Nature gives us peace of mind

 Four nights ago, while in bed, we heard a crash.

We went into the living room to figure out what had happened and saw that there was a chipmunk trapped in one of our mouse traps.  They are too big to be killed by the trap, and it was strong enough to pull itself out and get behind the fireplace rock wall.

So we set some more traps and went to bed.  Nothing else we could do.

Awhile later we heard another noise (scraping and clanking), and went to the living room to find the chipmunk was running around.  Again, it had a trap on its leg, which it quickly got rid of.

Vicky opened the back and front doors so I could use the (vintage) yard stick to "invite" it out, while Vicky attempted to herd it towards the door.  She also had our heavy gloves on so she could grab it.

If you have ever tried to coax and herd a scared, fast-as-lightning chipmunk out a door, you will know that it doesn’t work.  So I proceeded to chase it around the living room while swatting and batting at it.

I was missing it by a mile, with the yardstick, but then I got lucky (or unlucky) and hit it.  

I was afraid I had killed it, hoping that I had just stunned it.  Why would I feel so differently about a chipmunk than if we had killed a mouse in a trap?  

But I did.

So I scooted it out of the house and onto the front yard.  

The next morning I found it.  It was dead.  

For a day or so I was really bummed out.  We don't like killing any creatures.  I know there is this thing called "nature" where animals are being killed all of the time for food (yes yes including by us who are carnivores).  But this one seemed unnecessary, and wasteful.  The chipmunk wasn't doing anything wrong.....our best guess is that it fell into the chimney and that was the first sound we heard.

Two days later, with the DEAD chipmunk in the grass in our front yard we spotted three Turkey Vultures circling overhead.  

Vicky quietly staked out the most aggressive vulture for about 20 minutes...standing motionless with her camera at the ready.  She took over 60 photos as the vulture surveyed it’s prey from every angle and distance.  

Then it landed on a tree branch, and seemingly just stared out into space, like it was resting.

Then it flew down to the ground and walked toward us, and the chipmunk:

And headed right for the chipmunk.  What incredible eyesight these birds must have.

It made short work of the chipmunk.  A minute later the Turkey Vulture had eaten it all:

Then it flew away...without even leaving a tip for its server.

I am reminded of the Alfred Lord Tennyson poem:  Nature Red in Tooth and Claw.

We have fashioned our lives so we are out in nature almost every day.  There is a beauty to it that is unmistakable, and which we love and need.

But it is also brutal in many ways.  

In an odd way I feel slightly less bad about having killed the chipmunk, rationalizing that the Vulture also needed to eat, and that is also nature.