Splattered With Blood!

From the desk of Fr. Ignatius Waters, cp

Sunday, 19th February 2017

Thursday last was a bitterly cold day in Glendalough. There were few people around. Even the deer hadn’t ventured forth but remained huddled together under a tree. A younger one, I noticed, was exploring far from the group. The restlessness of youth! She kindly posed for this photo. On my return trek I saw this same deer lying very still in the long marshy grass. I became anxious. Then further on I saw what seemed like white flags waving through a screen of bushes. As I rounded the corner I came upon a man and woman acting very suspiciously. The flag, which turned out to be a large white plastic bag, was now lying over the fence. The woman was leaning over the fence, coughing and spluttering loudly. Both seemed embarrassed. I said ‘Hello’ and passed on till I came to higher ground where I stopped and looked back. I saw the man had climbed over the fence and was dragging something after him. Then it dawned on me – “Poachers! I knew they were up to no good!” How could I report this? There was nobody around – so unusual, winter or summer in Glendalough. “That’s why they chose this day,” I muttered to myself. So I decided to go no further, partly because of the bitter winds, partly to see if my suspicions were true. Only on my return did I notice the Ranger’s truck in a field nearby, the trailer full of bulky white plastic bags. Another dawning! It’s official! I’ve walked into the middle of a cull! Further on I came across the same man and woman, only this time I saw she was splattered with blood. She started explaining that some deer were sick and had to be put down. I felt sick myself. How did they know which were sick? Only afterwards did I come to understand their strange behaviour. This was their job; I’m sure they didn’t like doing it; I’m sure they wanted to spare people like me from seeing these beautiful, harmless creatures being killed and bagged. I drove home seething and angry with humankind. We are eating up animal habitats all over the world. We regard animals as ‘game’ to be hunted for our amusement. Hunted to extinction! We rear and feed animals but only because they will eventually become our food. Seeing that woman splattered with deer’s blood aroused all kinds of emotions in me. No wonder they didn’t want to be seen even though what they were doing was legitimate. Then I turned to scolding myself for weeping over the culling of deer and not being angry enough about the culling of people all over the world in wars and killings of all kinds including the culling of those deemed defective and not worthy of life.

We have to be shocked into seeing things!