Progress and its consequences

Progress is a foregone conclusion, unless you live where I came from. Where most of the people don’t want anything to change, almost to the point of the town dying to maintain the status quo. It’s a place where small-minded people can maintain their little power-bases in order to make themselves feel important.
Thank goodness North Augusta sees the future and goes for it. Thank goodness they are willing to change inch by inch to insure our town does not wither and die. However, for every progression there is a regression. For every bulldozed tree, new paved road, or expensive new neighborhood, there is someone or something that pays the price. For every change that comes to my neighborhood or yours, that old sociological phenomenon, NIMBY, (not in my back yard), kicks in. Not everyone will express it publicly. Most will gripe about it among their friends and neighbors, but its there, lurking in the background. This NIMBY mentality usually occurs when a new prison is being considered or a half-way house is being discussed. Those living in the immediate area want no part of that type of progress no matter that it may mean new jobs or an increase in value for their neighborhood or help some down-trodden soul. Our progress, The River Project, is different; however, I am sure there are those that have been experiencing the NIMBY phenomenon just the same.
I admit to a little of it because it is effecting my neighborhood and more personally, my backyard. With the destruction of the natural habitat of certain animals they have no where left to go so they move inland into established neighborhoods seeking shelter and food.
The last few weeks when I’d make my morning rounds checking on my plants or the progress of my garden, I’d notice a pot turned over here or a plant dug up there, but I attributed that to my playful cats. Then the flowering plants atop my nine and ten foot columns were dug up and I knew that could not be my cats. Making the rounds in the vegetable garden brought new discoveries; sweet peas nibbled, the tips of hazelnut trees bitten neatly off, and holes in the radish bed that I at first thought were cat diggings but turned out to be deer tracks. Further inspection found snippets of hydrangeas, just the oak leafs, missing. Corn stalks were pushed over as well. That problem was easily solved with Liquid Fence and if I were a deer I wouldn’t come near it either because it smells so bad it made me want to gag. The other problem, the digging, was a different story. Through diligent watching for a few nights I discovered the culprits that had been wreaking havoc in my backyard; a little family of banditos; mommy, daddy and baby raccoon. My yard and the yards of my neighbors have been invaded by wildlife that I assume came here because they were evicted from their homes.
I did the responsible thing. I called the Department of Natural Resources to ask their advice or to see if they would come trap my little family of masked marauders then release them somewhere more to their liking and mine. Not going to happen I was told. If DNR or Animal Control catches them they die. I was also advised not to feed them, not to go near them and definitely not to make pets out of them. But tell me, what is a soft-hearted animal lover to do? I can not in good conscious have them trapped and killed. This is not their fault it is the fault of progress. Am I to ignore the destruction those chattering critters do or do I leave a few bananas or a slice or two of apple out at night hoping we can co-habit without either of us suffering the consequences? My neighbors are finding evidence of my little nightly prowlers and I fear it is just a matter of time before one of them makes that phone call that I dread. Maybe before making that call someone will do the neighborly thing and figure out how to humanely move them to someplace more to their liking. I will miss them if they leave; all of them; my adorable raccoons, the graceful deer and even the horrid looking opossum that makes its nocturnal wanderings through my neighborhood. I also wonder what new species will show up next; perhaps a river cat or some other creature looking for a place to co-exist. One thing for sure, at least from my point of view, I’m looking forward to more unique critters to wander into my neighborhood.