I stare across the yard, through the wildfire haze and over the fences.
It has been quiet lately.
I haven’t seen a cardinal or robin in weeks.
The bird calls seem distant.
Even the sparrows are restless.
There is no sign of chipmunks, rabbits, or squirrels.
Only the drone of cicadas and bees among blooms.
I cannot say for certain where they have gone.
But I have seen a woman swing her broom to bring down a nest.
I have smelled the smoke of mosquito coils.
I have heard the word “vermin” more than once.
I have seen spaces beneath fences blocked and boarded up.
And I have seen the cat hunt.
Brutal. Efficient. Devastating.
Worse, its efforts encouraged.
❧
I struggle to understand this way of seeing.
Why remove a nest?
Why block a hole in the fence?
Why is it acceptable to kill everything in sight?
Each loss is small.
A nest.
A rabbit.
A chipmunk.
A bird no longer singing nearby.
Each one dispensable.
Each one disregarded.
This is how a living place becomes quiet.
❧
Perhaps we’ve lost something in the way we see the living world.
Perhaps we’ve forgotten what care looks like.
I will move the water bowls somewhere safer.
I will make the garden less suitable for a domestic hunter to hide and wait.
I will keep making room for birdsong.
I will keep trying to make this place a refuge.
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- Pyrethrins are used as the active insecticidal ingredient in many mosquito coils. “Potential effects of pyrethrins include a localized reduction in aquatic organism and pollinator abundance.” Health Canada, Pest Management Regulatory Agency, “Re-evaluation Decision RVD2023-06: Pyrethrins and Its Associated End-use Products,” 2023.
