The Voltage Gate

Karmen had a particularly disturbing experience while sketching geese at one of her Blogger Bioblitz sites:

As I sat, softly sketching, watching the geese out of the corner of my eye, I noticed one of the guys who was fishing across the cove had started "exploring". He walked right across the narrow strip of land that I was drawing, and marched right up to the goose's nest. I watched, horrified, as he bent down and picked up an egg out of the nest. The geese went nuts, honking at him, but he ignored them, and started to walk back, egg in hand. I was pissed. I put down my pastels, and called out.

"Hey! You do realize that you are on a wildlife refuge, and that bird and its eggs are protected by the Migratory Bird Conservation Act, right?! You're breaking the law!"

He sneered at me. "It was already broken," he drawled, with a thick accent that seemed to match his cowboy hat.

I didn't really know what to say. I sat there, watching and shaking with anger, as he brought his buddy and kid over to stomp around on the nest. Not only was he going to raid the poor bird's nest, but he was going to teach his little kid how to do it, too. What a way to teach your kids to respect their environment. As they walked, the pile of sticks (one of the focal points in my painting) collapsed under them, sending debris spilling into the cove. They kept poking around the nest, while the geese shouted angrily. What could I do? I grabbed my camera, and took pictures of their despicable desecration of my bioblitz site.

Karmen handled it much better than I would have. She stayed calm, found the guy's car and snapped a pic of his plates, reporting him to Colorado's Operation Game Thief. You can see her pics here. Go over and give Karmen some props for standing up for wildlife.

I hope, at some point in the child's life, he has a positive influence that will show him some respect for wildlife and the outdoors. His father, obviously, has none.