Even though I am not even on the farm anymore, nature seems to always find me wherever I go, it has been almost a year for me in the city now, and my list of little rescues just keeps growing...

So far I have saved a kitten, a puppy, a monkey, a weaver and most recently an owl.

I got a call one afternoon, from people living nearby, who realized that there was something wrong when the dogs were barking at their corner fence, and when they investigated, they found a baby owl, or rather a young fledgling cornered by the dogs at the edge of their property, and decided to ask me for a bit of advice.

As with many people their first instinct was to take the bird into their home and try and feed it, and with young owls feeding can be a tricky task, especially seeing that they feed of meat and need the bones and the fur, or feathers of the small animals the feed on to aid in their digestion.

But when it comes to wild animals, this should always be a last resort, especially if there is no traces of any physical damage to the animal.

In this case it was just a young fledgling, on a failed first flight, who happened to land in the wrong place and got cornered by the dogs. Normally in the case of an owl fledgling out of the nest, the parents will come back and find the bird on ground level, and feed him there until he is ready to try flying again.

So, what we did was simply tie a basket in the tree, out of reach and sight of the dogs, so that the owl could be safe while waiting for its parents to return, and placed the young owl inside.

It was a very simple yet successful plan, a few hours later the owls parents returned to the young one with some freshly caught food, and a day later, the little bird of prey had its first successful flight.

I have always been a very strong believer, that wild animals were never intended to be kept as pets, and it was great to see that we could help this young little owl with minimal interference, return to the wild where he belongs...

That doesn't mean that I let every rescue go:

For the most part I will always try and establish wild animals back into nature, and if I end up rescuing a domestic animal, I will try my best to find a decent home for them, but sometimes, you just cant help fall in love to the extent that you just cant get it over your heart to let go.

That was the case with a puppy I rescued earlier this year, who is now known as 'Jakkals'

This dog was not much bigger than my hand when I saved her, and a scratching ball of hairless sores at that. However, she now resides in the lap of luxury - as you can she on these pictures of her, sleeping on my bed with her head on the pillow...

She is still such a goofy dog, but oh how I love the little monster!

Not everything in nature needs to be saved!

Its a bug-eat-bug world in wild nature... In nature, sometimes letting one thing die means the survival of another, and although on a much smaller scale, this was certainly the case when I happened across this rain spider who had just caught himself some dinner.

I sat there thinking 'poor moth' for a tiny bit, but it was past the point of saving the moth, and even if it wasn't, i am not sure that I would have attempted to save it in any case, sometimes you just gotta let stuff fly (excuse the pun)

BON APETIT MY LITTLE FRIEND

On the other hand - Here is another moth, that didn't end up on the menu that night, and the markings on his wings looks almost like little Zap sign marks, as if he is trying to make a "Fuck you spider" statement...

Loving his rebel like tufts of spiky hair that goes with it - this is one bad ass moth!

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But not all of nature is harsh either, sometimes you end up with some unexpected gifts from nature.

While we were clearing up some of the surrounding bush at the nursery, I came across some very late season kumquats, and managed to harvest enough to eat my fill and then some, and ended up making candied kumquats with cinnamon using whatever was left over.

...but that's a story for another day!