by Roberta R. Barnes, © 1976
The buck’s thoughts wander to the cedar grove they will find as they move deeper into the forest. It will be a warm secure place for the two of them to yard up when the snows come. Around May she will bear her first fawn. Her life expectancy is fifteen to twenty years and she may bring as many as thirty-one beautiful creatures like herself into this world during that time.
Suddenly the wind changes and her nostrils are now stinging with the scent of danger. Her ears stand erect, she leaps and her tail goes up revealing all of the white fur. Every muscle in her body is now tense and fear and panic fill her once peaceful mind.
She will bear no spotted fawn in the spring and never again will her slender body move gracefully through the woodlands. It took months to create her life, but only a few painful minutes to snuff it out. And for what?
If all hunting and fishing were banned and people could start enjoying the beauty of seeing living creatures in the wild, perhaps man would start realizing the value of life and look upon his fellow man a little more kindly.
Yes, I suppose this is only an ideological dream, but would not it be a beautiful reality?
Stop and think, is there anything more precious than life in any form?
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