I am probably not going to win any points with this entry--with some people--but we are smack into deer hunting in WI and even in the first few days, someone I know has been forced to live with the loss of her beloved pet. Northern WI is home today of a sad young lady who went to national championships with her pet horse--and loved that horse dearly. She is the daughter of a good friend of the Homestead and is devastated because a hunter started shooting 1/2 hour early, shot at a silhouette that turned out NOT to be a deer, but her beloved horse. He made it back 'home' to his barn and was unable to be saved. Mind you his owner was away on a trip herself and had to receive this news from her distraught family and THEN try to make her way safely home. Please say a prayer and send good thoughts to her everyone, she is going to have a long way ahead of her to find peace. I can only imagine.
That said, if you live in deer hunting areas, even if they are not heavily hunted, please keep your pets close to you and watch them like a hawk. We live in a very heavily hunted area but are lucky that most are people we are familiar with that are aware of our animals. However, there is also a tendency to have people from out of our state even to wander through our lands, shooting indiscriminately--like at my neighbor's boarding kennel??
I realise there are 'responsible hunters' but please know hunting personally goes against everything I believe in, but what is best for one is not best for all. That said, pictured above is our little Casper (honkey donkey) who was also affected by a hunter's bullet-while his mama, a WHITE DONKEY was pregnant with him. A hunter shot her, along with a white llama that belonged to a friend--both of the critters in the same pasture. Now come on white?? Casper and his mama were ok, except when Casper was born, the bullet had smashed into his little spine, right at the withers and he now has a crippled/stiff/s-curved spine that he will have to live with all his life. It has not been easy for him, we have to keep a careful eye on his weight, and as he has grown, the spine curvature has gotten much worse--sometimes making it difficult for him to get up if he is in the wrong spot.
We keep our critters up close to our buildings now til after Thanksgiving and eagle eye any activity we see that is not 'normal'. We are thankful the hunters who belong in surrounding areas are careful and aware of our flock--and hope we make it through another season with out a horrid incident like our friend. To pet owners AND hunters, Please Please be careful! (thank you for listening to my rant....)
That said, if you live in deer hunting areas, even if they are not heavily hunted, please keep your pets close to you and watch them like a hawk. We live in a very heavily hunted area but are lucky that most are people we are familiar with that are aware of our animals. However, there is also a tendency to have people from out of our state even to wander through our lands, shooting indiscriminately--like at my neighbor's boarding kennel??
I realise there are 'responsible hunters' but please know hunting personally goes against everything I believe in, but what is best for one is not best for all. That said, pictured above is our little Casper (honkey donkey) who was also affected by a hunter's bullet-while his mama, a WHITE DONKEY was pregnant with him. A hunter shot her, along with a white llama that belonged to a friend--both of the critters in the same pasture. Now come on white?? Casper and his mama were ok, except when Casper was born, the bullet had smashed into his little spine, right at the withers and he now has a crippled/stiff/s-curved spine that he will have to live with all his life. It has not been easy for him, we have to keep a careful eye on his weight, and as he has grown, the spine curvature has gotten much worse--sometimes making it difficult for him to get up if he is in the wrong spot.
We keep our critters up close to our buildings now til after Thanksgiving and eagle eye any activity we see that is not 'normal'. We are thankful the hunters who belong in surrounding areas are careful and aware of our flock--and hope we make it through another season with out a horrid incident like our friend. To pet owners AND hunters, Please Please be careful! (thank you for listening to my rant....)
2 comments:
Ditto to all that you said Sandy.
I hope you are able to keep all your animals safe during the hunting season.
I can't believe I just read that - that man needs glasses. I really hope they will sue. You may be only able to unfortunately recover the cost of the animal, but if anything it would teach that man a good lesson. The words I hear from my Mother's mouth - It's the principle of it.
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