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So, what do you think should be learned from this encounter? Since we don't know much about your son, and I don't know where he lives, are encounters like this common where he lives, or is he in a studio apartment in the middle of the city? Was it daylight, or midnight?
The 6' aluminum pole was a reasonable weapon (for a city dweller) to defend against a raccoon. The wasp spray, not so much. That reeks of too little forethought and some desperation. And besides, why did he feel he needed to confront the raccoon?
As people have moved, over the past 150 years, from the countryside into the cities, the expansion of the cities into the domain of wild animals is seen by the hive dwellers as encroachment. The real problem is that hive dwellers who have completely lost their understanding of nature are encountering it, and have no idea how to deal with it.
He was at my house in a suburban area. It was evening, dark. He'd had a bit too much to eat at dinner and went outside to breathe some cold air, and was quite startled when the raccoon he'd tried to scare ran toward him as though it was the family dog. When he ran in, he said that he didn't like the animal's behavior and that I shouldn't have to deal with it. He's in his late 20s and has always been a bit, what shall I say, adventurous. I think he'd also had a bit too much wine with dinner. Though it was wine, beer muscles.
I failed to say that he'd taken Black Cat firecrackers to send it on its way. He took the aluminum conduit and spray in the event things went terribly wrong. Not bad for a 45 second roundup.
While he's not as knowledgeable as many people here, my husband and I taught him what we had learned, knew.
You are correct that the cities, especially here in California, attract all types of wildlife. There's little need to fear the animals. Unless you are alone and a pack has your scent most are quite powerless. The key to keeping them at bay, in truth, is fire. There's still the weakness of having one sneak up to you in your own shadow created from the fire, but after a time you learn to shift positions, and further learn that few creatures will bother sneaking on a shadow if there are plenty of dark alleys to lurk in instead.
Yet you may wonder why....Why would one bother to live in an area infested. In truth, it's somewhat infectious, but there's quite good land whose production merely needs to be controlled. I'm rather free of bias. I'll train any sort of animal so long as it's profitable to me. There's also the rare opportunity to find someone lost and set them on their own path.
No need to trap or be vicious. Merely get in front of the trend and let free will do the rest. It gets easier with practice. Freedom can come in not having a limited area to hunt in as well.
You're describing the Jersey Devil; they're not limited to the Pine Barrens of southern New Jersey. Some say that they're part human; some say they're demons; others say that they were pets of of UFO travelers who became lost or stranded when ships were destroyed. There are both myths and realistic speculation. It's well to remember that the okapi was considered about as real as the unicorn just a little over a century ago.
The aforesaid shows that it can happen. Now let's look at the Jersey Devil.
The Exit Mundi list is extensive, but incomplete. They seem to have ignored the most devastating scenario: the Unsustainable National Debt & The Fall of the American Empire--> a new Dark Ages.
The Exit Mundi list is extensive, but incomplete. They seem to have ignored the most devastating scenario: the Unsustainable National Debt & The Fall of the American Empire--> a new Dark Ages.
A government collapse would wouldn't suddenly remove the global financial structure. Prior to the institution of the Federal Reserve System, a lender of last resort had developed: a consortium of New York banks under the lead of J.P. Morgan. When the Panic of 1893 starved the NYSE of capital, the bankers were able to get them enough cash within hours.
The government should not be running the economy. The time has come to starve the government to make up for Roosevelt's starving the free market which turned a typical panic into the Great Depression. It was great for Communists and other leftists, but for no one else. It's time to shrink government back to levels of a century ago. That will be a good start.
The smallest things are the most dangerous, e.g. unknown neurodegenerative agents
Think micro, not macro!
I'd be more concerned about unknown neurodegenerative agents, like prion disease (especially cross-species variants of CWD) and cyanotoxins. It's the little things that'll get you.
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The smallest things are the most dangerous, e.g. unknown neurodegenerative agents
Think micro, not macro!
