Wondrous Sightings No. 5 -- Mr. Bobcat & Ms. Doe

The sounds emanating from the backyard that spring-into-summer afternoon were so pitiful and haunting as to raise headstones in the many local cemeteries that dot the nearby mountains. They sure got my attention. It was a wailing ululation, full of hurt and very loud. What they heck? From the deck, I saw a doe deer, kneeling and keening as if its heart was being ripped out. It took me a couple of seconds to see the second actor in this play, a bobcat ready to pounce not six feet away from the deer, trembling in anticipation. The bobcat was in full attack mode. But the play had an unanticipated ending. The doe rose slowly, turned and then hobbled down the hill into the woods, the bobcat following. The deer stopped crying. It took a couple of days of consultation with local neighbors expert in the ways of backwoodsy lore to figure this out: The doe likely had been protecting a fawn, feigning to sacrifice herself so the offspring could survive, they said. Indeed, a couple of days later, the same doe was back in the backyard, with her fawn, a beautiful little Bambi. I feel lucky to have witnessed this.