There's about thirty yards of woods between the parking lot of my complex to Putney Road. I like to scan it hoping to see squirrels, chipmunks, and maybe a bobcat. Bear have even been seen, like twice in thirty years. Yesterday, I made out a turkey. He wasn't moving much and I didn't want to push him so I got into the truck and drove off. Three hours later, he was still there, so I knew he was in trouble. I got the glasses to make sure he wasn't one of the turkey vultures who roost at the far end of the parking lot. Indian Mary was walking Billy Jean, a Jack-Rat mix, and I had her look. She said he was a wild turkey. I thought I saw a beard and glassed him in a good position and saw that it was three inches long and very thick. We pressed him so he went over a high spot and disappeared.
Today, I was telling a buddy about it who suggested medical help. Why didn't I think of that? I called around and ended up leaving a message for game warden Kelly to call me. My first impression of the gobbler was to wonder if he had avian flu, which would be a catastrophe because it meant the flu had jumped from the farm turkeys to wild ones. Later in the day, I read the Reformer which said that youth hunting season for gobblers was underway in New Hampshire. Then I thought of the possibility that some kid had shot and wounded him, and the bird had flown the fifty yards across the Conneticut River to Vermont. I got
the game commission number at the library, called them, and the speaker brought up youth hunting week and he could be a casualty of that. She said no Vermont wild turkeys had been reported to have avian flu.
I looked from the parking lot for the gobbler today but didn't see him. If I hear from Kelly, maybe he'll walk the area. I'd do it but with my knee, there's going to be pain.
Great things were done for the young bobcat hit just east of Route 9 bridge over the Conneticut River. People shielded her from being hit again, helped a government employee net her, and a Keene Wildlife Sanctuary restored her to full health. The Reformer kept us abreast of the event and featured her on the front page one last time, running hell-bent for leather across a field to the woods. She had been rehabilitated and released, even being fed wild snowshoe hare meat from a road kill. Hats off to all the good people involved except for the driver who didn't stop. In some states, that's illegal. Regardless, it's immoral.
You should have known and done better, driver. You don't leave a possibly wounded animal lying on the road. Want that to be you in another life?
As an addendum to the idea of senior citizens on Social Security for their age and getting Medicaid, I'd like to modify the amount they could earn from $1,000 a month to $300. Again this is for, as I view it, car repairs, root canals and crowns, and at least one dinner at a nice restaurant before they die. Also, please remember this employment would be generating taxes. This is not a BFD; not in the amount earned and not in the frequency used. I envision this being an option for emergencies for car repairs and teeth. I can't see the general health of poor people over sixty-two or sixty-five being good enough to sustain a lot of employment. But greeter or cashier clerk, yes. Lake Raponda is going to have greeters to ask boaters what other lakes their boats have been in. A great job for the aged! At less than minimum wage because we're old and slow and need special considerations like only a few hours of work at a time.
Peter Nickerson 352-359-0850 peternickerson12@yahoo.com Philosophy Major
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