Silly Wildlife

It's Silly Sunday. I woke up this morning thinking I didn't have anything to share. Then I went to work. Silly me, the residents of my sleepy beach town always give me interesting things to share.

Today I received a complaint of an owl attack. A man said that he was jogging early in the morning and an owl swooped down and grabbed his hat. He said it was a very large owl and he could feel the talons sinking in, but the hat kept it from cutting him. Wow. I feel for this guy, but I don't know what he expects from me. Owls are protected. Much like the children of diplomats, owls can be assholes and do whatever they want -- theft and assault included -- and there's not much anyone can do about it. That being said, I alerted Dispatch that we have a delinquent raptor in town.

(Interesting note: I also received two calls from people in the same area saying that their cats are missing. Think they could be related?)

Last week I was flagged down in the nature preserve. A man told me that there was a raccoon hanging around the picnic tables -- and it was daytime. I know this critter. I told him that she is a very friendly raccoon. People have been feeding her, despite my warnings. I assured him that she was healthy and recommended he yell and throw rocks to shoo the raccoon away. The man was flabbergasted that I wouldn't trap the raccoon and haul her off. I explained that FWC does not allow me to relocate healthy raccoons. Indignantly he said "But you don't understand, I have children." With as little sarcasm as possible, I told him "No sir, you don't understand. This is a nature preserve. Raccoons live here. This is her home." I didn't have the heart to tell him that I watched an Eastern Diamondback slither across his campsite just last week. However, I did call Dispatch to let them know that a raccoon was begging by the bathrooms, should anybody else call to complain.

Silly people. The town is a tree sanctuary. You cannot cut down a tree without the express permission of city government. No kidding! What do people expect? The place is full of wildlife. If residents knew what I knew half of them would crap their pants. I've seen foxes, coyotes, opossums, armadillos, raccoons, bobcats, otters, nutria, alligators, hawks, eagles, owls, wild pigs, lizards, turtles and snakes. Two years ago we even had a bear wandering a neighboring beach.

As I mentioned, it's Silly Sunday. A great big thank you to Sandee over at Comedy Plus for putting this together every week. Click below to see what others have to share today. Hope you have a silly Sunday too. -- Kelley