Re: Picket Line

**T* A* <t*@growingedge.com>**

I didn't own a gun until I was over 50. On our rural 4 acre mini-farm  
that we moved onto 12 years ago, we have 85 fruit trees, 110  
blueberry bushes, and much of our summer produce and table flowers;  
we spent $1,200 on a deer fence around the place so we could grow  
things and starve the deer. I was forced to buy a gun after five  
years of battling with the raccoons, trying all kinds of concoctions  
to keep them away.

They are supposed to be "nocturnal" animals but they were roaming our  
property at all hours of the day. They climb the fruit trees to  
sample the fruit just as it is getting ripe to pick and not only  
accomplish that very well but break the branches climbing to get it.  
The love biting into the drip irrigation lines for water, which costs  
me hundreds every year to replace. They sample strawberries for  
dessert after sampling various veggies as their main course. Notice I  
say sample because most times they don't even eat more than a bite.  
Right before shooting them, as you get close to them, they stand up  
very cutely on their hind legs with their front paws up like they are  
surrendering while giving a great target (instead of rings on their  
tails they should have concentric circles on their chests).  I start  
digging a hole in the ground shortly thereafter. We have a raccoon  
cemetery that gets filled up every three or four years when new ones  
start to re-populate the place.

I give the squirrels a reprieve because they don't do the damage the  
raccoons do, other than planting acorns in all the pots and beds. The  
rabbits have an appeal with the Supreme Court but their day on death  
row may be coming soon, at least they don't sample but eat very  
heartily.

I love watching the cute little animals, and I am a vegetarian, more  
for health reasons than ethically putting their lives equal to  
humans, but they are destroying my live veggies that I grow and  
consume for veggie food. I spend a good amount of my hard earned  
money on raising my own food and I bust my ass and back growing, so I  
can eat it, not feed the wild animals.

I am sure some will find this offensive but you are entitled to your  
opinion. And if you want to come out, bust your back and ass to help  
me grow food to feed my family and watch the critters eat it, be my  
guest.

Tom Alexander
People for the Ethical Treatment of Veggies (PETV)
tom@growingedge.com

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