joyful2beeblogs

I have a friend who loves, feeds, watches and cares about animals on a deeper level than most people. She lives on the east coast of the USA. I met her through a friend we had in common. She and I talk on the phone almost every morning.

This dear lover of nature has demonstrated her love of animals for years. She is part Native American (Cherokee) and part Caribbean native. She has learned beading, attended Powwows, (a festive event held by many groups of Native Americans) and danced with them too. She knows much about the culture of the Cherokee people, as well as many other tribes.

Mother Nature in Disguise

My friend has always loved nature and enjoyed observing animals and birds. When I first got to know her over the phone, thanks to the friend we had in common, she was working on beading a “sacred pipe carrier” as a gift.

She began to tell me about the many wild birds and animals, including a group of feral cats who live in the woods near her home. Their lives are mostly wild, frequently pregnant, and always looking for food, until my friend helped them. Their feral lives would be healthier and longer without frequent pregnancies and less competition for food, with an ever increasing number of cats. My friend knew the cats’ lives were challenging and potentially hazardous.

Early every morning, she puts food out for the feral cat colony. Seeing female cats having kittens in the wild over and over again made her decide to call an organization to “Trap and Neuter” the cats. These cats were exposed to the elements, no matter what season. They all were trapped and neutered and released in their territory. Constantly being impregnated often took its toll on the female cats’ health.

Before they were all neutered, she had taken in one cat who was pregnant. She and her kitten are “indoor/outdoor cats now.” The mother and her kitten, were spayed as soon as it was healthy for the two of them. Now she and her husband let them in and out when one or both cats go to the door to be let out.

But cats are not the only animals she cares about. She has nine bird feeders that feed starlings, blue jays, crows, squirrels, humming birds in the summer and other birds. She buys bags of peanuts, dried corn kernels, various seeds and has two water fountains for them to find water. She has meal worms for the starlings and goldfinches; peanuts for the blue jays, squirrels and crows; two suet feeders for starlings, blue jays, sparrows and woodpeckers and all of them love black oil sunflower seeds. Even deer come to eat the black oil sunflower seeds and dried corn on the cob.

Her love of nature is evident in her care for the birds, squirrels, possums, and raccoons who also come looking for food. She orders bags of various seeds and foods for them too. She hangs bird feeders up in spring and summer. The raccoons who live near the creek nearby eat frogs and other creatures from the water too.

She was quite surprised one day over two months ago when she looked out her patio door, where she watches the feeding of birds and all. She was amazed to see two adult vultures and a smaller vulture, probably their baby, on the roof of a neighbor’s house.

Then one day, the vultures were on her patio, watching the other animals eating. She bought bags of bison meat for the vultures, knowing that there was a scarcity of dead animals that they could eat. After a week or two of the vultures appearing and eating the meat, my friend was surprised to hear a tapping on her patio sliding door. When she went to see what was trying to get her attention, she saw one of the adult vultures tapping on her patio door with its beak! They were asking for their share of the food. Being the big hearted human that she is, she set out paper plates with cat food for them.

The vultures showed up more when the snow came; she lives in a neighborhood with many trees and woods behind her home. The vultures, needed help since there were so few “bodies” for them to eat. So my friend fed them. Eventually, one or two of them stopped coming since they migrated to the warmer climate south of their feeding place. The vultures don’t run from her, but step aside for her when she comes out with their food.

The deer trust her too and don’t avoid her. She talks gently and softly to them and they know she is not a predator but someone who cares about them. Raccoons eat what’s left after the cats have eaten.There is also a raccoon and occasionally a fox. The raccoon must “wear a watch,” they know when the food is out in the morning!

Two hummingbird feeders are hung in the backyard in March when spring starts. Two hummingbirds pick “their” feeder and get territorial, fending off the other hummers. She applies an ant deterrent to keep the ants out of the sugary liquid they love so much.

She has shown me how much she cares for the creatures of our country. She once thought about going on a short trip but didn’t go because she wanted to be sure the animals were fed well and no one else nearby is interested in helping out the animals. She feels responsible for them.