A "Wild" Friday Five

Over at the RGBP site we are asked to talk about encounters with wild animals.

1. I really only know this story by having heard it, not by memory. WHen my sister and I were very young (she was still being carried in a backpack) we went on a hike on a circle trail. A little way in my parents saw a bear up ahead. SO we turned around and walked the trail the other way. About 3/4 of the way around however (by which time I was also being carried) my parents realized the problem in their logic. What if the bear was still there???? Happily it wasn't and therefore we did not have to turn around again.

2. another bear story. This time I was about 11. We were camping in North-Central Saskatchewan with good friends and my grandparents. Just as we finished eating supper a couple walked up from the other side of the circle and asked if we knew that the park staff had just tranquilized a bear a few campsites over (of course we didn't otherwise frying meat and cooking supper may well have waited a bit). So we walked around and actually got to touch the bear before it was loaded up for relocation.

3. About 4 years ago we had a groundhog living in our backyard. He would come out into the yard and sit in the sun every once in a while. ANd this year he was back, to the great amusement of the girls. Unfortunately it was also feasting on the neighbour's garden so I suspect it has been removed by now (the plan was live trap and relocate).

4. While on our honeymoon cruise 7 years ago we stopped in Aruba. Beloved and I took a walk around the port area of Orangeville and on almost every rock of any size was a lizard sunning itself. Some of them were a very great size.

5. Growing up 5 hours from the mountains meant that we very often took trips to the mountain parks. And often while driving through the parks there would be Bighorn Sheep beside or on the roadside. So we would often have to stop and wait for them to pass.

BONUS: (another bear story) last year we had a very large black bear (biggest I have ever seen) come for a visit. First in the middle of a hot afternoon with lots of people moving about. Then later that evening it came back. As he had been around several times and showed a distinct lack of worry about human contact he had to be destroyed. Interestingly, he was so habituated to human contact and/or unhealthy that he simply sat while the wildlife control officer walked to within 15 feet of him to get a good shot.