Category Archives: man bites bear
Standing her ground
It was a morning not long ago, on a walk in Pettigrew State Park. The doe was part of a group with no less than two fawns in tow, although there was no indication any of the young ones were, … Continue reading
Filed under in my image, man bites bear
Just chillin’ with the squirrels
Wild animals are full of surprises. Just when you thought you knew all their habits, live long enough and keep your eyes open, and one will startle you with some behavior you’ve never seen before. Case in point, this handsome … Continue reading
Filed under man bites bear
Narrow and hard the path to vegetarianism
If the road to hell is paved with good intentions, then the path to an ecologically conscientious faith is vexed with misleading dead ends. News & Observer religion reporter Yonat Shimron’s profile of one local church’s stab at environmental ethics … Continue reading
Filed under man bites bear, meaning of life
One rat lost in the race
They ran him down that’s what they did right in front of my very eyes this morning they just drove right over him without a thought or a pause and they just ran the little guy down. No, he wasn’t … Continue reading
Filed under man bites bear, meaning of life
No easy solutions
I gave brief sanctuary to a little male House sparrow today. He was a wet, raggedy mess when I found him on my front lawn — the neighbor who lives above alerted me when his dog spotted the sparrow on … Continue reading
Filed under man bites bear, meaning of life
Small thought for so small a creature
One of god’s humble creatures offered me a gently moving reminder today of how much at the mercy of human thoughtfulness — or perhaps more to the point, thoughtlessness — all of surrounding creation lay. At my workplace, there’s an … Continue reading
Filed under man bites bear, meaning of life
It’s for the birds
I’ve always welcomed the arrival of new bird species to my feeders, and even keep track of the species count. The list has been sitting at 23 for quite awhile, but recently I reached an even two dozen with the … Continue reading
Filed under in my image, man bites bear
Helmeted pedestrians make more sense
I was reminded the other day how easily misplaced our priorities can be with respect to personal safety after watching a video that News & Observer photographer Travis Long produced in recognition of Bike to Work Week in May. The … Continue reading
Filed under man bites bear
Factory farming rewards few, dooms all
A standing ovation goes out to UNC epidemiologist Steve Wing for connecting the dots so unmistakably in his op-ed essay, “Raising animals and rising threats,” published into today’s News & Observer. With ominous clarity, he sketches out the menacing risks … Continue reading
Filed under civics 101, man bites bear
Walk the walk, don’t talk it
Phone toting dog walkers, consider yourselves on notice. Your roaming minutes are running out along with your furry companion’s patience. The habit of chatting on a cell phone while walking one’s dog has become all too common. It’s not at … Continue reading
Filed under man bites bear, spleen
Humming with delight
Sometimes, the smallest things (literally) make my day special. Such was the case this week when I checked off a new personal first: watching a nesting hummingbird in the wild. I set out for the north side of Umstead State … Continue reading
Filed under man bites bear
New pandemic takes off: avian envy
I went roaming about in the woods yesterday and came down with an acute case of avian envy. You wouldn’t think it could be so virulent, but then the disease vector cuts across so many lines of genus and species, … Continue reading
Filed under man bites bear
Killing the forest to save its animals
It’s decided: I’m withholding all future support to the Humane Society of the United States, at least until it stops sending mixed messages by the ton care of the U.S. Postal Service. I say this even as the national animal … Continue reading
Filed under man bites bear, spleen
