Don Terrill’s Speed-Talk

1989TransAm wrote: ↑Mon Jun 29, 2020 4:37 pm Are Human's part of Mother Nature?

Last time I checked, yes we still are.

More people die from the flu than from coyotes.

Rabies, a viral infection that's 100 percent fatal, is spread to humans via bites or scratches from infected animals. Cats are currently the primary domestic animal associated with rabies exposure in humans. If bitten by a rapid animal, humans must undergo a series of shots in order to produce the antibodies required for survival. Around 16 percent of people who require these shots get them after being exposed to the virus by a cat

HS Nova wrote: ↑Tue Jun 30, 2020 6:04 am Rabies, a viral infection that's 100 percent fatal, is spread to humans via bites or scratches from infected animals. Cats are currently the primary domestic animal associated with rabies exposure in humans. If bitten by a rapid animal, humans must undergo a series of shots in order to produce the antibodies required for survival. Around 16 percent of people who require these shots get them after being exposed to the virus by a cat

Yes, therein lies the difficulty with the reasoning of enjoying the predation of feral cats by coyotes.

HS Nova wrote: ↑Tue Jun 30, 2020 6:03 am More people die from the flu than from coyotes.

In the United States, a comparable number of people died via car accidents versus the flu in 2016. I am grasping for the significance of a non-sequitur... ?

Kevin Johnson wrote: ↑Mon Jun 29, 2020 10:01 pm https://digitalcommons.usu.edu/cgi/view ... ontext=hwi

https://escholarship.org/uc/item/6mx0f9pf

https://escholarship.org/uc/item/0gf5g5vq

Yes, I know it is annoying to have to actually read through three peer-reviewed articles on the subject of coyote attacks with notable emphasis on California.

HS Nova wrote: ↑Tue Jun 30, 2020 6:01 am

1989TransAm wrote: ↑Mon Jun 29, 2020 4:37 pm Are Human's part of Mother Nature?

Last time I checked, yes we still are.

Most human parents (not all !) would be concerned about their young offspring being part of the food chain. Perhaps surviving this will benefit society by supporting plastic surgeons and psychotherapists along with a better appreciation of the unrecognized hazards of life.

Cats carry rabies, the flu kills more people, car accidents kill more people, a dog is more likely to attack or kill a child than a coyote, coyotes kill cats, cats kill birds.....

How on earth does nature continue?

HS Nova wrote: ↑Tue Jun 30, 2020 3:17 pm Cats carry rabies, the flu kills more people, car accidents kill more people, a dog is more likely to attack or kill a child than a coyote, coyotes kill cats, cats kill birds.....

How on earth does nature continue?

Ah. A concatenation.

Thankfully we are the dominant species, but clearly "challenged" as more than one article points out.

I seem to recall reading an article back years ago where Mom was out in the back yard hanging up clothes to dry and had baby in a pumpkin seat close by her when a cougar jumped the fence, grabbed the baby and was gone!!

How tragic AND sad!!

pdq67

Predation by domestic cats is the number-one direct, human-caused threat to birds in the United States and Canada. In the United States alone, outdoor cats kill approximately 2.4 billion birds every year. Although this number may seem unbelievable, it represents the combined impact of tens of millions of outdoor cats.

Puppy labradors and pugs should be taken out

HS Nova wrote: ↑Tue Jun 30, 2020 5:21 pm Predation by domestic cats is the number-one direct, human-caused threat to birds in the United States and Canada. In the United States alone, outdoor cats kill approximately 2.4 billion birds every year. Although this number may seem unbelievable, it represents the combined impact of tens of millions of outdoor cats.

https://www.kcet.org/redefine/4-reasons ... d-turbines

I lived next to Altamont Pass.

The murder of crows in our yard in Florida is quite intelligent. They are in constant communication and chase away raptors. Cats -- laugh.

Our cat in Illinois, Fritz (RIP -- and in no way associated with the silver screen), was quite intelligent. He lived outdoors by day and roamed the fields. My Father observed him kill a pregnant mouse and artfully arrange the body on the driveway. He then hid and waited for a crow to scavenge the gruesome display. Et voilà !

Fritz fell prey to feline leukemia. Somehow that random bit of information seems appropriate in the great wheel of life being discussed.

I had pet rats in Santa Cruz while at the university. One (Rebecca) broke her leg while wandering around the flat -- It cost sixty dollars to have it set by the local vet.

I feel obliged to mention our St. Bernard, Mädchen, who never hurt a soul but when she encountered a neighborhood miscreant suddenly deeply growled and raised all her back fur. Impressive.

At Swift Laboratories, beagles were used to test food formulas. We had two of them as pets. The first was sadly killed by lightning.

My younger Sister had a miniature horse in Illinois. It learned to unlatch the gate to the enclosure and roam the neighborhood. It would often visit the yard of its birth, the Vasquez residence, on the next street over. It made the trip to Pleasanton, in the Livermore Valley.

I am sure there's more.

Ah, yes. I was once attacked by a preying mantis in Michigan while entering my car.

As I lay in bed in Florida, a small scorpion repeatedly stung my shoulder.

Stream of consciousness ...

I guess because wind turbines kill more birds than cats, then the 2.4 billion birds killed cats their lives didn't matter. ALL LIVES MATTER!!!

When bird people tell dog people to leash their dog at a public park