The coyote didn't appear threatening, yet it was very unusual for one to be walking around in the day and not to be afraid of people. After some time of following the animal it was decided by the deputies that the best course of action was to shoot the animal. Tragic ending but all felt it to be the best way to handle the safety of the neighborhood.
When we first moved to Walnut Hill in 1994 it was still a new subdivision not yet as large as today and we would hear coyotes and there "call of the wild", but never see them. but would see deer. Across the street in a large tree an owl would hoot each evening. Rabbits, snakes, birds of prey and bats could all be seen. As the area became more developed a number of those animals soon disappeared. Except the bats who at dusk we could sit on our back deck and watch them flying around and on occasion a snake.
In recent years deer have become more visible much to Reilly, our golden/lab mix dismay. He loves his job of performing security and when things are in his sphere of influence he lets them know he wants them gone.
Snakes are seen more often. For example a couple of years ago my wife and I were cleaning the hot tub and lifted it up to drain all the excess water and found a black snake living under there, the wife was not to happy, and more so when she discover I was not going to kill it but take it back to the creek which was at the edge of our property. I also reminded her there were not as many frogs and lizards around either because of the snake. And it seems the snake and his family have returned because he enjoys the hot tub more than the creek (which has caused me to receive a lot of flak). Rabbits are more plentiful and just last week my wife informed me she heard an owl hooting in the neighborhood.
I am happy they have returned. But it does make me home sick and makes me living and working on the GA Coast 3 1/2 hours feel much further away.
Hey Graybeard,
ReplyDeleteNice story! It made me think of when I was a kid in Gonzales, Texas during the summer. We would go down to the creek and watch (sometimes catch) the crawdads. Then we would swing from the huge grapevines that covered all the trees lining the creek. Don't tell my mom but sometimes we would break off some of the tiny grapevines and because they were hollow, we would light them and "smoke" them. What that really meant was giving ourselves burnt tongues and feeling grown up about it! Have a great weekend, Frank!