Ever since I was little, I always thought it was weird that we rarely encounter animals in our daily lives. There are exceptions like in big cities there seem to be pigeons around all the time and rats.. And mice which people all seem to hate with a vengeance. We were raised that way and passed down the tradition. Squirrels seem to be the one animal that got away with murder. Like nobody pays a squirrel any mind. Unless he’s chubby and then he’s cute or he wants some food, and if he gets too close can feel a little bit scared by his boldness. Black squirrels are highly regarded because they are rare and whenever I see one I’m amazed much like the blue lobster which is always spared from eating because of its’ beauty.
Ever since I was a kid, growing up in Ohio, I was deeply confused to discover that I rarely saw animals on a daily basis. I lived in a semi-suburb with city encroaching and always liked the city more, envied people who lived in NYC. When I moved to NYC officially after living in the historic district in Savannah, GA for 5 years — it was a culture shock. Even though I had been to New York City before, in comparison to Savannah, it was striking how different it was. I remember going to Prospect park for the first time and saw many people, maybe too many sitting in tall grass. I was afraid because in Savannah, tall grass means snakes. People in Savannah, have a passtime called “goin’ snakin’” and drink 20 cans of Bud Light and catch them for sport with the same contempt that people in New York have for pigeons.
The south is teeming with wildlife. Traveling just 45 minutes away to Hilton Head, SC you can bike everywhere and on those bike paths are a ton of alligators. Some small, but some huge and they area allowed to just be there eventhough they are a threat.
That was the idea I thought of zoos. Keep the animals away from humans because they could kill us but put them in a place where we can still view them and appreciate them behind the safety of glass.
In Hilton Head, a woman rescued her dog from the jaws of an alligator, and in the process, lost her own life. The dog was fine. Probably lived 5 more good years. That was really brave of the woman and the alligator was allowed to still be there. Alligators will be alligators I guess! It’s supposed to be if an alligator gets too big there, they will move them but I think they just say that to make people feel better. I once saw one there that was maybe 20 feet long, maybe more. It was hiding in fall leaves so I didn’t see it at first, my sister, my boyfriend and I aka the sum sum summa time gang were standing together and just looking out and it gave me a jump scare eventhough it was about 100 yards away.
The point maybe of this animal rant is I wish more animals were allowed to live among us. The nice ones atleast. I guess dogs and cats do, and I clearly forgot all about them.
