The rat

[Michaelaw]

I sometimes catch a glimpse of this wee fellow at the nature park I frequent. He is very timid and spends most of his time foraging for leftovers the birds and squirrels drop from the feeding tables. Today my space, along with the rats, was invaded by a nasty little eight year old boy and his stick. He proudly announced to the world that he "Hated rats!" to him they were filthy, nasty creatures and with that, he began trying to hit the rat with his stick. This attack failed as the rat was too fast. His mother kept saying..."don't hit the rat with that stick please buddy!" If she said it once she said it ten times. The child ignored her. Rocks were the boys next weapon of choice and the poor rat took a hit to the head and torso which delighted the child. The best mom could do was say "Don't throw rocks at the rat buddy" I am getting more and more frustrated. Sitting on a bench, no longer able to shoot the wildlife, I just got angrier moment by moment. The boy was roughly eight feet in front of me and his Mom about four feet in front and to the left of me. I picked up a small rock about the size of a marble and threw it at the back of the boys closely cropped head. By some miracle it snapped him right on the skull. It wasn't hard enough of a throw to do any lasting damage but when it hit, the boys hand went up to his head and he cried like a baby. Of course my throwing hand is now back cradling my 70-300 and I'm watching the treetops for anything this idiot child might not have scared away. The kid screamed all the way back to the parking lot. The rat was bleeding around his ear but seemed to go on about his business. If anything it left me wishing I'd tossed my rock just that much harder.

This was just prior to the child's arrival and I was never able to get more of the rat as it was now raining too hard.

[Iguanasan]

Nice! Nice image and nice job driving the little brat away. I wish parents would parent their kids. Drives me nuts too. I see these little kids running around in the downtown parks terrorizing the birds. The parents think it's cute. I wonder how cute they would think it was if I went running up to their kid screaming and terrorizing them. Don't get me wrong, I don't hate kids. I have two kids but neither of them was brought up to disrespect other people or nature in any way.

[Wicked Dark]

Another reminder of why I am child-free.
But, did you really throw a rock at the kid? I think that's overstepping, and I hate kids.

[Michaelaw]

Well if I overstepped I'm guilty as charged and would repeat my actions if it meant that tiny defenceless creature would live to see another day. I would much rather have grabbed the child by the scruff of the neck and paddled his butt however in most circles that would have been seen as WAY over the line! My actions right or wrong brought about an outcome I can live with....The rat is still with us

[Marko]

Rotten kid. Must have been taught by the best.
Just curious, why didn't you scare/yell at the little brat instead of tossing the stone. You got lucky dude, someone could have made a big scene....
Now if you stalk him for a few weeks and bean him on the head regularly from afar when he tries this again, he may learn to be kind to animals

[Michaelaw]

I could have yelled I guess but at the time I thought how the rat was getting pummelled by big rocks that he probably couldn't determine the source of. I sort of zoomed out and placed the child in the rats position and, of course, scaled way down the size of the rock and also the lobbing force. The child is probably at school now during recess and is picking on the poor defenceless girl who has fleas! It's a shame and always makes me wonder why we don't need to get a licence to raise children? I'm sorry, but in my humble opinion there are many who are just not up to the task!

[Andrew]

Hmmmmmm. From a varying perspective,,,the rat needs to be shot for the filthy harmful pest it is, the kid needs to be spanked for torturing any being except for Al Qaeda, and the mother needs to be slapped and made an example of why there should be a pre-test for parenthood. And as for throwing rocks at defencless creatures,,,,

[Michaelaw]

As I said I'm guilty as charged....throw me in jail for life and toss the key, I stand by my action As for the rat, throw a squirrel suit on him and he'd pass muster. He's lived in that nature park for as long as I've been going there. Painting him with the filthy, harmful brush just for being a rat is like saying all members of a certain race are liars, crooks and thieves. As for Al Qaede, I'm not sure their reputation hasn't been handled by the same agency as the rat