Capturing the animal kingdom in action

Opinion. The views expressed are the author’s own.

Today my day started with a showing of two rabbits playing in the back yard, then a beautiful Cardinal perched beside our Owl figure(intended to frighten black bird infestation) for a good ten minutes. Last week a scrawny fox entered the property looking for some munchies. There is a pond a few hundred yards away full of wildlife. Finding small turtles in your back yard is a rush, as you pick them up carefully and walk them to the pond. Painted and Snapping turtles everywhere. I took Scrappy for a walk and found a young turtle on the walk way. To the pond we went. We respect nature that has been gifted to us. My neighborhood is filled with neighbors who try to preserve nature and the wildlife that lives among us.

I have a friend in the Caribbean, Barbados Land. He has made it his personal task to protect the giant and ocean worthy turtles that often visit their shorelines. An occasional Manatee pops up too. Some have terrible scars on their backs that often are endured while in Florida. Ones home is your castle, and your neighborhood is the environment you wish to live in. There is a generational responsibility to preserve, protect and fulfill our obligation to creation.

One of our neighbors has replaced his properties grass with fine soil and planted John Appleseed style wild flowers, most friendly to our little friends the Bee Population. seniors on a walk marvel as they walk by at the number of Humming Birds and other indigenous Birds that are partake in this neighbors flower arrangement.

Nature Calls to us all. We need to heed its call every chance we have since the natural world may one day come to extinction. Yes we have lost thousands of animal, waterfowl, air and greenery species. The slaughter of the Bee Population through the use of pesticides may never come back to full strength, and if it does not we WILL loose our natural pollinators. This is serious stuff folks. Insects pollinate much of our fruit, cash crops and flowers. This distinctive process must never be changed, so even well though of human attempts to pollinate are not satisfactory.

Humanities transportation and housing systems destroy the habitat and lives of millions of creatures annually. Once grasslands, marshes, bogs, forested areas are replaced by housing, industrial sector buildings and roadways there is no turning back, no return to natural pathways.

If your religious you know God gave earth to us to manage responsibly. Non believers can use common sense to realize the scarcity of nature and wildlife. We all need to do our part. You see a turtle on the road stop and put it to the side so it can carry on in it journey to a waterway or pond. If you have a garden plant Bee and Humming Bird friendly plants and flowers. If you do not create your own version inside or outside. The colors of nature tantalize us, the smells of nature can invigorate us. Like our children before us, nature needs our love and respect.

Respect Yourself. Respect the lives of our natural world.

Steven Kaszab lives in Bradford, Ont.