Met the Local Coyote...
This morning, I got literally screamed at by our male cat, Mez, who wanted me to get UP at 9am and let him OUT!!!
I was so pissed I decided not to let him out...
But I got up anyway, having had a cat howl in my right ear from 2 inches away does well as an alarm clock! As I went to the kitchen to get my morning drink and put a couple of dishes away, I got that tingly sense something was up.
I looked up and out the kitchen's bay window, knowing somehow exactly where to look-- and there he or she was. The coyote! We stared at one another for a couple of seconds before he or she dashed away.
I ran for the door in bare feet, shoved my male cat off my leg (he really wanted out) and went outside, running for the tree line! Once there I had a chat with the coyote. I named him or her, "Dash." I could tell it was the same one I saw take the first chicken. Beautiful animal hiding in the underbrush. I'm pagan, so I can't treat animals like an 'it.' They're 'people' in their own way. Even predators. This guy/gal obviously lives on our land and is a regular, just like the birds, the rabbits, the deer, and sundry other fellow inhabitants of our piece of Earth. Might as well acknowledge their part in things, right?
But Dash's part in things is to eat mice and moles and rabbits (of which we have PLENTY!) not our chickens and cats!
As a pagan, I must treat Dash as counting. I must be respectful. So I had a chat with Dash and explained that we'd get along better if he or she would just keep to his or her traditional diet and skip the human stuff. Dash has a right to live, but I have a right to protect my family too.
And I know this sounds crazy, but I swear to the Goddess that 'he' answered that he wanted one more chicken! I wasn't sure if that was my imagination or a real contact/communication, but I'm making note of it.
I was so pissed I decided not to let him out...
But I got up anyway, having had a cat howl in my right ear from 2 inches away does well as an alarm clock! As I went to the kitchen to get my morning drink and put a couple of dishes away, I got that tingly sense something was up.
I looked up and out the kitchen's bay window, knowing somehow exactly where to look-- and there he or she was. The coyote! We stared at one another for a couple of seconds before he or she dashed away.
I ran for the door in bare feet, shoved my male cat off my leg (he really wanted out) and went outside, running for the tree line! Once there I had a chat with the coyote. I named him or her, "Dash." I could tell it was the same one I saw take the first chicken. Beautiful animal hiding in the underbrush. I'm pagan, so I can't treat animals like an 'it.' They're 'people' in their own way. Even predators. This guy/gal obviously lives on our land and is a regular, just like the birds, the rabbits, the deer, and sundry other fellow inhabitants of our piece of Earth. Might as well acknowledge their part in things, right?
But Dash's part in things is to eat mice and moles and rabbits (of which we have PLENTY!) not our chickens and cats!
As a pagan, I must treat Dash as counting. I must be respectful. So I had a chat with Dash and explained that we'd get along better if he or she would just keep to his or her traditional diet and skip the human stuff. Dash has a right to live, but I have a right to protect my family too.
And I know this sounds crazy, but I swear to the Goddess that 'he' answered that he wanted one more chicken! I wasn't sure if that was my imagination or a real contact/communication, but I'm making note of it.