Recently I have come face to face with one of those great toothed tunneling critters called groundhogs. This place is big enough to share the space with them, but I am not increasing in population and they are! My neighbors are noticing them making tunnels under their homes, and in other places. I had already engaged a Wildlife company to trap and remove them and they did trap five and take them away. The first animal they trapped however, was a neighbors cat which was just too curious! He was released to go to his own home and freedom. The trapper eventually came and took the traps away and there was peace in my vineyard.
But sometimes a peace can be uneasy or short-lived. In our case it was short-lived. When I saw one of those critters enjoying the healthy grass up near my new pecan tree, I knew that it was useless to ignore him. That attitude only sets the scene for many more to come. So, this time I called the Wildlife Management office in our county and asked for help. Oh yes, they could help and told me to come over and they would loan a trap to me for two weeks.
I made the trip over to their office and when I entered the building I opened the door to be greeted to a baby black bear who had met with some kind of unfortunate situation, and was sent to the taxidermist. He was firmly planted right inside of the door. It is a bit startling at first as who expects to see a bear when you first open the door. Bears are usually in cages not inside of buildings- even Wildlife building. At least I knew I was in the right place!
Walking on to the office I needed, I found two ladies hard at work talking on the phone to someone in north Georgia who had spied a black bear. They wanted him taken away. Settling that problem she turned to me and began to sign me up. While I waited for her to go for the trap, I saw a poster about snakes in Georgia. I asked the second lady if they sold them. She explained that they were out of them right now. I told her that I wanted them for my grandson who loves animals. She said she had lots of other posters about wildlife and left the room to see what she did have on hand.
In the meantime the other lady came in with this huge trap and signed me up to take it out. Then she proceeded to show me how to set the trap. I had no confidence at all about being able to do it on my own. I told her I had a mental block about such things but if I had trouble I could find someone to help me.
Then in came the poster lady loaded down with posters to thrill any animal loving young boy. The snakes poster was not available but lots of other ones were. Salamanders, Birds, Bats, and one on Lake Ecosystem. But there is more; the others were about mountain streams, endangered wild flowers, Georgia's Traveling Songbirds and Freshwater Biodiversity of the Upper Coosa River Basin. In addition to the colorful labeled pictures, the backs of the posters were covered with information on understanding them and ideas for learning more. Wow, I had not expected to be the recipient of such interesting and informative posters. My grandson will be delighted. I am delighted as well. These folks care about the wildlife and the ecosystem of our state and the world.
With a glow in my heart I headed home and promptly took the trap to where it could be found by the groundhogs living up there. I surprised myself by being able to set and bait the trap and cover it with branches to partly conceal it.
I was even able to engage the help of a neighbor who will watch for any animals who appear in the traps and will release them into the wild, but far away from our houses. A distance of five miles was recommended.
I am never quite sure what turn my day will take. Some days are just normally dull and routine and then along comes one that is custom made for me, like this one today. Never a dull moment sounds hollow and empty when I think of a day like today.
No comments:
Post a Comment