By John Cox, M.A. C/M

Lilbit’s a Yearling now, seeing the world in a innocent, and fresh outlook. Her mother, Wind, stood beside her. Her father, Battle, was nearby, as always. He would watch the cliffs to one side, the rolling hillside on the other, and the tree-stand to their front, and at the end of the meadow of spotted and lush tufts of green grass, for any movement. He would stand firm, at attention, right beside Lilbit’s mother, Wind.

Together, Battle and Wind, were Horse Herd Royalty. . . The entire herd of horse bands, respected Battle and Wind greatly. The remainder of the small band of eight horses, Lilbit’s family, grazed in a green meadow, away from the other bands, near a small creek of clean and good tasting water, as far as Lilbit knew. Right then her attention was on another grass that, oddly, in Lilbit’s yearling mind, grew in the water and tasted great. Worth going into the water to graze upon.

In her calm, Lilbit always enjoyed standing next to her parents. She felt so secure. So protected, and so safe, from any of the “others” that would come and upset their band. Battle made sure Lilbit knew about the cougar and the wolves, and the bears in the woods. She never seen one up close, but knew, her instincts told her, always be aware – always avoid.

Lilbit noticed her father was getting a little intense, uneasy. He started to look around, to his front and sides. . . He would sweep his head from left to right. He trotted a few steps forward, then to the left a few feet, then to the right a few feet. Lilbit got closer to her mother, who was also growing uneasy. Lilbit slowly turned her head, catching in her peripheral-vision a figure over near the tree stand, and . . .

A buzz went by Lilbit’s ear. Then “thump”. Before she could see what it was, a muffled explosion caught her attention. Just as fast, the smell of gun powder. A dart, exploded outward from her mother’s hip. The dart bounced off Lilbit’s forehead. Her face covered in bloody flesh, from her mother’s hip. Lilbit’s right eye burned. The flesh and blood mixed with an oozing yellow liquid. Her mother, Wind, darted with toxic fertility chemical’s. Her mother’s rear legs caved-in. An open wound near her hip. She fell backward. She hit the ground, hard, hip first. Her body slammed forward, even harder. Wind’s head hit a large boulder. Killed by impact.

Lilbit, in the sudden confusion, searched for her father, Battle. She was scared. Confused. She needed her dad. He would know what to do. She could only see out of her left eye. The chemical burned-out the right eye, completely.

Rather than the dust clearing, like the end of a summer dust storm, the thunder of more hooves heard, not seen. The dust storm thickened. The thunder of the hooves, much louder. Then louder still. Not just the herd stampeding, but another hooved-thunder, that of chasing . . . This sound did not make sense to Lilbit. She needed her father. He would know.

Through a light thin-layer of dust, Lilbit could see her father, Battle, and three ropes around his neck. The ropes pulled tight. Battle hit the ground – hard. Then lost in more dust. Lilbit lost now. She leapt forward. A rope hit her right side. It bounced off. She pulled back. She felt herself pushed back by a weight much larger than herself. Another horse hit her sideways. A hard impact. Knocked the air-out from her lungs. The small yearling gasped for air. She slammed into a boulder. Lilbit slumped to the ground.

She seen a light brown hide pass close to her eye. She noticed a human, she never seen before, and the cougar sweeping past her, and knocking the human away from her. She was drifting, then drifting further into a blurred, fuzzy light. All she could see was gray, standing, what she thought was protectively, to her front. She slipped into unconsciousness – confused. . .

It did not seem long, before Lilbit felt the cool air of the mornings mist, upon her somewhat delicate and soft yearling body. Her right-eye was swollen, it burned slightly, and when she tried opening both eyes, only her left eye opened. But she could smell the fresh air, the green grass, and the scent of carnivores, despite her confusion.

To her left there was a very large Gray Wolf. He was sitting there, ironically, as if protecting her, watching over her. She rolled to her stomach, and then felt the presence of another, to her right. Her senses immediately enhanced. She felt the need to run, but could not do so. Her legs were slightly twisted underneath here stomach.

She swung her head entirely around, so she could see out of her left eye, a very large cougar laying near her. The cougar appeared calm, and oddly, after a couple of minutes, the cougar seemed to be more protective, than predatorial. Ironically, she was sheltered from both the cougar and the wolf, on her other side, and other than her instinct to run, for survival, she felt, oddly, safe.

She heard a voice, behind her, “No worry little one. Your safe now. Soon you’re going to be with another herd of horses. We’re here to protect you.”

The small yearling felt the soft touch, along her neckline — a magical touch. She felt safe, oddly, and only then remotely understood what had happened a mere seven hours before.

The cougar and the wolf stood up, as the little old gray-bearded man slumped over and helped Lilbit stand up. She was a little dizzy, at first. They waited for her to get her stamina and wits about her, for a few moments. The wolf and cougar stepped to her front, aware of everything to their front, sides, and backs. The little old man held onto Lilbit, softly, caring.

“You have been through a lot the last day or so, little one, so let’s get you over to the other herd, across the valley, and safe from humans. You will never see them again.” For reasons unknown, Lilbit understood everything this ol man was saying, fully. As do the cougar and the wolf.

Ya know, we still, for as long as we have lived upon this planet, still do not know all there is to know about our Wilderness, as well as our Wildlife. Mostly because as human’s, we never took the time to know, other than to use wildlife and our environment to help ourselves merely to exploit it, for ourselves. We have never made a good effort-based attempt to replace the things we took, and always assumed our wildlife and terrestrial environment would take care of itself.

As the sun was coming up, we see four-figures, four life-forms from the planet earth, heading into the light of day. A human, a yearling horse mare, a wolf, and a cougar. They are going to a place that will not tolerate settling for consequences, that are based on ignorance, bias, or profiteering exploitation. For many, to know a place like this exists, is very comforting. Perhaps, it is what we do refer to as a heaven . . .

We have no idea how this has come about, because there are so many things we simply do not know about Our Earth and Our Wilderness, that remains unexplored, unknown, yet is still upon our Earth. We are, at times, nothing more than apparent aliens that roam the surface of this planet, and yet, have no idea how to get along on this planet, with other life-forms.

Our interactions with our planet and other life forms, simply remain at a superficial level – without regard to what the potential would be, or could be, if we simply left our perceptions and fears behind, and learned from our surroundings – rather than simply exploit our surroundings.

The fact is we, as humans’, have made decisions based on such narrow-perceptions of what we suppose is knowledge, and yet the consequences we see, we ignore, and place them into a category of necessity. Yes, just as often, we do not see the destruction we truthfully pose upon this planet, and all the innocent things we destroy, all the while we neglect the fact we share this planet with a lot of life-forms.

Truthfully, we have merely touched not even 1% of knowledge we need to understand our Universe, as it is, as being simply too large for us to do so, and yet . . .

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