Posted by
Katy Grimes on Friday, June 06, 2008 3:43:41 PM
The New York Times published a story yesterday titled, "Peter Rabbit Must Die." It seems that liberal organic gardeners are so fed up with critters eating their gardens that they are now killing the varments by bludgeoning them to death... and enjoying it.
THE homeowner, a city-boy artist and illustrator who had moved to rural Pennsylvania, never wanted to kill the woodchucks. Sure, they were ruining the garden and digging up the foundations of outbuildings, but it was a moral issue: the artist, who is still so uncomfortable about what transpired — and so concerned about how his New York clients would feel about it that he is not willing to be identified — did not want to take a life.
But he did it anyway.
I said: ‘I intend to kill you. You have 24 hours to get out,’ ” he recalls. “I wanted to give them fair warning. I said, ‘If I were you, I would find another place to live.’ I also promised them I would not take a shot unless I knew it would be fatal.”
He is making this into a funny story, he says, but when he killed his first woodchuck he “literally felt sick.”
“I went outside and knelt down to it and said a little prayer to whatever the powers that be that when my turn comes, I will do it as gracefully and uncomplainingly.”
Eventually, though, he embraced his mission, and grew so obsessed with it that an aunt began to call him Woodchuck Johnny. How many did he kill that summer?
“I stopped at 19,” he says.
Fuzzy bunny killer.
Another gardener, Susanne Williamns reported, on a pesky porcupine in her year: “He was after my carrot crop,” she explains. “I said, I just cannot handle this anymore. He sees me and tries to wander off, but they can’t run very fast. I got him with the sledgehammer. He tried to dodge me, but I got him on the head.”
And no, she hasn’t lost any sleep over it.
Ouch. Geez. Most of us have cats and dogs to chase away pests. Liberals claim to be so sensitive and caring - until it hits them in the pocketbook. Making an investment in gardening is costly. But most people realize that just as in Peter Rabbit, gardeners will lose some of their bounty to the critters. They don't bludgeon them to death.
There are a multitude of humane ways to take care of pests: Live traps and dogs and cats are probably the most effective. There is netting, fencing and specials cloth available to protect gardens.
Another woman and her husband trap and drown squirrels. These people are sick and need help.
Few who have made the leap from pacifism to search-and-destroy missions are this open on the subject. Who, after all, wants to risk being labeled a hardened animal killer? There are, however, those willing to take the heat. Boldest are those who admit to killing garden pests simply because they are annoying.
With books available on living with wildlife, and many creative ideas for dealing with furry pests, one can only conclude that these people see nothing wrong with their behavior. And this proves once again that conservatives are true conservationists; we don't randomly kill creatures who may be inconveniencing us.
There is also the approach offered by Catherine Wachs, a gardener who runs the Right Brain Design advertising company and lives in Larchmont, N.Y.: “I do what the Bible says: Leave the corners of your field unharvested for the poor and strangers among you.”
This behavior is however, what we have come to expect from liberals. They are all about peace and love - for everyone else.
Hunting and fishing is acceptible and necessary; trapping and moving animals as well. City dwellers masquerading as landed gentry smashing woodchucks with sledgehammers or drowning squirrels, is deranged anyway you look at it.