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Animal Encounters of the Funny Kind: Share Yours!
My mother was a sturdy person, both emotionally and physically. She was no stranger to the natural world: In fact, she bravely welcomed the excitement that wildlife brought to our lives. She was entranced when we spotted a moose in New Brunswick, or when we saw an Osprey at the ocean. So imagine our surprise when a mouse completely undid her composure.
My younger sister had a collection of white mice caged in her room and one day when the cage was being cleaned, the mice escaped. Over the next few months our house held an expanding population of multiracial mice. We’d see them now and then, and worried about their ever-growing numbers. Everything came to head one evening when my mother was cooking dinner and a mouse ran up her pant leg! My mother started shrieking and leapt onto a chair. She finally gained enough sense to stop the hopping and instead stripped off her pants to release the mouse. Seeing our mother on top of chair in her undies, my sisters and I ended up laughing and crying at the same time!
Fast forward about 35 years. My daughter Lily was practicing violin in the living room when WHOMP, a flying squirrel landed on her shoulder. Everything became eerily silent as Lily stopped mid-note and just stood there, stunned. I heard her father yell, “Oh, my God!” and then pandemonium ensued as the squirrel leapt off of Lily, she started wailing, and the dogs chased after the squirrel. Lily’s teacher said that she had heard the whole gamut of reasons for not practicing, but Lily’s took the prize.
As much as I love those memories, I think the wildlife story that still touches my heart the most occurred during a family reunion in Maine. We were all sitting on a lovely cove beach–in fact, it was the beach filmed in the movie “The Cider House Rules.” The cove was beautiful and we spent the day playing Frisbee, braving the cold Maine waters, and lying in the sun. After a while we decided to have lunch, which we had made and packed in the morning.
Suddenly, out of the blue, a seagull dive-bombed our group. Its beak was open and aimed at the sandwich my then 9-year old daughter Lily had in her hands, mid-lift to her mouth. The seemingly massive seagull snatched the sandwich out of Lily’s hands and hurtled itself up and away into the air. Our jaws were hanging open, hardly grasping what had happened, when Lily’s expression crumpled and tears started rolling down her face. She bemoaned the situation saying, “But I wanted that!”
Ahhh, the joys of nature…..
Now that I’ve exposed intimate moments from my family’s memories of wildlife encounters, please share yours! I’d love to hear about your adventures. Please take a moment to add a comment below.
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98 comments
add your comment »Oh my gosh, the story about the cat waking up the woman who's husband was in trouble just touches the heart. Synchronistically, I just received a review copy of Random Acts of Kindness by Animals, by Stephanie LaLand (Conari Press, 2008). I cracked the book to a story of a falling trapeze artist saved by a nearby horse who raced to be under her when she fell. How heartening!
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This is a bit sad, yet funny, but I saw sea lions laying out in the sun on the beach. This one baby must have got his mother mixed up with someone else because it went to try to drink milk, and the adult sea lion swatted the poor thing with its tail! The baby then went to someone else and got swatted again. I hope he found his mama.
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Last summer we had a momma bear and her cub spend time in our yard enjoying the creek and the berries, apples, and peaches trees. Momma didn't make it through the summer, but to our surprise the baby (actually 2yr. old)made it through the summer and winter. He was relocated last month due to him not being afraid of humans and his love of visiting the local Wal-mart. However, on Saturday we were surprised to see a new momma and two very small cubs once again enjoying the creek. The Division of Wildlife gentleman that lives down the way says our backyard is an oasis for the animals. He also promises to keep a closer eye on this family to make sure everything goes okay.
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My husband is a brittle diabetic, which means that his blood sugar can make dramatic changes in a very short time. I was working two jobs and going to school and I was very tired. I went to sleep the deep sleep that is the result of exhaustion and suddenly one of our young cats, who really did not like people unless you had cheese or fruit, was jumping up and down on my chest. I knocked her off of me, heard her hit the wall and thought, "Oh, no!" I opened one eye enough to see her getting up and I started to go back to sleep and there she was back up on my chest jumping up and down. I knew then that something bad was happening. I started to get up to see if the house was on fire or what. I looked over at my husband and we was in a pool of water. He had gone into insulin shock and I would not have woken up to help him if that beautiful cat, Pumpkin, had not jumped on my chest until she had me completely awake. She disappeared shortly after that, but she will always be an angel sent from God in my memory.
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This last winter a squirrel crawled through the chimney and into our house while we were away for vacation. The person who came in to check on our cat noticed it in one of our chairs, trying to make a nest.
Our cat, who is frightened of hamsters (without the ball) was completely ignoring the squirrel. He just followed the cat sitter around like nothing was up.
The cat sitter called us on vacation, and we found someone who lived nearby to remove the squirrel. This was done by taking out the screen of the windows, opening them wide, reaching in and pulling out the squirrel, who was fighting all the way, wrapping it up and throwing it out the window.
Luckily our cat was so set on the "If I can't see it, it can't see me" frame of mind that it didn't come into the room and use the open window as a means of escape.
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I had a little friend named digger, a mole I used to feed grass to.
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We have a young Jack Russell Terrier who enjoys the odd scraps from our dinner. He usually wouldn't get much because we were always afraid he'd get sick from too much 'people food' but we thought a little bit wouldn't hurt. Well, after dinner he'd get his portion of dinner placed on top of his usual dinner - kibbles n bits. I used to make him wait until after dinner once I had cleaned up the kitchen just to get him to learn to wait. He'd lie down next to his bowl, start shivering (as if he was suffering and couldn't stand to wait too long) and keep an eye on when I'd give him the 'Go get it!'. The funny part was that I was the only one who could tell him to get his dinner and I could only tell him in a certain tone. If anyone else said it like me or if I said it softly, he'd sit there and wait, gently easing up off his rear but waiting for the clear signal. He would now and again cheat and sneak before I gave him the all go or would go after I forgot to give him permission after waiting for soo long. But on a few occasions I'd simply forget to give him the signal and after dinner you might find him still waiting there (half an hour after I'd left the kitchen, waiting for me to say 'ok'). He was too cute then and we always gave him extra praises when he waited so patiently. What a loving, caring, kind dog Jackie is. He is a wonderful addition to our family. :)
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some neighbourhood cats spent hours circling a ceramic duck in my mothers garden a few years ago.
they didnt give in until finally one of them lunged and the duck simply fell over with a thunk. That certainly scared them away.
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Certainly brings back memories of all our pets and other wildlife. One time, visiting with my aunt in Michigan, we were sitting outside after stocking all the various critter feeders near the yard (their property connects to National Forest Land), when along comes one of the creatures who apparently liked to visit with the human animals before being led over to the feeder to partake of dried corn on the cob - as thrilling as it was, I'm not sure I need a second experience with a full grown porcupine trying to climb into my lap!
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Akamai was a smart dog, He lived in Hawaii and was named Akamai or Smart because of his seeming intelligence. He was alert and attentive and responded as most dogs to commands and requests. When asked, "Akamai, do you want to go for a walk?" or "Do you want to eat?" he would bark, "Ruff". His ruff's sounded more like roof's and so the questions became, "Akamai, what is ontop of the house?" and, "What does it feel like to sit on sandpaper?". As he got older Akamai had an increased desire to eat and would constantly nibble on scraps dropped on the floor after meals or found on the ground while he was on his daily walks. One day he was out on a walk in the huge area behind his house by hisself. A neighbor came to the door to announce that Akamai needed help. In his search for food Akamai had fallen into a large trash bin. He couldn't get out!After much pushing and struggling Akamai was lifted from the trash receptacle. He looked smug and completely satisfied. Akamai was older, fatter and somehow wiser.
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