 Teddy Bear Picnic About a week ago on the 6 o'clock Global BC news broadcast there was a story about Bald Eagles, an Eagle nest, and a teddy bear. A camera in Vancouver, set up to provide web coverage of nesting Eagles, snapped some pictures of a stuffed toy in an Eagle's nest. And, though the pictures were not at first very clear, the stuffed toy appeared to be a teddy bear. To the news announcer, the stuffed teddy bear was a gift given by doting parent birds to comfort baby nestlings. To further encourage viewers leaning towards sentimentality, pictures were broadcast showing one of the nestling Eagles inadvertently stretching a wing over the teddy bear. This action elicited much sustained “oohing” and “ahhing” from all those inclined towards sentimentality. It was one of those concoctions human interest news stories that arrives and quickly departs, like the bubbly froth on a cresting wave. This story also reminded me of another news item milked for cuteness. Several months ago, a Vancouver reporter filmed a Crow noisily berating a raccoon which lay across the bird's nest. The reporter asked all those passing by which they thought was cuter, the noisy crow, or the raccoon peeking coyly from the bird's nest. People chose the raccoon because who wouldn't love a cute raccoon? The reality of the situation was probably somewhat different. I imagined the raccoon had just eaten the Crow's babies and was having an after dinner nap. However, that possibility seemed lost on the reporter. Two days ago I happened to stroll under an active Bald Eagle nest. As I made my way through the crowded fir trees listening for Golden-crowned Kinglets, a pale object caught my attention. I bent down and spotted a rain drenched, flattened stuffed toy...well, part of a stuffed toy. I flipped over the remains of the toy and noticed that it was decapitated. I was far from any house where such a toy might originate so it seemed logical that the stuffed animal was likely dropped from high above, out of the Eagle's nest. (It was also here below the Eagles nest, several years ago, that I found a sprung mink trap. At the time I deduced the Eagle found a mammal of some type in the trap, then took trap and all to the nest. It was probably during spring nest cleaning that the steel trap was tossed down to the ground.) The stuffed toy had likely experienced the same journey. Further examination of the decapitated stuffed toy followed. It was not only missing its head, but an exploratory rip had been made in its lower torso, something a hungry bird with a sharp beak might do. I imagined an adult eagle, or one of the young, eating the stuffed toy's head before it realized it was eating junk food. The only solace this teddy bear offered to the eagle was as comfort food. It's easy to imagine an Eagle mistaking a stuffed toy for food but the question that comes to mind is where are the Eagles finding this trove of cuddly comfort items? How many stuffed toys are there in the forest at any one time? Hardly any I would imagine. Maybe the Eagles are finding their plush prey at landfill sites. That makes sense in an outlandish sort of way. If you've ever visited the landfill site it's not hard to find at least a dozen fluffy things at any one time including teddy bears, stuffed dogs and other assorted pseudo-animals. If the dump is the source though, perhaps we should be doing something to prevent Eagles from harming themselves by gorging on fluff and plush material? Perhaps we could post warning signs at the entrance to the landfill site. But that wouldn't do any good since Eagles can't read. The worst case scenario however, is that Eagles are snatching the stuffed toys out of the hands of children. Even if there's a hint of this being true I think the hard-hitting news team owes it to the public to conjure up an alarmist story warning parents to be on the lookout for marauding birds of prey lurking near playgrounds and other areas where stuffed toys might be openly flaunted. After all, we can't blame the wild animals. They're only doing what comes somewhat naturally. In the end it falls to us to keep a tight rein on teddy. To e-mail Tom CLICK HERE To look at previous column CLICK HERE |
