The Masked Bandit

We've always felt relatively safe living out in the country.  It's a slower pace, away from the hustle and bustle of commerce.  Twenty five years ago it was even more rural, but now more and more people have moved out to the country which has increased traffic.  It's not quite as quiet as it used to be.  We know all of our neighbors and keep an eye on things for each other.  It's an informal neighborhood watch you might say.

Crime, apart from a few very rare events over the past two and a half decades, has been virtually non-existent.  That doesn't mean that we don't keep our guard up and remain vigilant.  In fact, just yesterday afternoon, I caught a masked bandit in our back yard.  He was lurking around by our BBQ pit and swing area looking for something to steal.  I quickly apprehended him securely and notified the authorities.

I may be embellishing the story a bit, so let me rephrase.  I caught a baby raccoon yesterday afternoon.  It was all by himself.  I'm thinking he may have fallen out of a tree.  He was a cute little fellow, and I picked him up and brought him into the kitchen to show Tricia.  

Tricia's response: "Kyle!  That is a wild animal.  Get him out of my kitchen right now!  He's probably carrying rabies."  

Kyle's response: "I thought you might want to bottle feed him?"

Tricia was not amenable to this proposal.  I took the little guy back outside and put him where I found him.  I've found from experience in the past with cottontail rabbits and other wild creatures, that it is best to leave them in the wild.

Besides, Tricia reminded me, raccoons kill chickens.  They are #2 on the list behind dogs, of the most prolific killers of chickens.  After our experience with mink, we don't need yet another predator massacring our flock.  Why would we raise an orphan wild animal only to have to end up killing him for doing what raccoons do?  I put him right back outside where I found him.

We will not allow masked bandits around our home - not the two-legged kind, nor the four-legged.  Wouldn't you know it, this morning he was gone.  I hope he moves a long way away...

My KInd Of Hip Hop

Saturday afternoon I walked across the backyard toward the sweet corn patch.  I am a little concerned about it as it is yellow-looking and isn't growing as it should.  I think it needs some chicken litter to get it moving.  As I was walking to the corn patch, something caught my eye.  Something brown ran past me.  I turned to look and thought I caught sight of a rat running into a big pile of sticks that we had collected from a recent storm.

I'm not a fan of rats.  I kill them on sight.  I walked over to the woodpile with the intention of trying my best to kill the rat.  However, as I looked down into the pile, I pulled this little critter out:

That's not a rat!  It was a young, female bunny rabbit.  I picked her up and brought her inside.  I could feel her heart beating at a rapid pace inside her chest.  The poor little thing was scared.  I gave her to Benjamin to pet for a while.

My first instinct was to go get a cardboard box and try to raise it, but we've learned with other rabbits, squirrels, wood ducks, and other critters, that wild animals are best left in the wild.  I told Benjamin that in the woods just to the south of the hen house, I had seen two adult rabbits the week before in the tall grass.  I'd bet anything that they were this little rabbit's family.

Benjamin set her down amidst a dense canopy of grass and weeds and underbrush. She blended in nicely and you could hardly see her.



She hippity hopped into the woods.  Benjamin tried to follow her and saw one of the adult rabbits I was telling him about.  I'm sure it was the bunny's mom or dad.  We were happy to have reunited the family and saved the little bunny rabbit's life.  Big Boy, our great Pyrenees dog would have eaten the little rabbit as an appetizer.