On predators and prey

My country life involves a carefully orchestrated dance to keep predators separated from prey. On a good day, all goes well, and no one dies. Today was not a good day.

My dogs like to hunt in a pack and are unapologetic killers. If something moves, they go after it. And they don’t discriminate between animals we regularly encounter in nature, (wild pigs, skunks, armadillos, mice, snakes, porcupines, and raccoons), and my animals (cats and chickens). Nor do the cats differentiate between birds and my chickens!

So I follow a complex schedule to try to keep all the animals, domestic and wild, alive. After the sun is up and the wild animals have had time to return to their daytime hiding places, I walk the dogs. I get home in under an hour; the dogs typically disappear for a few hours.

Once they return, I lock the dogs in the backyard, and then the chickens get their turn to free range. When the chickens are put up for the night, the cats go outside, but either hide in the barn or come back inside before I take the dogs for their evening walk.

Today I wanted to get to school early, so I deviated from my normal schedule. I took the dogs out well before sunrise, and we surprised a large female raccoon just returning, no doubt, from a pleasant evening of doing whatever raccoons do. The dogs chased her, and in the panic, she climbed up a small willow tree just a few feet above ground. The dogs were able to easily pull her out of the tree. I tried to get them off of her, but I am no match for 6 large dogs with finely honed hunting skills. They killed her.

I obviously didn’t know this raccoon, but I mourn her loss. I am haunted by the terror she must have felt that last minute of her life, and the knowledge that had our paths not crossed, she would still be alive.

I am reminded once again how fragile life is, and the importance of keeping to my schedule.