Wednesday, May 14, 2008

• Wordy Wednesday: Fires and Coyotes

  Currently Listening Pure Cult: The Singles 1984-1995 By The Cult see related

  

  I do not know which is more important story - the fires in Palm Bay or the abduction of Ollie the Malti-Poo by Coyotes.

  While the fires are far away on other side of state, or so my Bean tell me, the smoke has been blowing over the state. Last night it so smokey that my Bean end up coughing horribly from it. She says she has to remember to turn the air filter on when she comes home from day hunting this evening, so it can get a head start on the smoke.

  Very bad fires. 17,000 acres of land are currently burning in 108 fires in Florida, In Palm Bay, 71 homes have been destroyed and maybe as many as 50 more damaged in the blaze. Over $9.6 million in damages have been sustained by the city of Palm Bay.

  The police think maybe the fires were delibertely set because they began within hours of each other in separate locations. The have a reward posted for information leading the arrest and conviction any anyone who start the fire. (Click here to see pictures of the fires)

  But this is also our fire season, so drought conditions and high winds are responsible for the blazes being as bad as they are.

  Governer Charlie Crist has issued a state of emergency for Florida because of the fires.

  Right now the closest fires to us are the annual bush fires in Bonita Springs and Bonita Beach. These are bad enough but they are not threating homes just at the moment.

  Our friend Terry is a fire fighter in the Estero/Bonita Area and as always, we wish him the best in battling these terrible blazes and hope that he return home safe to his family and friends.

  The second story involves the coyotes in the South Fort Myers area. The coyotes live in the same protected area out near the Southwest Florida Airport as the Florida Panthers do, but they are less afraid of people and more likely to come into inhabited areas than the Panthers are.

  Evidently one coyote was brave enough to get within fifteen feet of human. Ollie the malti-poo was on an extended lead about 15 feet from his human when a coyote came up, grabbed him, snapped the lead and took off. The human was understandably upset, but there are a couple of interesting pieces in the story.

  For one thing, what was the woofie doing on extended lead if they knew coyotes in the area? That just dumb. Second, the man that was walking Ollie see a coyote sized dog come up to his dog and he think it is neighbors dog. Why would neighbor's woofie be walking around loose? There is a law against that. Wouldn't he think maybe he should haul Ollie back from stange woofie? Or charge strange woofie and try to frighten it off before it grab Ollie?

  Then they call fish and wildlife commission who said they can't do anything. Trapping is ineffective as the bitches just bear bigger litters to make up for the numbers that are trapped. Also they cannot trap on preserve as they may inadvertantly get Panther, which is protected species.

  Finally, the landlord who own the property do not maintain the walls and fence that face the preserve, and so the coyotes have no trouble getting into the trailer park compound where humans live. A spokesman for the property owner say they would look into getting the boundry fence repaired. Lot of good that doing Ollie now.

  Ollie is the second dog to have been reported abducted by Coyotes; a pug was allegedly taken and killed by the preditors as well.

  Again I will point out that the Coyotes are not where I live in Cape Coral. Here there is a belief that cats may have been attacked and eaten by Nile Monitors, but the local wildlife experts think this is unlikely and the creatures are very skittish and would probably not attack most felines.

  In other news our house get pressure wash yesterday. This scare me at first, because I think it a monster and that it growling at me. But it just get cleaned. Today it getting painted so it look pretty. Much grooming for the house.

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