"Dead Animal Place"

Kids come up with some pretty great stuff sometimes. I don't know why, but Nemiah has some fascination with dead things. I think it might have started back when our first gold fish died, or when one of our newborn kittens "didn't make it". Digging a hole in the dirt in the backyard, and putting the pet to rest became a favorite story of hers.

We had a couple of other run-ins with dead animals which continued to be good fodder for Nemiah's stories. In both cases I was taking into the bushes to go to the potty, and I nearly set her on top of a dead animal carcass; once it was a dead heron, and the other time we inadvertantly stumbled into a dumping ground at the edge of town for dead deer.


Nemiah pointing to the deer carcasse that was dumped at the edge of town. We saw another 4 or 5 of them in the same ditch.

Leif loves birds. I think partly it is because it is the one thing he knows how to say. So I thought it would be a good outing for the kids to head out to the North Island Wildlife Recovery Centre in Coombs. They deal with rehabilitating birds and other animals that have been injured or need help.


We stopped by the beach to check out the seagulls that were out during the herring spawn. Leif loved it.




At the Wildlide Recovery Centre, they also have a museum, and this is the first thing you walk in to when you arrive. In it are displays of stuffed birds and animals, some with buttons to press and listen to the sounds the animals make. Nemiah was a little confused at why the animals were stuffed. "Daddy, why are all the animals dead?"


Nemiah and I practice our "cougar response" plan. Vancouver Island is home to lots of cougars (and plenty of cougar attacks), so I figure we should be prepared.



The kids loved the Centre, and it has turned into one of our regular stops when the kids are spending the day with Daddy. Nemiah affectionately refers to it as the "Dead Animal Place" from the big taxidermy display. I have been trying to get her to call it the Wildlife Recovery Centre, because it probably helps the spirits of the animals that are in there getting fixed up.