The answer to the question what animals did I help raise when I was a child. We always had cats around. They kept away the mice. I think we always had dogs because dad liked to hunt ducks. Dogs made his job easier getting the ducks out of the water.
Turkeys, chickens, rabbits, foxes and pigs were food. We didn't eat foxes. Their fur made us money that ultimately was exchanged for food.
Star was a fox pup. Her mother was extremely nervous. Nervous fox mothers eat their babies. It was our first fox litter. The day Star was born, she had four siblings. Each day, dad would check on them, their numbers depleting like the snow on a springtime day. The final day he looked, there was only one baby silver fox left. Star would not survive another night with her mother. Dad had a tough decision: take the baby fox away from her mom or let her die at the mouth of her mother. The worst that could happen is the baby fox would die. There wasn't much of a choice.
He removed Star from the kennel. What he did next was genius. We had a cat that had a litter of kittens. He put Star on the mother cat to see if she would feed the fox. In less than a day, the mother cat naturally accepted an adoption. Our cat saved Star's life. The fox grew much faster than her adoptive brothers and sisters so after a month we found alternative sources of food. Being raised in the house, Star acted more like a dog than a fox. I'll never forget her.
Then there was Morgan. At work one day, dad was informed about a mother raccoon that had been hit by a car. Her young babies were hiding in the grass on the side of the road. Too afraid of life, too small to survive on their own, my dad brought one of the babies home to raise. Always a fan of rum, he named the female raccoon after his favourite brand: Captain Morgan. Again, as a baby, she was raised domestically as part of the family. Wildness wasn't part of her psyche. She only knew what she knew. Morgan was family. I remember having Morgan on my shoulders, just like a cat. She wasn't just tame. She was cuddly.
Wild animals will have instincts of the wild is what I was taught in school. Rest assured Star and Morgan were not wild animals. They were part of our family. How many people do you know who had a pet fox, and raccoon?
Ever heard of pet crows? My grandfather raised two pet crows. I remember feeding Fred and Barney by hand.
I was talking to a smart guy yesterday. He said there were four parts to the human psyche: mind, spirit, body and emotional fitness. I argued the fourth part was the connection to nature.
Without the connection to nature, we have nothing. I will always be thankful to my dad and my grampie who showed me how easily domesticated wild animals can be.
With these stories of wild animals, my hopes are wild assholes can be tamed as easily.
Star was a fox pup. Her mother was extremely nervous. Nervous fox mothers eat their babies. It was our first fox litter. The day Star was born, she had four siblings. Each day, dad would check on them, their numbers depleting like the snow on a springtime day. The final day he looked, there was only one baby silver fox left. Star would not survive another night with her mother. Dad had a tough decision: take the baby fox away from her mom or let her die at the mouth of her mother. The worst that could happen is the baby fox would die. There wasn't much of a choice.
He removed Star from the kennel. What he did next was genius. We had a cat that had a litter of kittens. He put Star on the mother cat to see if she would feed the fox. In less than a day, the mother cat naturally accepted an adoption. Our cat saved Star's life. The fox grew much faster than her adoptive brothers and sisters so after a month we found alternative sources of food. Being raised in the house, Star acted more like a dog than a fox. I'll never forget her.
Then there was Morgan. At work one day, dad was informed about a mother raccoon that had been hit by a car. Her young babies were hiding in the grass on the side of the road. Too afraid of life, too small to survive on their own, my dad brought one of the babies home to raise. Always a fan of rum, he named the female raccoon after his favourite brand: Captain Morgan. Again, as a baby, she was raised domestically as part of the family. Wildness wasn't part of her psyche. She only knew what she knew. Morgan was family. I remember having Morgan on my shoulders, just like a cat. She wasn't just tame. She was cuddly.
Wild animals will have instincts of the wild is what I was taught in school. Rest assured Star and Morgan were not wild animals. They were part of our family. How many people do you know who had a pet fox, and raccoon?
Ever heard of pet crows? My grandfather raised two pet crows. I remember feeding Fred and Barney by hand.
I was talking to a smart guy yesterday. He said there were four parts to the human psyche: mind, spirit, body and emotional fitness. I argued the fourth part was the connection to nature.
Without the connection to nature, we have nothing. I will always be thankful to my dad and my grampie who showed me how easily domesticated wild animals can be.
With these stories of wild animals, my hopes are wild assholes can be tamed as easily.
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