Wild Kingdom

I have some weird adventures with wildlife at times. A few years back I was back for a visit in Oklahoma and my brother dropped me off late at our parents house. I come in and my mother is shouting at me to get in the living room. I go in and turn on the light to see that she had been sleeping on the sofa and one of the dogs had brought in a small opossum. Well, I stomped my foot and it fell over (playing possum). I picked it up and took it outside.

A couple years later, when I was back for another visit, my nephew came out of the laundry room shouting about a snake. Not believing it I went and took a look. Yep, a 3 to 4 foot long black rat snake. In the laundry room. I had him bring me a coat hanger and I bent it to make an improvised snake hook and took it out front.

Zippy the front yard snake. (Western Yellow-bellied Racer).

Well just this week at my house, the local snake was waiting for me on my front mat. We'd had sightings of this snake for the past few years. (Actually I'm assuming it is the same snake, though haven't any way to be sure.) Well, being a Racer, this snake moves very fast so has been named "Zippy". We try to encourage him since he probably likes to eat lots of the things we don't like to have around. (Though he doesn't seem to eat any of the garden gnomes that are infesting my yard.)

A sack of small bunny.

Then this morning I came out of the bathroom to see a small brown shape run across the bedroom. Small, leaves out Moonpi. Brown, leaves out Bill (the Cat). Then I see the cat chase the shape under the bed. And I realize the ferocious feline has brought in a young rabbit. I make a call to get back up and after removing both Moonpi and Bill from the bedroom, the rabbit round up began. You can surely imagine a more dramatic or comedic version.  (And I think I will.) Since it took only a few minutes to guide the bewildered bunny into a paper bag. It didn't seem to be in bad shape, just drooled on a little. And after a few pictures it was released into the field behind the house.

So there you have it. My own wild kingdom adventures. Now I just need to find a sponsor. Oh and a camera man. Maybe I can get myself on Animal Planet. Or maybe not.