A great (touchy-feely) time for pigeons, Canada geese, beavers and other vermin.




U of T motto. (Hope the beaver doesn't
escape the escutcheon and fell their tree).

 

Life used to be tough for critters. They were trapped, shot,   eaten, and hunted for their pelts. Not any more. In these touchy-feely times of ours, you can’t defend your airspace from pigeons, or your trees from beavers, or your lawn from Canada geese shit.

You don’t want pigeons to gum up airplane engines? Tough. You don’t want your tennis game interrupted by a pigeon colliding with your ball? That’s what happened at the French Open, so they hired a falconer. But even falcons have gone touchy-feely. I quote the New Yorker: “Hup! Hup! Hup!” the falconer yelled to encourage his bird to pounce. The falcon, by name of Zyna, clearly didn’t have murder in her heart. Her boss had to swipe her, and even then it would only jump into the air, spooking the pigeons enough to back up twenty feet. Maybe it had nothing to do with touchy-feeling. Maybe it was a labour dispute. You can’t make your falcons work overtime. According to the New Yorker, the falconer was aware of the regulations. “It’s the bird’s decision,” he said. http://www.newyorker.com/talk/2012/06/18/120618ta_talk_wiedeman