Saturday 16 April 2011

R.I.P. Nibbles (bloody foxes)

Katie and her beloved Nibbles R.I.P.
Can someone tell me why we are not allowed to shoot bloody foxes when they enter our gardens to maim and kill?
Having had a lovely four-day mini-break in Cornwall, we come back to a garden of bird bits left from a nest that has been taken from one of our trees and Nibbles, our family rabbit, missing. My daughter was beside herself, she loves that rabbit, having trained him to spend most of his day in the house, where he had a particular fondness for watching TV from the vantage point of his own cat basket.

We couldn't find Nibbles but the lock on his cage had actually been chewed off, an act of homicidal intent that must have been painful for the perpetrator and terrifying for the victim. Later with the use of a step ladder and a small boy to climb onto the roof of the shed, Nibbles was found wedged between the shed and fence. Like a true victim of a psychotic murderer, he had been terrified and killed, but his death had served no useful purpose.

My daughter is heartbroken, which has driven me to worrying Hubbie with new and ever more twisted ways of getting our revenge. Is it me or is this a new phenomenon? I grew up in suburbia and kept an infestation of assorted rodents over the years, all outside and none of which were killed by foxes. I know we have a real problem with them on the allotment, where on one summer evening last year I counted nine of the wretched things! None of us can grow carrots and sweetcorn because they like the sugar and dig up entire crops in a single sitting, and they are so fearless that one even pissed in my gardening clogs while looking me in the eye (needless to say I wasn't wearing them at the time). But for that, I did not want to kill them, as I do now. Nibbles was a lovely chap, friendly, funny even, he used to tease Hubbie whom he knew not to be keen, by jumping onto his feet and then running circles around him. So like dear sad Katie, I will miss him.

P.S. Many thanks to all of you who contacted me about our scare on Wednesday night when Hubbie collapsed with chest pain and nausea. I gave him 300mgs of Aspirin and called an ambulance, which I am reliably informed was the right thing to do even though it turned out to be indigestion. All in all Wednesday was a truly horrid day, only redeemed by the kind good wishes of our friends.

2 comments:

  1. Hope your daughter is OK and sending virtual (((( hugs )))) :(

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  2. Thank you, that is very kind. Katie seems better now although does not want to discuss a new rabbit, which I would dearly like to get her, as she says it's too soon. Absolutely right, of course, thank you again.

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