Mary's Latest "Pet"

I often feel that our city (Ottawa) has been plopped in the middle of a forest clearing - but nobody bothered to tell the animals that we humans have taken over the land...

They haven't gone away. They just basically ignore us: I regularly see squirrels, raccoons, groundhogs, ducks, skunks wandering around the neighborhood. One night, a few streets over, I almost hit a deer that jumped out in front of my car as I was driving along. On the edge of town we once drove past a bear eating from someone's apple tree...

The animals simply work around us...

But I was more than mildly surprised the other day when my neighbor, Mary, emailed me pictures of a garter snake they had just found in their basement...

She was busy painting in her little basement office a few evenings ago, when her husband noticed it crawling near her on the floor...

It's really nothing - only a baby about 8 inches [20 centimeters] long, she emailed me...


 

How did it get in?!

For me that would be cause enough to call an exterminator! At most, the snake would quickly find itself outside in the snow!

But Mary and her husband, Earl, are true animal lovers. So, until they can give it away or set it free in spring, it's their latest "pet"!