Butters versus The Coyote

It's been awhile since I've "coyote blogged;" posts on coyotes and other wild animals that show up in Massachusetts towns, including suburbs of Boston. Of course, many other cities (Boulder, Colorado for instance) have problems with predators coming into their outskirts. I pick on Massachusetts because I once lived there, still work there, and live in near-by New Hampshire. Also, Massachusetts is in the forefront of gun control and at least some of its politicians total disarmament of its citizens—for public safety don't you know.

I believe that disarmament is a fool's dream. Two-legged predators will never disarm and even if you could make it impossible for them to get guns, they can always find weapons. If nothing else their fists will work. We also live in a world where animal predators thrive. Many of them attack our pets and a few children and occasionally adults. To give up guns, man's finest self-defense tools to date, in the face of two- and four-legged predators is ridiculous.

Disarmament comes from a fool's belief that all violence is equal. That is, if a thug stabs a person and that thug is then shot by a police officer then each of these acts is as bad as the other. Instead of one act of violence, we now have two acts of violence. The same belief is applied to animal predators. Some believe that while an animal cannot stop itself from committing violence, we humans can forbear and not harm the predator or at most trap it and send it away—even if that particular predator is aggressive.

Gun control comes from this twisted form of pacifism. It’s why we gunnies can argue facts and figures until we’re blue in the face and then hear the same tripe repeated again. For instance, if we tell them that more children die in accidental bathtub drownings than in gun accidents we hear the usual mantra; “guns aren’t necessary.”

Well guns are necessary and here’s one bit of proof. Butters is a corgi dog. A coyote attacked him while he and his owner were on a nightly walk on a golf course in Boston’s Hyde Park area (more complete information is in the video in the link). There were two or three other coyotes on the course. Butters fought back and his owner hit the attacking coyote with a stick and he and his dog got away. Butters suffered numerous bites, most to his neck.

A wildlife expert believes a mother coyote was teaching her young how to fight. Oh, and the newscaster’s advice on how to prevent such attacks in the future: keep your dog on a leash. Oh yeah, that’ll work.

I can’t say that I would've told Butters’ owner to carry a gun and use it if threatened. Each of us has to make that decision, but government should not stand in our way of making that decision. And, if one decides to carry one must take on responsibilities that come with that decision. But, I can say that the world and nature is not as safe as those who dream fool’s dreams want you to believe.