Tag: wild animals

Christmas Calendar 2024 – Day 6

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Day 6

Today is Finland’s Independence Day! It’s been over 100 years, and let’s hope it stays that way. There are many good things here, and I’m lucky to have been born in this country. Some things aren’t functional, but there are more positive than negative things. One is that you can see wild animals in nature and cities. Besides birds, you can see hedgehogs, foxes and white-tale deer. I’ve seen all of them and a fox several times. Once, a fox walked past me on the street.

I first saw a moose when I was a small child. I was probably 3 or 4 years old. We had a summer place then, and I was in a tub with water in the yard. Suddenly, I started screaming, and my parents wondered what was going on. A little further away, a moose with a big horn walked past. For a kid, it’s a scary thing. The moose was only walking by, so there was no danger. When the forest is near, you can see such things. Dad was filming the whole thing on Cine film at the time without sound, which is why I remember it and what my parents told me. I haven’t seen a moose after that. There aren’t many of them around where I live. There are more white-tail deer around, and I’ve seen many of them.

On Independence Day, I will light two candles, and that’s as far as my celebrations go. I don’t care about some ball from the president’s castle shown on TV yearly. It’s too dull for my taste. I prefer doing something else. It’s all about what the invited guests are wearing. They could dress in a plastic bag, but I still wouldn’t care. I can appreciate Finland’s independence in some other way. I’m not less of Finn if I don’t watch some ball. After all, it’s a free country, and we’re allowed to celebrate our way. That’s what independence means to me.

Ragabash – The wolf

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howling wolf front of moon

Looking through the internet for the word ragabash I found out it’s a roleplaying game but also someone has drawn a picture of a wolf that looks like a character in a horror movie. Now wolfs are a bit of a scary thing for Finns. Some think wolfs attack humans for no reason. As soon as people see one they want to shoot it. I’ve never seen a wolf in nature, only in a zoo. No wild animal attack humans without a reason. It’s just a myth. When there were no TV people made up stories. It’s an urban myth that wolfs are dangerous to humans. Only if their provoked or the animals is sick. It’s more dangerous to walk across the street than get killed by a wolf. Any wild animal for that matter. Even big dogs that run free can attack you.

People build their homes in a middle of nowhere and they complain wild animals are taking over their territory. The wild animals were there first. If you’re scared of wild animals, you shouldn’t move to a place like that in the first place. People don’t seem to know how to put themselves in the animals place. If someone tried to threaten you, would you just stand there or offend yourself? Humans are like animals. We all want to protect our loved ones from harm or ourselves. As soon as you see a wolf or any other wild animal, you should let it be. If a wild animal enters humans territory it’s only because people have come too close. And if you leave food close by it will attract unwanted company. It seems people have lost all contact with nature so they don’t know how to behave.

It’s quite often Finns are warned of wolfs coming too close to where humans live. There’s a lot of unnecessary hysteria which is a bit too much. People are teaching their kids to be scared and that’s not the way. Wild animals are always dangerous and they should never be taken for granted. They won’t become pets because they will always have that wild instinct in them. I find wolfs fascinating and they’re really underrated. If I saw one in nature I wouldn’t be afraid because I wouldn’t disturb them. I’m more afraid of dogs than of wolfs. Like any other wild animals, they hunt for food. A shame people believe more in myths than in facts. If a wolf is attacking a human or a pet, shooting a wolf is self-defence. But if you only see one, shooting is wrong. If that the only reason, then it’s just a stupid reason. I find that so ridiculous. There’s no need for hysteria. Too much is always too much.

Advent Calendar, Day 3

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blurry squirrelWaiting for Christmas is not only for humans. It’s also for animals. They probably don’t even know what it is. If they did, they would really like people to look after them. That’s what Christmas should be about, caring. For pets it’s much easier but for animals in the wild are out there without any protection. Finding food in the snow is a challenge in itself. People in the city can help them with that. Putting breadcrumbs or seeds for birds in an automatic feeder. There’s a lot of DIY ideas online about how to make one yourself. It can also be a simple bird feeder. The best place to have it on are the garden or yard. If you live in an apartment building it can be forbidden to feed birds but then you can find a place in a park where you can take the bird food to.

There’s quite a lot of squirrels in the cemetery. Sometimes people bring old bread or something to feed them. They’re quite tame but they still can bite your finger off. Wild animals are still wild no matter how close they are to humans.
Finnish squirrels are a bit different from American ones. Here they have pointy ears with a tasses on top. Squirrels are one of my favorite animals. They’re really cute and cuddly. They can be quite quick so photographing them is quite a challenge when they move. In the winter their fur turn whitish so they can blend into the background. It’s amazing how they can eat and look around their surroundings at the same time. There are people who doesn’t like them because they dig in the ground. But then they shouldn’t have gardens in the first place. Wild animals need to eat and their eating habits can’t be changed no matter how much humans want them too.

If you begin to feed birds and small animals, that habit should continue every winter. It’s not only around Christmas, humans should be caring for animals. It should be all year around.

 

Tallenna

Tallenna

Tallenna

Tallenna

Tallenna