Frailty of Wildlife
When watching out into the meadow the other day I noticed
two twin deer without their mother. The
two of them I followed throughout this past year. The winter has been especially hard on the
wildlife this last year. Temperatures have
been reaching down to zero on a continual basis, and it has brought much
hardship to God’s creatures.
Up until these last couple of weeks, food has been pretty
scarce for the deer and other wildlife dependent on grass, bushes, seeds, and
leaves for food. The snow cover and the
extended cold have brought much hardship to them. I recall once when skiing at the state park
near New Ulm, deer were being hauled out with trucks that were dead, or near
death. They were starving with little
food available to them. This winter has
been very similar in scarcities of cover and food. We as a family do our part by laying out
scraps for the wildlife, including the deer.
They stop by at night when we are asleep and the food is gone by
morning. They have come to trust us and
expect something most of the time.
Those that invest in God’s creatures see the benefits by
watching and listening to them throughout the year. Baby deer being born, all the way to young
birds flocking to the feeders in search of their first meal on their own, it is
so exciting to watch. All are God’s
creatures, and from Adam on down, God has told us to take care of his
creation. For some it might mean slowing
down near a deer crossing, for another, it might be putting out pumpkins during
the deer starving times, or bird feed for the winter birds. They bless us everyday with song, color and beauty, what a miracle of life.
