I have planted fruit trees on my rural property hoping for the occasional pear or an apple. This year 10 apples appeared on my new apple tree. I went on a weeks vacation and when I returned they were gone, and four other fruits that I planted were broken and stripped of their leaves. Those pesky deer were at it again. I decided I would try and run them off every time I saw them, I had to do something to make them feel unwelcome.
One morning I walked by my front bay window, and there were two brazen deer, a mother and her yearling, standing on my front lawn, as if they owned the place. I burst out my front door, along with my seven pound Yorkshire Terrier, and began shouting. My Yorkie Ike, (named after Dwight David Eisenhower) took off like a shot yapping after my two, now frightened out of their skins, cervine intruders. It was a site to watch, two hundred plus pounds of forest denizens scurrying away from a seven pound deerstalker. When it was over the deer, in fast retreat, had hopped the fence and Ike strolled triumphantly home from his latest enemy encounter.
It started me thinking. Two, one hundred pound plus wild beasts fear-stricken by an admittedly aggressive seven-pounder. How does that happen? The large animal afraid of everything, the midget afraid of nothing. Ike’s eyes are on the front of his head, the sure sign of a predator. Deer’s eyes are on the sides of their heads which is typical of prey. Is it a predator/prey thing? Is that it? Yorkies were bred to keep the mines of England rat free. They never came out of the mines. Is it a survival thing? When Ike sees something he instinctively runs at it with the intent to kill, my Border Collie, on the other hand, runs from danger until he has had enough time to stop and assess his situation and plan his next course of action. Is it a fight or flight thing?
This two hundred and forty pound human is scared to death of a two gram arachnid. Maybe I should try and figure that out first.
