Have you seen this?
http://www.earthlings.com/earthlings/video-full.php
Its beautiful, and painful at the same time....and worth the watch.
Hope this finds you well my friend.
Nikki
The joys & sorrows of Spring
Posted By Harry on August 28, 2010
Prince Edward has a full tail again, and his and son Luka’s early morning calls for their mates have become more urgent. A reminder that Spring is almost upon us. With it we’ll get warmer days, shorter nights, apple blossoms,
daffodils,
roses
and sunset strolls on golden-hued beaches.
We’ll also feed less hay
and pick up less of this
as the paddocks will soon provide more than enough for our equines.
It’s a great time of year.
But Spring also brings its challenges. The neighbour’s now unwanted cockerels and hens – who spend more time at Avondale than back home – will do their utmost to do the deed, hide their eggs, sit where we cannot find them, and proudly return with their day-old chicks. We’ll do our damndest to find the nests, catch the hens and have them join our 2 roosters and flock, or find homes for them and the cockerels. Our permaculture friend took 16 cockerels and the same amount of hens last year, and her huge runs – including one that houses only roosters – will not be able to take more. So we’ll look elsewhere, all the while aware that our neighbour’s solution to our dilemma is the same as that for his housed flock – the cold, sharp, edge of an axe.
Beautiful peacocks. Avondale cannot cope with more than 10 peacocks and peahens. So the moment we ‘lose’ a peahen from the twice daily feed we’ll start searching for her and her nest, following her when she does return every few days. We’ll feel guilty for taking her eggs and replacing them with fakes. But giving birds and animals away is not something that sits comfortably with us.
Spring also brings with it a fair share of sorrows. Every year 50 to 100 ducklings are born to the wild Pacific Black ducks that call the dam their home. The first mums of the year will get to bring their families back to the dam, and they’ll chase away the families that follow. Those families will take their chances on the riverbanks, or on the side of the smaller creek, and they’ll cross the open paddocks to get there. But our regular Spring visitors, a magnificent pair of grey goshawks and another of brown falcons, will have easy pickings. Few ducklings will survive. The early ducklings on the dam have slim chances too: the goshawks will move to the wattle tree on the island, and the ravens will infiltrate the ducks pretending to be friends. At most 8 to 10 ducklings will escape the lightening fast talons of the hawks and the devious beaks of the ravens. Avondale’s 60 plus wild ducks may become 70. Loss of the other lives is sanctioned by Nature.
Finally, there are the Spring sorrows brought about by man, not sanctioned by Nature. Our valley will soon reverberate with the plaintive bellows of mothers mourning the loss of their calves. The fields will soon be dotted with young steers, “freezer-packs”, that will be fattened and despatched to the slaughterhouse. Not to put food on the table for the family doing so, not to pay the mortgage, but to “use the land to make a little extra.” Surplus. Life after life after life will be disposed of. For a little bit extra.
So every Spring I hope that steer-raising neighbours will follow the lead of those who grow garlic. Or potatoes. Or herbs. I hope that next Spring will be gentler.
You captured very well the joys and sorrows of all seasons – the joy of saving some, the sorrow of losing others, of knowing how many are needlessly killed. For me it is the hardest part about being involved with a sanctuary, even just as a volunteer, being surrounded by both, always.
One of psas’s peacocks is named Edward also.
Yep, the losses are never easy and somehow don’t seem to be countered by the saves. Even just Nature at work is at times hard to fathom.