Poisoned?

Roland Rat has not been seen about our place of residence since the evening of his incursion into the cupboard under our sink. A day or two later I saw a rat that had 'ceased to be' on the side of the road outside the neighbour's place.  It didn't look like it had been in conflict with a motor vehicle.

Last weekend I was cutting long grass in our front yard (letting it grow for wildlife is one thing but rank long grass right beside, and drooping over, the footpath is quite another, and anti-social to footpath users, especially after rain), when I discovered a squirrel that had in the immortal words of the 'Monty Python' creators.. " passed on! This [squirrel] is no more! He has ceased to be! 'E's expired and gone to meet 'is maker! 'E's a stiff! Bereft of life, 'e rests in peace! If you hadn't nailed 'im to the perch 'e'd be pushing up the daisies! 'Is metabolic processes are now 'istory! 'E's off the twig! 'E's kicked the bucket, 'e's shuffled off 'is mortal coil, run down the curtain and joined the bleedin' choir invisible!! THIS IS AN EX -[SQUIRREL]."

And said squirrel didn't look like it had met a violent end either.

Conclusion: someone is poisoning the wild animals in our area again.  Last year they killed a vixen that had little cubs living in a backyard three houses along.  The home owners were devastated because they had been encouraging the fox to live in their back yard - partly because they like foxes, and partly because foxes are an excellent rat deterrent. 

Some people can be so short sighted about the far reaching (and self-defeating) effects of their actions.

A butterfly flapped its wings....

(If the suspects cleared the piles of rubbish in their back yard, they might have less of a rat problem, and so too the rest of us.)