confronting other people's kids

[DirtDawg]

whatever happened to it takes a villiage to raise a child?

I'm not familiar with that expression. Elaborate.

It seems also that there is a series of "Village" books by a number of authors.

I have not read them. Maybe McJ has?

[Scrapheap]

It seems also that there is a series of "Village" books by a number of authors.

I have not read them. Maybe McJ has?

This author is an expert......... being a Village Idiot and all. 

[Calandale]

you cannot confront other peoples children...it is none of your business.

Sure you can. If they're unattended and screwing with the wildlife like that, it's within his rights to ask them to stop. Just don't freak out on them and you'll be fine. Remember that kids are easily intimidated by pretty much any adult.. Just be like, "Hey, how would you like it if someone did that to you?" or something like that... but try to be good humoured about it. That sure as hell worked on me when I was a kid.

no you can't.  at least you shouldn't.

so what, they scared the ducks.  they are kids.  kids fuck around and are easily amused.

And if I give them a scare, that's what I do. Indeed, if all they were doing was throwing
pebbles, and unlikely to hurt the ducks, I'd ignore it, or walk over and just look down at
them, REALLY close. Kids don't like this any more than humans do.

[garmonbozia]

If they had stuck with just chasing them around scaring them, it wouldn't have seemed like such a big deal.  Hell, the ducks are pretty fucking brutal to each other anyway.  Y'all ever seen a duckfight?  I see them all the time.  Two ducks go at it in the water, literally making waves as they apparently try to drown each other.  Their mating rituals look pretty rough, too.  When two ducks fuck, it's usually after the male has chased the female around for a few minutes.

It's when the kids start throwing rocks and putting the animals at risk of injury when I start to have a problem with it.

I volunteer on weekends at a wildlife sanctuary, and once had to stop a kid on a tour just as he was about to throw pebbles in an enclosure.  The mother made him put the rocks down, but what the hell was she doing ten feet away from her kid to begin with?  (Unlike a zoo, there's no wandering around.  Guided tours only.)  That's one reason I moved my volunteering day to the one day of the week when it's closed to the public... tired of dealing with stupid people.

[McGiver]

the boys were just pissed that the male ducks only have to chase the females around for a few minutes and then they get poontang.

[Calandale]

Hell, the ducks are pretty fucking brutal to each other anyway.  Y'all ever seen a duckfight?

Yeah. And I've seen ducks killed in them.

[DirtDawg]

Hell, the ducks are pretty fucking brutal to each other anyway.  Y'all ever seen a duckfight?

Yeah. And I've seen ducks killed in them.

That would be a fluke. Serious injury is possible, but usually accidental. Humans are the only animals who routinely kill each other, except in the cases of eating the young to fend off starvation. Most animal fights end in one participant conceding, rather quickly.

[McGiver]

except for n the case of male dominance.  those fights are usually to the death.  or the national explorer channel is  showing the nth degree for ratings.

[DirtDawg]

except for n the case of male dominance.  those fights are usually to the death.  or the national explorer channel is  showing the nth degree for ratings.

You got it. Obviously horned animals fighting for dominance occasionally gore each other and the loser dies, but as a whole, murder is unheard of in the animal kingdom, except for humankind.

... one possible exception might be cuckoo nestlings throwing out their competing chicks of their hosts, but they are killing another species, not their own.

[Callaway]

except for n the case of male dominance.  those fights are usually to the death.  or the national explorer channel is  showing the nth degree for ratings.

You got it. Obviously horned animals fighting for dominance occasionally gore each other and the loser dies, but as a whole, murder is unheard of in the animal kingdom, except for humankind.

... one possible exception might be cuckoo nestlings throwing out their competing chicks of their hosts, but they are killing another species, not their own.

Actually Toms kill kittens quite often.  Male lions kill cubs and male chimpanzees kill babies that they did not sire, to bring their mothers into season again.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Infanticide_(zoology)

[DirtDawg]

except for n the case of male dominance.  those fights are usually to the death.  or the national explorer channel is  showing the nth degree for ratings.

You got it. Obviously horned animals fighting for dominance occasionally gore each other and the loser dies, but as a whole, murder is unheard of in the animal kingdom, except for humankind.

... one possible exception might be cuckoo nestlings throwing out their competing chicks of their hosts, but they are killing another species, not their own.

Actually Toms kill kittens quite often.  Male lions kill cubs and male chimpanzees kill babies that they did not sire, to bring their mothers into season again.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Infanticide_(zoology)

I should have said "almost" unheard of.
I did not mean that there are no exceptions, when you consider millions of species, and I also mentioned the defenseless young are often killed and eaten.  Seriously though, do you see or hear of fights to the death between competitive animals - two lions of comparable size or two tomcats of similar capabilities?

Chimps are very intelligent and are very similar to us, so I would expect similar behaviors. Chimps do fight to the death, occasionally and especially if there is a family unit battling another.  Dogs and cats are very intelligent also.  Is it intelligence that fosters murder? I think it may be so.

My only point was that, in the animal kingdom, two animals that are similarly matched in abilities, rarely kill one another. One (almost) always backs down and there is no grudge. Humans, on the other hand do it quite often, by comparison, and with malice.

My original comment in response to ducks killing each other. i've lived around ducks all my life. They do not murder each other.

[maldoror]

Geese, on the other hand, are assholes. I wouldn't put it past them.

[willow]

I was sitting out on my balcony this afternoon, trying to relax despite one of my wisdom teeth acting up and hurting like hell.  I have a view of two ponds and all the ducks that live around them.  Some of the neighborhood kids were out playing and suddenly decided to start harassing the wildlife.  They chased ducks around, at first just trying to make them run for the water.  But then they started picking up handfuls of gravel from the walking trails and throwing gravel at the ducks.  You'd see it splash down all around the ducks in the water.  Then, they started throwing it at ducks as they chased them around on land.  I could hear the pebbles bouncing off the ducks' wings.

I stood up and watched in disgust, trying to think of an appropriate phrase to yell down from the balcony.  I had my cellphone out and was just about to go in and get the number to call the cops when one of their mothers (a lady in a headscarf, obviously Muslim) caught them.  The mother gave them a good talking-to, in English so I was able to hear something about "the book of Judgement".  (I'm not religious, but at the moment the fear of god was as good as anything to get a bunch of crotchfruit to stop bothering the wildlife.)  Even then, there was one little brat out of the three who couldn't resist lunging at the ducks even with the mother watching.

I refrained from yelling off the balcony or calling the cops.  But my conscious was still nagging at me to do something about this shit, rather than be a pussy and do nothing.  I threw on my shoes and went downstairs, figuring I would politely but firmly tell the mother that I would call the cops if I ever see that shit again.  Didn't get to.  She was telling the kids "Come on.  Let's go." for them to follow her back to whatever building they live in.  So, the closest I ever got was maybe fifty feet.  But I'm sure she saw me, standing there in the grass, a 6'3" pissed-off looking white American dressed in all black, giving her and her kids an angry look.  She was definitely anxious to get the brats out of the area.

My question is this:  If I see the little fuckstains doing it again, should I yell down from the balcony and try to scare them out of it first, or just go ahead and call the cops?  I've seen these same kids playing out by the ponds many times before, so I'm sure it's a question of "if" not "when" they fuck with the ducks again.

go down there and tell them to keep their hands and rocks off the fucking wildlife.


if they resist, kick them.

(they won't, though. strangers will scare them way more than their mom will.)

[Calandale]

That would be a fluke. Serious injury is possible, but usually accidental. Humans are the only animals who routinely kill each other, except in the cases of eating the young to fend off starvation. Most animal fights end in one participant conceding, rather quickly.

Ants. Organized warfare.

And yeah, it's a fluke, but so are deaths in
barfights.

[SovaNu]

dude. i know how you felt. i've been in that situation. kids were throwing pebbles at ducks i think, universal concept, i was so mad but i'm so socially crippled i couldn't utter a word. i'm the kind who waits until they explode if in public, because i'm too inhibited to say anything otherwise. i was boiling inside, about ready to strangle the kids with my bare hands.

and mcjag, i don't give a shit whose kids, i'm gonna fucking yell at them if they torture animals, that is, if i can grow some fucking balls. it's all our responsibility to protect those who can't protect themselves. i don't give a flying vaginapenismonsterfuckingjockstrapeatingdildoshitting mecha streisand whose kids such fuckholes are or how innocent and stupid they are. ANIMALS ARE NOT TOYS.