As John made his daily commute to work, the light turned red on Jones Street, as usual. Coming to a stop, he went through his usual routine of reaching down for his iphone to check his messages. this time however, something caught the corner of his eye through his windshield. Over to the left on a lamppost, someone had posted a banner with a picture of a dead squirrel. "Who would put up such a revolting image?" John asked himself. "Nobody wants to see road kill displayed out in public like that1" As the light turned green, John cursed to himself and finished his commute to work. He relayed his encounter to his fellow employees, eliciting common responses of "ewww!" "gross!" and "nasty!" among others. This water cooler talk was soon forgotten as the workday droned on, and after another tedious eight hour day, John began the long commute home. As he turned off Jones Street and headed towards the highway, John noticed a dead cat on the shoulder of the road, obviously hit by a vehicle. "Hmph, these animals should watch where they're going on a busy street like this" he thought. john soon entered the on-ramp for the highway, and after a couple of miles, he noticed a dead deer laying on the side of the road. As he continued on his drive home, he felt like he was bombarded with casualties: a dead possum in the middle of the road, a dog off to the shoulder, and too many squirrels to keep count. John soon reached his exit and slowed down to make the final turn towards home. As he paused at the bottom of the exit ramp, he noticed squirrels running across the branches of a nearby tree, running back an forth, up and down gathering nuts and morsels from the ground and bringing them back up the tree to nibble on. John heard a car horn behind him, and realized he had been sitting at the stop sign longer than he realized. He turned right and, and after a few more turns had reached his home. Sitting in his driveway, John thought about the events of the day and had an epiphany about the banner he had seen that morning, and began to understand the message it was trying to convey. We humans share our spaces with these animals. In fact, we have invaded their space and homes to make room for our own, with little regard for them. Maybe we should have the courtesy and decency to keep an eye out for them and their well-being as we travel the streets and highways we have built through their natural spaces.
Images courtesy of:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/dbaron/16655595/
http://www.klimages.com/stock/animals/roadkill/small01.htm
Back in November on the way to work I noticed a deer laying in the middle of the grassy area between a 4 lane highway. Most of the time I see dead deer lying on the side of the roads for weeks before they are picked up. Probably because there are so many running that time of year as hunting season approaches. The deer I saw was still alive. As I drove by I noticed it sat up but couldn't move it's legs. I called the police as soon as I got to work. On the way home, the deer was not there. It bothered me all day that the deer was most likely put down and probably suffered for quite awhile. I wondered how many people just drove by and didn't call for help. I agree though that we do share the land with the animals and it is a shame so many are hit. It is unfortunate we can't put up one of those invisible fences along all the roads. Nature will still find a way to cross the street.
ReplyDeleteIn your story, you state that "[humans] have invaded [animals'] space." I agree with this a lot of the time, but where is our space? Who designates whose space is whose? Do we only get cities and towns? Those used to be "animal" space too. We do too often have "little regard for them," as you state, and we should take better care of them and their (and our) environment.
ReplyDeleteVery interesting topic, and I really appreciate your comment, Steve!
ReplyDelete