I go out to my car to get some lunch.
As I'm getting in, I notice a rather large, rather colorful beetle on the ground -- upside down. Trying to flip over (by buzzing its wings), and failing.

Now, I try not to be intentionally cruel. And even though this was probably some tree-eating beetle that doesn't belong here, it was pretty (striking green with yellow streaks), helpless, and...well, I got a stick and flipped it upright. It stopped buzzing its wings, and started walking (clearly worn out from the effort!) over to the bushes.

At this point I'm feeling pretty proud of myself for helping out this tiny little helpless creature. Just standing there watching it make its way to safety, to "home."

When suddenly a seagull (we're only about 2 miles from the coast at my office) swoops down, snaps up the beetle, and flies off.

Sigh.

I guess I wasn't helping the beetle, I was helping the seagull.

I hope he enjoyed the meal.

Sigh.

You, sir, area good kind person.

dagny Wrote:
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> You, sir, area good kind person.

I agree with dagny.

You did the right thing.

;+/

A related story although with a better ending. . .

Some time ago the Lots took their children to the mountains and, on a whim, Mrs. Lot decided to rent a little boat and go out on a lake to fish--"fishing" being a euphemism for sticking a pole in the water and working on future skin cancer.

But lo and behold, there were fish in that lake and they found my child's $13 K-Mart fishing gear with disturbing frequency. Imagine, if you will, Lot's Wife grabbing those slimy creatures one by one, awkwardly pulling the hooks out, and then returning them to their aquatic home.

The skin crawls. . .

Anyway, when one of the fish went back into the water, it did not swim away happily like the others but sort of sank sideways. This angered one little pillar of salt, who glared witheringly at Lot's Wife, causing no inconsiderable pangs of guilt.

Just then, however, an eagle arose from a tree on the distant shore and flew gracefully towards our little boat. Arriving, it swooped down and scooped the hapless fish out of the water less than 30 feet away from us before returning with it to the tree top and a presumptive nest. Family Lot sat there, mouths agape, in absolute awe.

In our case the predatory bird showed not how life ends in death but rather how nature transforms death into life--a truly miraculous feat, and one that saved Lot's Wife from hours or days of her children's ire.

Darn, you are a good writer. Enjoyed reading every word of that story.

I still feel sorry for the fish (and the beetle).

As do I, Dagny!

It was a good story.
And it made me wonder if salt trout is as good as salt cod...?

:)

I imagine that the fish, after having its mouth mutilated by a hook, and experiencing the associated trauma, welcomed the relief offered by the eagle. However, let's not lose sight of the fact that recreational fishing (e.g. tossing the fish back after the thrill of the catch), is not part of nature's survival instinct, but part of human indifference to animal suffering when a trivial human pleasure can be secured.


Your angry little pillar is truly special.

I got a similar lesson in my back woods. I love all of the little critters back there, once helping a rather large turtle when he got hopelessly stuck in some mud. If I have apples that are no longer pristinely fresh, or some old carrots, I will throw them out to the woods. The apples always get eaten, sometimes within ten minutes, and often by the groundhog family in which I take great interest.

I love the red foxes which occasionally pass our way as well. A neighbor informed me that one day, mama fox was teaching her baby how to hunt. On the other side of a bush was mama groundhog and her baby. Mama fox, feeling ambitious, went after mama groundhog, attacked her, and started to drag her off. I asked the neighbor, was their any hope that the groundhog got away? He shook his head. Then he added with dark humor that baby groundhog probably provided a nice meal for the neighborhood hawk.

I felt just somewhat less "Snow White" about my forest after that. LOL

And Hie, I often help bugs out as well. Not always, but often. I enjoy my life and see no reason to inflict or tolerate unneeded suffering. Of course, I'm a carnivore, so there's that. I throw up my hands at myself, sometimes.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/18/2018 09:10AM by summer.

Not lapsing into sentimentality here.... I just wanted to

say that the green bug sounded like a June bug. I always ran

for cover when they came flying around my head. The other day

was at my daughters and I saw a big one and cowered... then

I don't know what happened but suddenly I had courage to

have a knock down with the Bug, probaby beause my grandson

was with me and he's Autistic and I didn't want him to get

frightened so i slapped him away.. I was so proud of myself...

Sometimes its the little things that mean alot.

saucie Wrote:
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> Not lapsing into sentimentality here.... I just
> wanted to say that the green bug sounded like a June bug.

A good guess, but...no.
We get June bugs too.

This beetle was quite a bit larger than a June bug (at least 2 - 2 1/2 inches long), bright lime-green, with yellow streaks top and bottom. It looked similar to the one on the far-right in this picture:

https://img.etsystatic.com/il/e8a111/1439350240/il_fullxfull.1439350240_5mo1.jpg?version=0

...but without the blues or reds.

Never seen one like it around here before -- it may have been some beetle-collector-import that got away...

Wow !!! I've never seen those before.

They are so beautiful aren't they? I wonder

if they fly as wobbley as the June Bugs we're

familiar with? Thanks for sharing that Picture

Hie.

Oh, yeah, wobbly June Bug flight...
They bump into my windows at home all the time. And they're big enough to make a loud sound when they do! I'm amazed they can ever land anywhere with any accuracy...! :)

I know they just sort of wander fly.

and aren't extremely ugly. I have an issue with catch and release, too, but my brothers are avid fishermen, so ...

BUT my boyfriend showed me a "redneck" bug repellent on fb last night. It was a guy with a big beard holding a chicken on his shoulder and I could just see myself hoeing beets for my dad with a chicken to eat all the horse flies that bit us. We'd have contests each day on who killed the most horseflies (yes, with our hands on our backs).

Kismet.

he Frozen Bird
A little bird was flying south for the Winter. It was so cold the bird froze and fell to the ground into a large field.

While he was lying there, a cow came by and dropped some dung on him.
As the frozen bird lay there in the pile of cow dung, he began to realize how warm he was.

The dung was actually thawing him out!
He lay there all warm and happy, and soon began to sing for joy.

A passing cat heard the bird singing and came to investigate. Following the sound, the cat discovered the bird under the pile of cow dung, and promptly dug him out and ate him.

Morals of the story:
(1) Not everyone who shits on you is your enemy.
(2) Not everyone who gets you out of shit is your friend.
(3) And when you're in deep shit, it's best to keep your mouth shut!

The seagull is a sign to return and repent. And stop touching yourself.

I used to carefully scoop bees out of the pool and move them to the bushes. Those darn bees then flew back into the pool.