So, What is the Right Thing to Do? Part 2
(Yep! I’m Going To Talk About It Once Again)
I am so interested in the natural world that you would think I’d have gone into the sciences and become something official, like a biologist. I’ve certainly been quite moved by the encounters I’ve had with the natural world - some of it pedestrian, some of it wondrous.
All experiences have spawned questions and have compelled me forward into new learning.
For instance, I’m always surprised by the bickering that goes on at the birdfeeder on our patio and not just between different species, but among individuals of the same family. There’s enough seed for everyone – why can’t they share? I don’t get it.
Peter Wohlleben’s book “The Inner Life of Animals,” has helped me. I’m finally understanding that life in the wild is so hard, it’s each “man” for himself. And if food is available, you, as a wild creature take full advantage of it. You may have to wait a long time for the next bounty. Even the little bit of assistance parent birds give their fledglings lasts a very short time. Without a doubt, everyone in the wild is responsible for their own caloric intake once they find themselves on their own.
That explains animals’ demeanor when driven by a basic need, but what about refined emotions? Once, while visiting Lake Coeur d’Alene, I observed a seagull going absolutely crazy, screaming and cawing. As I watched this bird flying in tight circles overhead a man walked by me and said, “You can’t tell me animals don’t feel grief.” I must have looked at him curiously because he went on to explain that the seagull was lamenting the loss of her chick that had probably been snatched by a predator. I recall feeling quite emotional but equally stunned by my lack of recognition of a mother’s grief. How could I have been so unthinking?
Photo Credit: J. Howeth
We have urban deer in our city just like other locations have urban raccoons and skunks and even kangaroos way down south. Recently, a mother deer bedded her fawn down on our porch. This has happened once before. Both times I have been surprised. The entry to our home is a normal porch with two steps and a landing bordered by rocks that are shades of tan that, I guess in the opinion of this doe, rather resembled the coloring of her newborn baby. I can only guess that she viewed it as camouflage? But surely, hard concrete is not a very comfortable place to lay. It seemed unnatural to me. This mom, however, thought differently. The location must have said “safety” to her. In both instances, obedient and trusting, those little fawn stayed put until their moms retrieved them.
So, what do animals think? And feel? And what about the millions of animals we “use” - the ones we exploit for food, pharmaceuticals, and consumer goods - the ones who have no choices?
Stay tuned for part 3 . . .
(By the way, Wohlleben’s book is remarkable. Just wait until you find out what we’ve done to the hapless moth with our artificial lighting, screwing up its life completely.)
