Coyotes, etc.

Okay. So I'm tired of the Facebook debate my comments about going on a coyote killing spree sparked, not because I'm tired of the debate itself, just the forum. Besides, I've been having blog-envy for some time now, but just haven't really felt moved to write anything here. That has changed.

Last Thursday, 13 August, my cat Gris went missing. I've been scouring the ranch, fearing the obvious and hoping for the improbable. Specifically, I suspected all along that a coyote had killed him, but as I hadn't heard any howling for some months and as none of my chickens had been killed for the same amount of time, I hoped that Gris was off being a cat and having a nice time. Around 10 this morning while I was out looking for Gris, I came across where a coyote had killed and eaten of of my hens.

Now, for those of you who don't know me, I live on a large ranch that is situated between Round Rock and Austin, Texas. Both cities have grown up around the ranch and I can see the top of an apartment complex from my back door. The apartment swimming pool is just across the fence from the ranch and in the summer I can walk a quarter mile in that direction and hear children playing in the water. At night it's loud music and beer bottles thrown over the fence. One or more of the apartment dwellers think it's great fun to drive golf balls onto the ranch. There are literally scores of them littering the southwest corner of the ranch and I see them every time I ride a horse or go for a walk. The point of course is that as their habitat has evaporated, the coyotes have been forced into narrower and narrower confines.

I'm an educated man and I understand that--as the poet said--"Nature is red in tooth and claw." I have also known and accepted that by letting Gris be an outdoor cat, his chances of being injured or killed by a wild animal or even a domestic dog were good, perhaps even better than average. And so, it seems that that has now happened.

So yes, I intend to kill coyotes