Sometimes, things are not quite what they seem

I am an animal lover.  Will do just about anything I can to save one (or more).

That said, I am also a realist.  Hunting, for example, is needed to keep down the population of deer so they do not die of starvation or run rampant in the streets.  Plus, when done right, feeds your family.

When we moved out to our current forever home, I lost my virginity of killing an animal.  There was a big ground hog in the back yard.  Quickly, I grabbed my revolver with personal protection ammo.  While barefoot, I crossed the yard to get within shooting range. Then I offed it.

Pure excitement and adrenaline were running through my veins.

Fast forward two years to two days ago.

Alyssa and I are out taking care of the horses and notice an opossum in the live trap.  It looked like it was playing dead as they often do.  Alyssa got the .22 and we took turns shooting the disease ridden rodent.  It wasn't dying.  It takes a lot to kill them.  Especially when they are giving birth.

Yup, that stinking opossum was in labor and there we were, killing her.  After a few tears as now I'm not just killing an opossum, I'm also killing helpless, innocent babies, which, by the way, make sucking sounds when they are eating.

To say I felt horrible was an understatement.  In fact, my daughter, my 9 year old daughter, was comforting me through this.

Ted came home and did a final kill shot to her head and brought her and her 15ish babies out to the woods for the other animals to eat.  He kept telling me how disease filled opossums are and how we just got rid of a lot more disease filled animals.

Note to self, don't google things you are not ready to learn.

Opossums, come to find out, don't have diseases unless you come across the rare ones with rabies that any other animal can get as well.  They have fleas.  And they are healthier/ cleaner than dogs.  They also eat bugs and their eggs.

Yet, they eat my horse grain, too.  But that is my fault for not having it in a tin can with a closed lid where the animals can't get into it.

And today, again, another opossum was in the trap.  Perhaps the daddy looking for his kids?

I called Ted on my way to work to take care of it this time.  Not sure if I'm quite ready to kill another animal and have them give birth while I am killing them.