then there's this

E-mail from campus police this morning. Warning us that wild hogs (wild boar) have been spotted around the "northeast" side of campus. My building is the northernmost building, and while we are on the western edge of campus, we ARE near a wooded area.

They warned us "do not approach" but of course I knew that already.

Wild hogs are the ONE non-human animal that would scare me to run into out in the field. (Some humans also would scare me, and I admit, I have considered getting "licensed" and carrying "protection" in the field, just in case...'cos you meet a lot of weird people out there).

The other animals I've spotted - mostly deer, but also coyotes, snakes, raptors, and one time, a bobcat - they all run (or fly, if you're talking about hawks or vultures) the other way when they hear you coming. (Deer startle me- they're big, and often they are absolutely camouflaged lying bedded down until they leap up and tear off, but deer don't scare me). Hogs scare me. Hogs can be mean, and a territorial boar or a sow with piglets will run at you. And boars have sharp tusks. And pigs will eat human flesh given the chance. (I am not sure what kind of calibre one would need to stop a hog, and anyway, you'd need to be a damn good shot to do it if a hog were charging at you: you'd need to drop it with one well-placed shot)

So yeah. I have already decided if there comes a day (especially since the time is changing next week, meaning I will be coming in in the dark again) and there are hogs roaming around my building I will (a) call the campus police as we were asked to do and (b) just turn my car around and go back home and take a sick day (or cancel my office hours until the hogs are gone) 'cos they don't pay me enough to run a gauntlet of wild hogs to get in to work.

But, yeah. It's just always something, you know?

(Frankly, I think the city should invest in some sharpshooter/sniper types - surely there are people on the state police who can do that - to go in and take out the hogs. Especially if they start encroaching on areas where people are.)