I know I don't have to be a renowned soothsayer with advanced capabilities to predict that one day in the near future, a deer is going to kick the crap out of one of our dogs in their own back yard!
The subdivision that we live in is just 3 miles from the St. Louis Galleris Mall, and only 8 miles from the center of St. Louis city. Our neighborhood is completely and immediately surrounded by some of the largest thoroughfares in the St. Louis area.
I present, for your consideration, a visual aid:
(The white box in the middle of this pic is my back yard. )
The sound barrier for Interstate 40 / 60 is the back fence to our yard, Lindbergh Blvd. is just 3 blocks west, Clayton Road is just a few feet from our home, and Warson Rd. is 3 blocks east.
Our back yard is completely fenced in with chain link fence, with no ungated openings. The clincher is that the entire fence line is thick with the tree / bush type of Honeysuckle. That honeysuckle is so thick in several places in back yards in our area that I know a human hasn't been in that area of their yards in probably decades. It would be impossible to navigate through that honeysuckle.
My questions are, "How the Hell does a deer survive crossing I-270, I-40, Lindbergh, Clayton Rd. or Warson Road - to climb over a bush-laden fence, to get in OUR yard, with 3 large dogs that love a good challenge, and a little mouthy dog that will encourage them?"
We have also had a large number of wild turkeys in our back yard. They are notoriously bad flyers, and they prefer to walk / run, rather than fly, but they will fly for short distances if they are forced to do so. Do you know what's on the other side of that barrier that is in the back of our yard? 200,000 cars a day moving at 60+ MPH!
Can you imagine the mess that they make when they jump that fence, only to be taken by surprise by 8 lanes of traffic?
The general (human) population needs to stop encroaching on these animals natural habitats, so they won't be forced to kick in Amanda's skull! Amanda is our 13 year old Yellow Lab / Chow mix. After that deer ran head-on into the chain link fence, she fell down, and Amanda moved in. I saw that doe get in one good kick before she jumped back on her feet, and headed in the other direction. THEN.... She ran into the other chain link fence, and fell, once again. Amanda was standing across the yard, wondering what the Hell just thumped her skull, so Denver, our Black Lab / Sher Pei mix picked up the chase. When she hit the dirt again, Denver moved in, and he, too, got his head smacked. I didn't phase him one bit. He has a thick skull! At that point, both dogs chased the doe into the back corner of the yard. I think she found a small spot through the honeysuckle, and jumped into the neighbor's yard. I hope she did, anyway. If she jumped the sound barrier, somebody has a dead deer sitting in their lap, as they were driving down I-40!
I swear to you: I scan the back yard before I let the dogs out, but we have a heavily wooded 1 acre back yard. I often don't see wildlife out there until it is too late: The chase is on!
- Michael
No comments:
Post a Comment