Tuesday, 10 August 2010

A Furry Problem.

I have a little problem. I have several families of country rats living in the vicinity of my garden. I can’t deny that they’re cute. They really are, especially the babies. But I also have a young apple tree which I planted three years ago and which has borne fruit for the first time this year. There were twenty seven apples on it in April. Now there’s one. Why? Because the little furry varmints have been climbing up it, nipping the apples off and then carrying them away.

There’s no point in blaming them. They’re wild animals, and the first rule of being a wild animal (apart from finding another, amenable wild animal of the opposite sex) is Find food: Eat food. How else would they survive?

I’ve tried speaking nicely to them, but it hasn’t worked so far. I wouldn’t want to do them any harm, because that isn’t in my nature. So what do I do? Come in, Findhorn.

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