Critter tales

With the warmer weather, the wild animals around the house are more visible. I looked out into the backyard the other day and saw squirrels, birds and butterflies. It was a lovely scene. But other animals - some predators, some prey - stay hidden most of the time.

Sadness, regret and guilt slapped Jan and I the other day when the roof of a venerable old handmade birdhouse, that hung below our upper deck, was destroyed by a hungry raccoon.

About 1 a.m. a couple nights ago, the dogs began furiously barking at something just outside. Jan got up to look, and saw a raccoon on the deck. The raccoon stood his ground for a moment, and slinked away.

A short while later, he reappeared, and the barking dogs again shooed him away. But, unbeknownst to us that night, he'd gotten what he came for: a couple newborn baby birds in the birdhouse. Resting on the upper deck, he reached his paw down to the birdhouse suspended below, destroyed the thin piece of decaying wood that was part of the roof, and presumably reached inside to snare the babies.

Ugh. What an empty feeling. And the blame, the guilt, is at least partly on us.

In front of our house, on the other hand, a stray black cat has given birth to two impossibly cute kittens, and they're living under the front deck.

The mom cat, who we've named Minnie - for "Skinny Minnie" - came out from under the deck the other day, lured by food and what she seemed to like even more: attention and touch. But the kittens were nowhere in sight.

Later, Jan and I went in the house, leaving some cat food outside. As we watched quietly in a darkened bedroom through a window, the kittens came out to play - a black one and a yellow one.

The black one was the braver of the two, but both playfully attacked their mom's tail, and scouted the thick grass just outside their hiding place. But we knew the idyllic scene couldn't last - my dog Moses has discovered their hiding place from their scent below the deck, and has begun to dig a hole next to the deck to get at them. We can control Moses, but it's only a matter of time before the ravenous, brazen raccoon discovers the kittens as well.

So, we called our good friend Vic Franzoi, who volunteers at Friends of Animal Rescue, and got some helpful advice to save the family. But the plan didn't work last night, because the cats didn't cooperate.

Ah well. I can assure you than Jan will be out there again this evening, calling for Winnie, using cat food as bait. But it is to save them from harm, not to harm them. Our consciences won't permit us to lose the babies from two families this season.