WHOOP, THERE IT IS

Remember the javelina I wrote about in an earlier blog? Well, as the old Tag Team song went...Whoop, there he is. Looks just like him. Remember I saw him at just past dusk, but there were enough lights around for me to make a positive ID. This is the one!

And to think I disturbed him from eating. There are friends of mine who hunt them. They barbecue them and say they are tasty. I couldn't kill one. I think they are awesome.

I killed a gecko once in our house. They come in once in awhile now, but I never bother them anymore. I was trying to catch a little one in a paper cup and then release him outside. I'd done that a few times before. But this one moved and I clipped off his tail. Little red gecko blood marked the spot. I guess I thought he was in pain or would hemorrhage to death, so I mercy killed him. Right there.

First of all when I told Courtney, she made me swear not to tell anyone else. She thought they were endangered or something. "But it was to keep him from suffering," I pleaded. I also told a friend, a long time Arizona resident who told me that losing their tails were defense mechanisms, and that he wasn't hurting even if there was blood.

Then I felt bad. I still feel bad. I love geckos. I have counted as many as 11 at a time on our covered back porch. They are especially cool when they've eaten something and take on the color of their finds.

I'll never harm another. Promise. But if I knock off a javelina's tail, you can bet that big guy's going down.