OT: Rabbit story - Page 4

> Not far from you, Sue, in Dover, and we're overrun with bunnies too.
> There seem to be lots more than in previous years, and I haven't seen
> the foxes that go through my backyard in ages. The (indoor) cat was
> all fuzzed up at a deer yesterday morning, but deer are just another
> plague. Not that I wish horrible diseases on any of them; it's just
> that the natural order is disordered.

<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Myxomatosis>; one side-effect of this is

<http://claremont.islandblogging.co.uk>

>On Mon, 01 Jun 2009 18:08:00 -0400, Susan Hartman
>>We have a gazillion-jillion bunnies on my Baltimore street this year. In
>>the past few years, numbers have been way down - probably due to the
>>resident fox. This year it's a bumper crop...I counted a dozen just
>>driving down my short block the other night. (DH was driving, that is,
>>NOT the bunnies. <VBG>)
>>Sue
>Not far from you, Sue, in Dover, and we're overrun with bunnies too.
>There seem to be lots more than in previous years, and I haven't seen
>the foxes that go through my backyard in ages. The (indoor) cat was
>all fuzzed up at a deer yesterday morning, but deer are just another
>plague. Not that I wish horrible diseases on any of them; it's just
>that the natural order is disordered.
>Sara

> On Mon, 01 Jun 2009 18:08:00 -0400, Susan Hartman
>
>> We have a gazillion-jillion bunnies on my Baltimore street this year. In
>> the past few years, numbers have been way down - probably due to the
>> resident fox. This year it's a bumper crop...I counted a dozen just
>> driving down my short block the other night. (DH was driving, that is,
>> NOT the bunnies. <VBG>)
>> Sue
>
> Not far from you, Sue, in Dover, and we're overrun with bunnies too.
> There seem to be lots more than in previous years, and I haven't seen
> the foxes that go through my backyard in ages. The (indoor) cat was
> all fuzzed up at a deer yesterday morning, but deer are just another
> plague. Not that I wish horrible diseases on any of them; it's just
> that the natural order is disordered.
>
> Sara
>

<sigh> There's no easy answer. Either they allow a hunt, or let them

> Sara wrote:
>> On Mon, 01 Jun 2009 18:08:00 -0400, Susan Hartman
>>> We have a gazillion-jillion bunnies on my Baltimore street this year.
>>> In the past few years, numbers have been way down - probably due to
>>> the resident fox. This year it's a bumper crop...I counted a dozen
>>> just driving down my short block the other night. (DH was driving,
>>> that is, NOT the bunnies. <VBG>)
>>> Sue
>> Not far from you, Sue, in Dover, and we're overrun with bunnies too.
>> There seem to be lots more than in previous years, and I haven't seen
>> the foxes that go through my backyard in ages. The (indoor) cat was
>> all fuzzed up at a deer yesterday morning, but deer are just another
>> plague. Not that I wish horrible diseases on any of them; it's just
>> that the natural order is disordered.
>> Sara
>
> I had this discussion with my mom just the other night. She's just moved
> into a retirement home that's adjacent to a college campus, and
> deliberately chose the campus side so she can enjoy the natural woods
> that the college deliberately doesn't "maintain" in order to keep the
> area more natural. (i.e., when trees fall, they're left in situ to rot,
> just as they would in a natural wood.)
>
> Two years ago the college was going to have a controlled deer hunt (with
> bows and arrows, I think) in the winter while students were gone in
> order to limit the deer herd, which had grown to unsustainable levels.
> Students (and others, of course) got wind of it and protested and they
> called off the hunt.
>
> So the other night Mom said, "It's terrible that they don't feed the
> deer in the winter." (Parroting an opinion of someone else in the
> building, I imagine, since she's only lived there two weeks.) And I
> said, "But that will only maintain the already overburdening status quo
> and encourage more deer. And undermine the intention to keep the area in
> its natural state." This campus is "inside the beltway" in an urban
> area, and if they don't control numbers, we'll see the deer running
> across highways, out into major boulevards, and *that* will wreak havoc
> as well.
>
> <sigh> There's no easy answer. Either they allow a hunt, or let them
> starve. Either way, it's painful to watch, but necessary, IMHO.
>
> Sue
>

> Susan Hartman wrote:
>> Sara wrote:
>>> On Mon, 01 Jun 2009 18:08:00 -0400, Susan Hartman
>>>> We have a gazillion-jillion bunnies on my Baltimore street this year.
>>>> In the past few years, numbers have been way down - probably due to the
>>>> resident fox. This year it's a bumper crop...I counted a dozen just
>>>> driving down my short block the other night. (DH was driving, that is,
>>>> NOT the bunnies. <VBG>)
>>>> Sue
>>> Not far from you, Sue, in Dover, and we're overrun with bunnies too.
>>> There seem to be lots more than in previous years, and I haven't seen
>>> the foxes that go through my backyard in ages. The (indoor) cat was
>>> all fuzzed up at a deer yesterday morning, but deer are just another
>>> plague. Not that I wish horrible diseases on any of them; it's just
>>> that the natural order is disordered.
>>> Sara
>> I had this discussion with my mom just the other night. She's just moved
>> into a retirement home that's adjacent to a college campus, and
>> deliberately chose the campus side so she can enjoy the natural woods
>> that the college deliberately doesn't "maintain" in order to keep the
>> area more natural. (i.e., when trees fall, they're left in situ to rot,
>> just as they would in a natural wood.)
>> Two years ago the college was going to have a controlled deer hunt (with
>> bows and arrows, I think) in the winter while students were gone in order
>> to limit the deer herd, which had grown to unsustainable levels. Students
>> (and others, of course) got wind of it and protested and they called off
>> the hunt.
>> So the other night Mom said, "It's terrible that they don't feed the deer
>> in the winter." (Parroting an opinion of someone else in the building, I
>> imagine, since she's only lived there two weeks.) And I said, "But that
>> will only maintain the already overburdening status quo and encourage
>> more deer. And undermine the intention to keep the area in its natural
>> state." This campus is "inside the beltway" in an urban area, and if they
>> don't control numbers, we'll see the deer running across highways, out
>> into major boulevards, and *that* will wreak havoc as well.
>> <sigh> There's no easy answer. Either they allow a hunt, or let them
>> starve. Either way, it's painful to watch, but necessary, IMHO.
>> Sue
> Is that Towson, Sue?? DD went there eons ago.
> Gill