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Wednesday, July 05, 2006

Yes, deer


There was this strip of wetlands between our hotel and the beach in Ocean Shores. One evening I looked out the window and saw three deer grazing peacefully, seemingly oblvious to the cars and fireworks on the beach just yards away. I will always be in awe of seeing wild animals outside of a zoo. I must have snapped 30 or photos of the deer.


I am glad that we can still see animals in the wild. But I can't really say that these animals were in what traditionally we think of as "the wild." It makes me sad that we are destroying so much of their habitat that they are showing up in suburban areas.

Hardly a day goes by in Seattle when I don't see some report of a bear spotted in someone's backyard going through garbage cans. In most cases animal control tranquilizes the animals and move them deeper into the dwindling woods (if they aren't killed by the tranquilizers).

But I can't help but wonder how much longer "wild" animals can stand against the tide of civilization. I imagine that more and more we will see the urbanization of the animals like the raccoons that dwell in our midst, eating our garbage and cat food. Or these deer that graze on a narrow strip of wetlands between hordes of beachgoers and multi-unit developments.

Maybe that's why I took so many photos of the deer. Who knows how long I'll be able to do even that?

6 comments:

Hayden said...

I don't think we'll be running out of deer any time soon. even the environmentalists agree that there seem to be many more deer now than at any time in the history of the continent - we've gotten rid of all of those pesky forests, and replaced them with nice "meadows" many of which are our lawns. Of course - that does present problems for the bears. *sigh*

that said - the pics are all lovely. the second reminds me of an impressionist painting with the lovely grasses and light.

Time said...

Deer me, Hayden, perhaps the bears should start eating the deer then. But I'm glad you liked the photos.

Alex Pendragon said...

Humans have such guilt and horror over the idea of animals fighting back that we have this whole genre of "Attack of the (fill in the blank) movies".

Personally, I consider them "Poetic Justice" flics.

I'm waiting for "The Kudzu that ate Nashville" to come out......

Time said...

THE Michael

Kudzu is not a term we use here in the Pacific Northwest. But I like the "Kudzu that ate Nashville."

R. said...

It's really amusing - around these parts there are too many deer which is spreading disease.

Instead of following economics 101 and lowering the cost of deer tags to get more people out to thin the herds, the state governments raise the price of the tags. The reason for the increase is to pay the wages for additional biologists to (I guess) go out and count the deer overpopulation.

It's a head scratcher.

Time said...

R. You have to love the bureacracy.

Cherish, That's funny. I guess I never thought of seeing deer in Maryland. I don't get out to the East coast much.