Now that the animals have started to come out of their winter hibernations and homes it has come to my attention that once again individuals need reminding about giving them space. I was reminded of this on my recent trip to Homer. We stayed out of the Homer Spit which has its own group of wild animals. Most of these are marine animals and don't come close enough for human contact but I was witness to an encounter with an eagle and it had me frustrated.

Fishing on the spit is a pretty regular thing and the eagles know it and wait for an unsuspecting fisherman to leave their catches unattended so they can swoop in an steal them. Neatless to say they get pretty close to the fisherman. One such eagle made the pass at a fish but missed and landed just a little ways down the beach. This seemed to become an invitation to other people on the beach who saw this as an opportunity to get as close as possible and even at times trying to touch the eagle. He was pretty patient with the twits but I wasn't. I even watched as a family brought their children down close to the eagle, but not before putting a baby(close to a year old) down on the beach on his own so they could get closer. While I knew it unlikely I knew that that eagle was strong enough to pick up that small child if he saw that as enticing. The whole scene had me on edge.

What the heck people?! A wild animal is unpredictable and pushing the limits on their tolerance is never a good idea whether they are a bird, moose or bear! As our summer season gets started and more and more of these animals come out of hiding please give them their space! Don't become the reason they need to be put down because if you irritate them and they turn and attack you the result is often them being put down because they are considered aggressive. Please, please, please give them their space. Enjoy them by all means but do it from a respectable distance, watch them for signs that you are being a bother and do not come any closer!