Creatures and Towns

Big horn sheep ram

Before we invented houses, cameras and cars, humans lived in the bush and understood the big-horn sheep. 

Big horn sheep ewe

Oh, we could never aspire to their surefootedness on rocky ledges or their making it through winters on snowy peaks, but we admired them.  Some of us worshipped such highly adapted creatures as gods, thinking ourselves beneath them.  

We were happy that way until we discovered our brains and what we could do with them.  Now we see animals as creatures—prey, photographic objects, and pets.  We have assumed the roll of their protectors and their destroyers.  They try to go on as they always have, trying to avoid us.   

Roast pig

We enjoy their meat.

Can you see the little frog?  It’s so cold he can barely move, so he blends in, keeps to himself in a crowded forest. 

In the average square mile of Montana, there are 6.2 people and 3.3 deer.  It’s not a swing state for the deer, people will carry it.  So the deer can vote their conscience because their votes don’t matter.  Among the people of Montana, the upcoming election could go either way.

I live in a town of humans with the occasional deer or grizzly bear strolling among us.  We call it Whitefish after our prey living in the lake.  

And we tolerate bears if they don’t hurt us.  It’s a nice town with a bike path running through it.  A river runs through it too.

Sometimes we see images of animals in the rocks that form these mountains.  No baboons live here, but I see the image on one is in this limestone cliff.  In former times, before we lived in houses and took control over the animals, these images must have been especially poignant.  

High above where bees ought to live or where aster flowers ought to bloom, both have a meeting for mutual benefit.