Nocturnal Visitors - III
Gipos, my wife's distant cousin, paid us a visit the other day. The "brief" visit progressed into an excursion of various topics ranging from his application for an early retirement as bus driver of Vallacar Transit, Inc. (Ceres) to those nocturnal predators that raided our rabbits and chicken coop. Gipos self-proclaimed to be one of the pioneers of Vallacar when Ceres Bus acquired a franchise for the Kalibo-Iloilo route more than a decade ago. Prior to that, he used to drive the R&K that once ruled the same route. When the former bought out the latter, Gipos together with a handful few was absorbed by the company.
Now in his middle 50's and still single, Gipos shows signs of getting burnout and to his mother and siblings exhibits what Dr. Jed Diamond called Irritable Men Syndrome (IMS). He pays us occasional "brief" visit to unwind his frustrations, my wife and I being his shock-absorbers. At times, we would consume some bottles of beer, or brandy if available. Lately, a cup of coffee will do to hydrate the throat.
On his latest visit, he talked about the ilô (palm civet) that prowl at nights in the area. It happened that there was a blue moon when he came over and the dogs were barking everywhere for some unseen passersby. Now that my wife raises eight dogs, the nocturnal predators are having a hard time sneaking into the chicken coop. But he argued that ilô and maraë (small leopard cat) are agile and arboreal predators that no dogs however many can catch up with them.
Yet, on several instances, these agile and sleek nocturnal mammals were ran over by passing vehicles when they attempted crossing the highway in front of my property. Like rabbits, they seem to freeze when a strong light hit them. They realized too late that they were in a middle of a "man-thing" where those "light-beaming monster" rammed them into pieces.
Gipos is not sympathetic to the plight of those wild animals. To him, they are just pests to farmers' chicken coops and coconuts. He advised my wife to clear out our areas as they thrived on thick foliage such as bamboo thickets and tall trees infested by wild vines. He is oblivious of the fact that those animals help in balancing our ecology by spreading the seeds of trees on which they feed not to mention that they also control the population of rats and other small rodents that are equally harmful to fruit agriculturalists.
Kaibahang Butch in his morning talk over DYRU today admitted that he has not seen in his entire life an ilô or a maraë , much more a singgaeong (bearcat). I for myself, despite my living in an area where many sightings of these animals are reported has only seen dead ones rammed over by passing vehicles. But I am clinging to that hope of encountering them alive and prowling one of these nights.
Wish me luck. And Gipos too.
Now in his middle 50's and still single, Gipos shows signs of getting burnout and to his mother and siblings exhibits what Dr. Jed Diamond called Irritable Men Syndrome (IMS). He pays us occasional "brief" visit to unwind his frustrations, my wife and I being his shock-absorbers. At times, we would consume some bottles of beer, or brandy if available. Lately, a cup of coffee will do to hydrate the throat.
On his latest visit, he talked about the ilô (palm civet) that prowl at nights in the area. It happened that there was a blue moon when he came over and the dogs were barking everywhere for some unseen passersby. Now that my wife raises eight dogs, the nocturnal predators are having a hard time sneaking into the chicken coop. But he argued that ilô and maraë (small leopard cat) are agile and arboreal predators that no dogs however many can catch up with them.
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| Common palm civet in chiku (Manilkara zapota) tree; (Photo by kwokwai76) (courtesy of The Lazy Lizard's Tales Blogspot) |
Gipos is not sympathetic to the plight of those wild animals. To him, they are just pests to farmers' chicken coops and coconuts. He advised my wife to clear out our areas as they thrived on thick foliage such as bamboo thickets and tall trees infested by wild vines. He is oblivious of the fact that those animals help in balancing our ecology by spreading the seeds of trees on which they feed not to mention that they also control the population of rats and other small rodents that are equally harmful to fruit agriculturalists.
Kaibahang Butch in his morning talk over DYRU today admitted that he has not seen in his entire life an ilô or a maraë , much more a singgaeong (bearcat). I for myself, despite my living in an area where many sightings of these animals are reported has only seen dead ones rammed over by passing vehicles. But I am clinging to that hope of encountering them alive and prowling one of these nights.
Wish me luck. And Gipos too.
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