Animals are NOT Humans

[fowltemptress]

There's no malice in me when I have to shoot a coyote/bobcat/feral dog/feral cat who has found and made a habit of destroying my animals. I'm wracked with guilt every time. I understand it is hard to pass up an easy meal, and few things are as tempting as a nice, plump chicken.
That being said, I would feel much worse about shooting these animals if I didn't also understand that all four of those species are grossly overpopulated throughout the united states. Even without chicken owners protecting their flocks, the unhealthy numbers of these animals would still need to be dealt with.

 

[Brian]

Predators need to exist to, and are an integral part of the web of life. We need them. Yes, we hate to lose a hen, but we shouldn't endeavor to kill the predator. If I lose a hen, I'll be ticked. If I lose another one, then I'll have to consider penning the girls and not letting them free-range. What I won't do is kill a hawk that keeps the snakes, rats, and mice at bay.

Man fears mountain lions, so he kills them. Man has too many deer. Man fears bobcat...he kills them. Man gets too many rabbits. Man wants to commercially raise cattle, he kills all wolves in site. Ditto for man with his sheep vs. coyote. For ever action, there is an equal an opposite reaction, so goes Newton's third law (of motion). It applies to everything. Mechanics, politics, the environment, bad behavior...Everything!

That's how I feel about it. This is not directed toward anyone in this forum. Just my commentary.

Brian

 

[LittleChickenRacingTeam]

I humanely dispatch all predators on my property (50 acres). I find that thinning the herd so to speak, increases the odds that my chooks will survive. I've only lost 1 roo to a raccoon in the 7 years I've been here.

 

[chickenwoods]

I believe in a chain with humans dominating it..
If there is no human dominance over animal predators then i can see likley that the prey animals will be thinned out ,then the predators thin for lack of food..If humans do their job,in the chain (and clothing as fur bearers i beileve were put here for human clothing) and know whats too much,can help conserve the pop. I abide by the Wildlife dept. with all of my trapping and predator control and i have not seen a dent in the pop. and every trapping season i find enough fur for myself..

of course its gonna anger people when something they really enjoyed or worked for is no longer in existance because of a critter.i get over it but it angers me and i keep my eye out for more critters.. They take from me, i take from them...Its equality,and the world goes round

 

[Flyman39]

My Grand dad always told me that there was a big difference in city folk and country folk. I never really understood what he was saying till I got older. I think reading this thread is a good example of what he was talking about. Both peoples see the world in different ways because of the environment they live in. Not everyone,but for the most part. Both sometimes laugh at the other or disagree because they do not understand each other. They see the world a lot different. He never understood how some people could confuse instinct for emotion in animals. He never watched TV and he never saw a Walt Disney movie or any movie for that matter in his life. But there was nothing he didn't know about how to take care of a cow or horse or a chicken or a dog. I once saw him do an emergency C section on a sow that was breeched. She had 9 pigs and we only lost one of them. He sewed her up with thread from a burlap sack and she lived to bear 3 more litters before we butchered her. I asked him in my curious youthful manner where he learned to do that. I will never forget what he said. "I didn't learn it from no one. I just knew I had to do something". He was as gentle as anyone I have ever seen with animals but he understood thier place. He thanked GOD for them and took his stewardship of them deadly serious. He never assigned human traits to them or valued them over a person. Reading this post and some of the others here tonight made me think of him and how much I miss him and the Old ways. We take so much (everything) for granted in these times. So Sad.

 

[MissPrissy]

Beautifully said, Flyman39.

 

[Yogiman]

Well put, Flyman 39
I suggest that your grand dad, like mine, was reacting on his own instincts. Our grand dads might have passed on before us but the "old ways" are still out there for our use. We have only to revert back to them. Somehow I think that we, the animals, and the world as a whole would be better off if we did and said "to hell with modern technology."

 

[speckledhen]

Flyman, I loved the story about your grandfather. Reminded me of mine. He lived to be 100 yrs old, stayed alone on his own farm and worked it till he was in his mid-90's. Had the same quiet, no-nonsense approach to his animals as yours.

 

[Flyman39]

Yes Yogiman I agree. I know those ways and still practice a few. I too wish I could go back there. Who knows. Someday I might. He was an amazing man as I am sure your grand dad was. He never ate anything from a can in his life except when he was in the Navy. He ate bacon with every meal and 4 eggs for breakfast every morning. Rendered his own lard and used it liberally in everything they cooked. We smoked hams and packed them in barrels of oats to keep. Churned butter. Made molases from cane that we squeezed in a homemade press we turned with his old mule he called Benson. No refrigerator untill 1973. My mom bought them an electric stove in 1977 but grandma only used it once. She moved it into the corner and kept potted plants on it untill she died. She wouldn't give up the old cookstove. He still plowed with that old mule untill he was 89 years old and he could out walk me by miles. He was so in tune with his surroundings that he could tell you what the weather would be. He wasn't wrong very often. He died in 1980 at the age of 93 and she died a year later at 92. I don't know about his younger days but I don't ever remember him going to the doctor but one time. That was to have the doctor amputate his fingers from his left hand. The only wage work he ever done was 14 years of skinning ponies in the mines for a coal company. That was what they called driving the ponies in and out of the mine pulling coal. Not actually skinning them. He was a good and Godly man. He was of the breed that made this land a country. He was never really given to violence and I really don't think he knew any fear of any thing or anyone that drew breath except for GOD. When he died he just drew in a deep breath and left here as peaceful as a baby sleeps. I wish I posessed the ability to write a book about him an Grandma. I lived a lifetime of memories in the 11 years that I was with them. I am sorry to have gotten off the topic here but this made me think of them and I couldn't help but write this. I'll shut up now.

 

[Flyman39]

I am sure that there are quite a few here with memories like this speckled hen. I am sorry to have rambled on about mine but I just got him and grandma on my mind somethin powerful after reading all these posts on this thread. He was just one of many of a breed of people that ain't around anymore. I needed to write a little bit about him I guess. Did me some good. Thanks