Mig ise Ne eA U Biko NSB ULE TIN 35 
uest ee terial: 
Maytime Is Tragic Time 
by JAMES F. KEEFE 
Reprinted by permission from The Missouri Conservationist 
Maytime for lots of folks is a time of blossoms, trips into the outdoors 
for various fun purposes, or nostalgic recollections of Nelson Eddy sing- 
ing to Janet McDonald. (No, that isn’t Ronald McDonald’s sister, 
youngster! ) 
To many conservation agents Maytime can be a big pain. It’s pain- 
ful to have to pick up baby wildlife that well-meaning but misguided 
people have taken in to raise. Baby wildlife, which began appearing in 
early spring and will turn up until autumn, is almost always appealing. 
Besides the winsome quality of all young animals, possessing a wild crea- 
ture like a raccoon, skunk or even a coyote or fox pup, has especial ap- 
peal. It’s sort of one-upmanship. 
It takes varying lengths of time for people to find out that we don’t 
keep raccoons as common housepets because they either don’t have traits 
like dogs and cats, or else have additional traits that we find annoying. 
At any rate, over the centuries we have established some animals as desir- 
able pets and others as not so desirable. Dogs and cats get along pretty 
well with humans, but other animals do not. Wild animals belong in the 
wild. 
They belong in the wild for more reasons than their annoying us 
humans. A red fox glimpsed in a wooded valley is a thing of swift and 
furtive beauty. A red fox tied to a clothesline in someone’s back yard is 
a travesty on nature. [he very thing that makes wild creatures appealing 
is their wildness, which we destroy when we try to make domestic pets 
of them. It is degrading to a wild animal to try to tame it. 
All those in favor of saving gas, please raise your right foot. 
— Anonymous 
