Urban Sprawl

Urban Sprawl

Ya'd think I was talkin' about subdivisions goin up in empty fields an' condos goin' up in crowded spaces an' all that urbanization. We care about all that stuff of course an' all want to have our say. I mean there's infrastructure to build, schools, hospitals, day care, shoppin' malls an' so on, all so's we can get off the farm an' into urban comfort. Oh shoot, we're so important ain't we? Well, what about them critters who used to live in them empty fields? You think they're gonna stay on the farm where there ain't no farm no more?

Oh well, we're used to the robins an' sparrows an' crows an' things. We're even getting' used to them noisy geese an' don't hardly even notice them. But foxes, raccoons, coyotes an' deer, now that's a different story. Just yesterday a family o' deer was wanderin' around the city streets. They was safely herded to the riverbank thankfully.

Walkin' along the riverbank in the park along a deepened path that has been imprinted for likely thousands of years by both man and beast evokes an almost spiritual experience as you step on it, feelin' the ghosts o' the past. But the trail peters out on either side o' the park into manicured lawns an' gardens. Listen, that's cuttin' off the animal highway. What blinkin' roads are they supposed to use then?

Well, the animals are flexible. They'll walk on pavement instead of the soft earth paths if necessary. If it happens to be downtown Winnipeg (or downtown anywhere) so be it. They really take no notice of the human condition to speak of. They just sneak around our cities pickin' at our garbage, nestin' in our attics an movin' around their ancestral lands without even takin' much notice o' the people who stole them.

We could take a lesson from the critters who are slowly makin' thereselves at home in our urban sprawl an' doin' it within their own comfort zone. We don't usually even know they're there except by accident as in the case o' the deer yesterday. We're the ones makin' a mess o' their traditional territories, but they just adapt to it without a fuss an' make do. At least that's how it seems to me from up here on the top shelf.

Just sayin'.