Jumping at the window of opportunity afforded by the break in rain the other day, my buddy and I each grabbed our bikes, picked up a Korean Steak sandwich from Rhea’s Deli, and headed over to Heron’s Head Park for some reclaimed wetlands picnicking. Despite the windy, arctic weather, we were enjoying our walk through the swamp until we came across this.
In the unlikely event that this avian creature perished naturally in the most ironic spot possible, then bravo nature, job well done. However, judging by the marks on the bird’s neck and body, this is instead looks to be merely one of the most tasteless jokes ever. If you can’t tell from the photo, the dead fellow has been placed on a sign reading, “Wildlife Area Keep Out” (amid other signs displaying “Wildlife Reclamation in Progress”). Maybe it’s meant to enhance the warning, but it comes across in poor taste.
And if the perpetrators were also somehow behind the death of this graceful beast? Well, then that’s frightening.
Fuck whoever did this. If we ever cross paths, they can rest assured that they’ll meet the same fate
Well if its neck had been crushed and its abdomen gashed it could also have been any number of predators. I could see someone choking a bird to death but I dont see why they would feel the need to gut it if its just an act of vandalism. Granted some asshole clearly put that carcass onto that post but its not nearly conclusive that human hands caused that birds demise.
I’m with Lapidgeon…although it is indeed a very ironic spot, I dont think it was necessarily put there (although its definitely possible). This could have been the work of a Great Horned Owl, which The City is lucky to have a number of. This is the only predator that is in the area that is big and aggressive enough to take on a heron AND would use this spot as a plucking post, which is a perch birds of prey use to eat their meals (I’m a biologist and full of arcane knowledge). Weird, at any rate…other than the owl and a very cunning coyote (which would not carefully drape a huge bird on a post), humans would be the only other culprit around these parts.
What does NSFV mean?
not safe for vegans. we’ve accrued quite a collection: http://missionmission.wordpress.com/?s=nsfv
Are vegans not allowed to SEE dead things either? Because, speaking for omnivores, we wouldn’t eat random dead heron EITHER.
Hello – i came across this post and just wanted to spread the word about our wildlife rescue program, trainings, and volunteer opportunities if anyone is interested. We are based in Monterey but are adding to our San Francisco rescue teams. Check it out:
http://www.wildrescue.org/Pages/Training/WER_info.html
A sad image, to say the least.
(the all purpose) santeria?