I could have told you that muskrats are the enemy of mankind. Just ask my former flowerbed . What used to be a glorious 24 foot stretch of Black-eyed Susans is now just a memory. In it's place is dirt, weeds and a giant sedum that must not taste good.
The muskrats come up from the creek and eat whatever they please in my backyard. What pleases them most this year is Black-eyed Susans. They ate every single one of them down to the roots and when the flowers tried to sprout up again, the muskrats came back and chewed them down to the ground. I left the bed hoping that the muskrats would move on and the flowers would come back. Didn't happen.
Well now I see that the muskrats are responsible for the collapse of the levees along the Mississippi. I didn't need to read the whole story to know what happened.
Our old dog used to do a pretty good job of keeping the backyard free from the tresspass of muskrats as well as cats, squirrels, rabbitts, birds, chipmunks and blowing leaves. Now the new dog is busy with his rubber hamburger and the small wildlife has taken over. He already had a dozen meals since he got here and I'm not feeding him without expecting something in return. The internets say that muskrats natural enemies are foxes, mink, great horned-owls, herons and hawks. I haven't seen any of those around here but I'm not sure that even they could resist the siren call of a good squeak toy.
I really truly love the markings of Stedman
Stedman
Stedman
Stedman
Love that name !!
Good job, Daughter of Suzette !
Posted by: tina | June 28, 2008 at 09:52 AM
The mink would be my choice. You could show the little devils pictures of Eva and Zsa Zsa dressed to the 9's and say, "This is your ancestry."
There are probably other motivational techniques, but this one has an economy of verbage.
Posted by: pops | June 28, 2008 at 02:59 PM