged on the glass, but they were unmoved. I stepped outside and waved brooms in their general direction. I tried tricks involving plants squirrels dislike and spices. The squirrels were completely unconcerned about my various efforts. I’m pretty sure some of them even laughed at me.

These days I have a kid of my own and she’s very excited when she sees a squirrel in the yard. Now she wants one as a pet and I am ruining her fun. But after my experience squirrels are no longer cute and furry creatures in my book, they are pests and rodents and they had just better stay out of my garden. Nobody wants me to be forced to break out my completely ineffective squirrel deterrents, let me tell you. ;)

PS – You may have noticed that blog ads went up on this site last night. I will be talking about that tomorrow, so check back if you’re curious. I don’t want you think that I’m trying to sneak something past you, like I’m some sort of cheeky squirrel or something.

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