Animals at Work

[carnivalnights]

Okay, so these are not my pictures. They were all taken by my father who, yes, actually does--sometimes--have a heart when it comes to animals. (Just not humans!) Weird, eh? They are so amazing that I wanted to share. They are from a series he has been keeping called "Animals at Work." Basically, he has hundreds of animals that come to his work every day, when he first gets there and on all of his breaks, because he feeds them. He buys giant bags of peanuts and such and keeps them in his car. There are pigeons, squirrels, other birds, and even stray cats. And behind his work there is a river with tons of geese and ducks too. These are just a selection from the hundreds he has taken.

I know he named this squirrel but it has escaped my mind at the moment. Despite this being right in the city and not in a wildlife park, these squirrels are fearless and completely friendly. Usually squirrels will not venture near you unless they are very used to humans (eg. High Park in Toronto). I suppose since my father has been doing this for about a year now, some of the squirrels are beginning to climb right up on him because they know he is safe.


No, those are not my father's shaved, feminine legs. (Or maybe they are... I will leave you guessing.)


Chillin' out. Yes, he is lying on his stomach. I never knew how often squirrels did this until I saw these pictures. It seems to be a really comfortable position for them.


My favourite picture of a squirrel, ever. I resized these from 3504 x 2336, so the detail you see in the original picture is phenomenal. I wish I could have posted it, full size. His little nose! Eeee.


And now on to the pigeons (my favourite bird, by the way--my father's too, I believe). They fly right up on to him now, everywhere. Shoulders, legs, arms, hands. In fact, as soon as they see his car come into the parking lot, hundreds of them come flocking over and surround it. Seriously. He should get an animal cam web site because it is an amazing sight. The pigeons actually recognize his car.


I love the looks of the two that are not being fed. "*cocks head* Am I next?"


Hee, the little beak! <3


Yes, they even allow petting!


Aw, now here's Stubby. Stubby has lost both legs (both the leg and claw). We are not sure how or why, but he has adapted amazingly and is one of the healthiest birds that comes around! He has learned to waddle and my father always pays extra attention to him because sometimes the others clobber him when food is put down. :\ Poor thing.


And this another poor little guy who recently lost the entire leg to gangrene. :( In this older picture you can see the black areas on the right leg. But just last week, the entire foot and leg was black and hanging off. It was so sad. He eventually chewed it off, knowing he would die if it spread even more. Pigeons are extraordinary creatures, one of the most intelligent species of birds in the world. They know gangrene can spread and know when it is time. We were very worried it would not survive (it is easier to survive on two missing legs than just one for a bird), but he bends his other leg down to the same level as his missing one, and he can walk quite well still. :D It is such an amazing story. Pigeons are extremely adaptable creatures and they overcome missing legs frequently. This is definitely something I have noticed studying them for the past few years. I am sure a lot of you have seen three-legged dogs. You can barely tell they are missing a leg! They still walk and run just as well and happily. Animals are amazing.


This was taken in Aurora, not at my father's work. This big girl comes around to my grandmother's backyard on a nightly basis looking for the grapes and blueberries they throw out for her. She comes right up to the deck and makes funny noises. And just for the record, raccoons are not vicious unless provoked. Just like any other animal, they will not attack you unless they feel their life is in danger. I feel bad that raccoons get such a bad rep. They are adorable.


And I just had to throw one in of my baby Shadow. Look at his beautiful, green eyes. He should totally be in a cat calendar, yeah?

Comments

[littlemisstexas.livejournal.com]

Awwww very sweet and beautiful pictures, my favorites are of the little black squirrel with a peanut, Stubby, the raccoon and Shadow. : ) ♥

P.S. Shadow looks exactly like our cat Smokey. : )

[gouache.livejournal.com]

Haha those pigeons with their heads cocked to the sides look like they're doing a seagull from Nemo!

"Mine? Mine mine mine?"

[carnivalnights.livejournal.com]

Haha, YES! That is totally what it looks like now that you've said that. Should have used that as the caption. :P

[barkdust.livejournal.com]

Damn, who knew your dad was human? He actually looks pretty friendly there.

[quiz-show.livejournal.com]

i LOVE raccoons. i wish i could have one as a pet.

black squirrels are pretty unusual around my state. there's one town in particular that is known for having them, but other than when i was driving through there, i've never seen another one.

and finally, your cat is so pretty! i want to pet and cuddle.

[candyflesh666.livejournal.com]

that cat looks like my roomie's cat, Seven. She's got gorgeous eyes too. She's a russian blue hair i think, kinda like the Milla Jovovich of cats =D

[journeys--end.livejournal.com]

Your cat is precisely the cat I want when I get my own place. Those charcoal grey fluffy...awww I'm getting all excited talking about it. =)

Those pictures are amazing. Your dad must be really good with the animals to have them trust him so much. He should put those pictures on a website or something.

[estella7.livejournal.com]

Delightful!

Your dad is just like Snow White. :))

[humancarnival.livejournal.com]

hee! squirrels are so goddamn cute man... and your shadow has loverly eyes ^_^

[sexintheorient.livejournal.com]

I ♥ the squirrel! These animals are so tamed! I can't imagine having them on my lap without the fear of them having a go at me. And my heart goes out to Stubby, he's a brave lil' one (:

[willowing.livejournal.com]

these are absolutely wonderful!

[vonilicious.livejournal.com]

OKAY YOUR CAT IS THE BESTEST THING EVER!!! Makes me miss my kitty. T_T

I never knew any of that stuff about pigeons. They were such a bother in N.Y. & N.J. nicknamed "rats with wings" but that's really really cool. When I clicked this cut I so was not expecting to be interested but I really like all these pics and their captions. *whee*

*wants Shadow*

[lobsterbelle.livejournal.com]

Your pigeons look really skinny, but somehow much more healthy than the ones I see. One comes to my garden sometimes. She has a massive lump in her head, but it doesn't seem to cause any trouble.

[kitschy.livejournal.com]

cute post! i love animals, they're so precious and fascinating. there's a skunk that comes to my grandmother's backyard every night and she feeds it. it's so adorable.

i really love your icon. i'm a sucker for baby animals. haha.

and your cat, shadow! i miss my cat, oliver, now that i'm at school.

oh jeez. (i think i've come to like animals way more than people.)

[zahrimsthoughts.livejournal.com]

Hate to say it hun but I have a newfound respect for your dad, theres not many people that would go out of the way so much for animals. And I've never seen a black Squirrel before! Thats absolutley amazing :) I'd love a copy of the original one with the nut in his mouth if thats ok?
*hugs*

[carnivalnights.livejournal.com]

I hate to say this, but he's selective about his love for animals. He once kicked Shadow across the floor of my room, which I will never forgive him for. And he also will not do things like take our cats to the vet when they are sick. Shadow has symptoms resembling Alzheimer's, but my dad says he's old anyway so he doesn't want to pay for a vet visit. WTF? Honestly, he can be pretty damn heartless when it comes to animals too, so this is why I myself still have no respect for him. He is good with all animals, but his compassion is still selective. And of course, he still has no compassion for human beings, especially me.

You've never seen a black squirrel?! That's bizarre. That's about all you see here. Less of the time you see grey and brown ones. What colours are the ones there?

I'm going to send you the original. Which e-mail address do you check most often? :)

♥

[zahrimsthoughts.livejournal.com]

....and respect lost again. Bastard lol. Poor shadow.

Squirrels in this Country are Red, but the Red ASquirrels are being breeded out by the European Grey Squirrels. It's vey sad.

I chaeck my zahrim_uk@hotmail.com addy most often *hugs* thanks hun ♥

[jupitercrash.livejournal.com]

animals are so photogenic especially your cat there. these photos are full of life, your father is a great photographer.

[carnivalnights.livejournal.com]

For whatever reason, Shadow is the most photogenic cat I have ever come across. We have billions of pictures of him, and 80% of them are fantastic enough for a cat calendar. ;) The funny thing is, he hates getting his picture taken. Weird, huh?

Yes, my father is actually a professional photographer. He trained for many years. He gave it up "professionally" a long time ago, but he still does it as a hobby on a regular basis. I think some of these were taken by his girlfriend but I have no idea which ones because I know he had his tripod with him. :P

[plathsrevenge.livejournal.com]

how lovely!
did he get the pigeons that friendly by simply feeding them regularly?
i have always wanted to be a proper pigeon lady.
i know all of their names, after all.

[anxietyflow.livejournal.com]

Aww, that is so nice what your father does! My favorite is the squirrel. I love squirrels. I wish I could have one come up to me like that. One of my dad's friends had a pet squirrel actually.

I would really love to visit and help your dad feed all those animals. haha!

[offermeescape.livejournal.com]

:X:X:X:X:X::X:X::X

You and I need to go to the zoo, kthx. <3 These are some great pictures... I might even take a liking to racoons. < 3

[just-one.livejournal.com]

hey babe, am finally on the net (using uni net at the moment). great pictures, it's interesting to note how animals can bring out the best in men... it's the same with me. with humans i get frustrated and annoyed very easily, but for some reason i have infinite patience with animals. perhaps there's some sort of primal thing going on there, i don't know. saying that, i have observed how cruelly humans can treat animals, but i don't think that's necessarily an animal prejudice, more of a human attraction to cruelty, plus a size thing. if humans could get away with kicking other people like that so easily, they would do. actually thats one of my pet peeves, people who abuse animals who love them. it really drives me crazy, people who beat their faithful dogs out of sheer malice, when the dogs just crawl back for more because he is their master and they're devoted to him.... urgh, that gets me more wound up than almost anything i know.

[carnivalnights.livejournal.com]

I am glad you are back online, doll. After you got back I watched for you online whenever I was on, but I kept missing you. :\ And now that I am online even less (due to obscene amounts of schoolwork), who knows when we will talk next. I really, really miss our chats. But at least we had the summer, right? I am sure we will bump into each other sooner or later, but I know our conversations will be fewer now, until next summer I suppose. I hate life. :( Perhaps we can start an e-mail thing?

Animals can definitely bring out the best in men. Your comments sparked something I have always believed: abuse, human and animal, are always interconnected. Those who abuse animals will likely abuse humans, and vice versa. So I agree there is some kind of connection there, an attraction to cruelty, as you put it. It's just amazing that human beings can actually take their anger out on completely helpless creatures. Humans can be, to some extent, but they are never as helpless as some poor animal. It's just awful. I have no idea how people work in factory farms slitting chicken throats or skin animals alive for fur. I could not live with myself knowing I was hurting any living creature. I mean, I save flies... rather beastly creatures but still things that deserve to live their 48 hours of life. Animal abuse (or abuse in general) is just not something I will ever understand or accept. Don't even get me started on abusing your own pets--how horrid!

[just-one.livejournal.com]

yeah, an email thing sounds good. i still don't have internet in my house so i'm stuck with wandering over to campus and queuing to get on one of the computers here :( hopefully that situation will change in the next few weeks...

heh, there's actually a (semi) interesting context to me writing these responses on your lj. i'd just left the pub and wandered around campus for a bit, then ended up in one of the computer rooms. so i did some internetting, then decided that i couldn't be bothered to walk all the way home, so i curled up in a corner and slept there for a few hours.