Gruesome Way To Go
The siren song of honking Canadian Geese lured me down to the river. That and wanting to take photographs of anything but moss today. I was hoping to find happy signs of Spring. What I ending up finding was the cruel grip of Winter exposed on the bank of the Grasse River.
There were a few Canadian Geese swimming along the far side of the river. But what I ‘saw’ was the ice jam that had until recently choked the river had broken up leaving thick sheets of ice tumbled along the bank. Spring now rules on the north shore. Nothing harsh there – I have to agree with Martha Stewart. Breaking the back of Old Man Winter.
...’that’s a good thing’
The Grasse is greener on the other side of the river. Over on my side of the river a wooded hill shades the ice until late afternoon. On this side Winter still grips the river bank. It’s slowly losing it’s grasp but the ice still extends a good way into the river from the shoreline.
The following photographs are no more gruesome than Mother Nature herself. But your imagination may be. What happened here is anyone’s guess. I certainly don’t have a clue how this coyote got caught in this predicament. There is a run off stream that flows to that spot. Could the body been washed downhill? Or did the varmint slip into the river while crossing and pushed to this point by the ice?
I can’t be positive this is a coyote. I’m just guessing. It’s been ‘no more’ for a long time and is yucky looking. Besides that all the run off has left the coat caked in silt and grit. But whatever it is the image provokes some horrific thoughts.
Pleasant Dreams
Try not to think about it.
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March 8th, 2010 at 10:49 pm
You should know the river in spring is a dangerous place. Perhaps he got just a little too far out trying to get just a little closer to a duck or a goose, just like some photographers I know. Honestly I’m not a bit tired of looking at moss!
March 8th, 2010 at 10:56 pm
That really is a remarkable picture. We’ll never know with certainty what caused him to be caught in that predicament, I only hope his end was swift.
March 8th, 2010 at 11:42 pm
Hi Wiseacre, I looked at your photo and so did my husband, Bill. I’m pretty sure that isn’t a coyote. It still is a gruesome photo, but nature is cruel sometimes. We have coyotes all over out here, and they are much smaller and scroungier than your animal. I believe it is a large dog. Bill agrees. That makes it even sadder somehow, but then again, we have a lot of wild dogs out here and they cause a lot of trouble. I hope he wasn’t someone’s pet. Interesting photo. You told the story well.~~Dee
March 9th, 2010 at 1:24 am
March 9th, 2010 at 3:08 am
oh how awful , but your right it is nature even so, i think it is a wolf, female, young.
March 9th, 2010 at 8:33 am
I figure the only good coyote is a dead coyote, personally. They’re becoming a dangerous problem here, and not just to livestock and pets. A young woman was killed by a couple back before Christmas, when she was hiking in the Cape Breton Highlands, and they’re starting to appear in places they never used to be seen. Now if they’d just eat all the raccoons, I wouldn’t mind them so much.
March 9th, 2010 at 11:06 am
I saw a monkey having the same fate as well along my hiking trail. The smell was too bad. The winter might be the reason you were able to get near for a photo.
March 9th, 2010 at 12:26 pm
Just in time for me to begin my lunch. Thank you kindly.
March 10th, 2010 at 12:01 am
You’re right, that is a gruesome way to go. I feel nothing but sorrow for this poor creature.
March 10th, 2010 at 8:27 pm
There is beauty and tragedy in your photo… amazing really… very powerful! Nature is both giving and taking of life. ;>(
March 13th, 2010 at 7:26 pm
Good grief Mr. WiseA**
You do find the strangest things on your adventures .. I was shocked with what Jodi said about a woman being killed by them .. I had no idea ..
I guess we won’t see that sort of thing happen here .. so I am safe .. and so are any raccoons that feel an urge to visit the neighborhood ?