Shrew In A Shoe

[poliphilo]

Another shrew. Or maybe it was the shrew we had earlier and it never left.

Marlowe pointed it out to us. It was hiding in a pile of shoes. We started poking around and it climbed into one of my mother's Oxfords. I covered the opening with my hand, took the shoe to the bottom of the lower field (beyond the scope of Marlowe's wanderings, I think) and let the shrew loose in a woodpile.

Comments

[huskyteer.livejournal.com]

Toad in shoe.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

WOFFAL- I must remember that.

[sorenr.livejournal.com]

Are shrews protected in the UK? (They are in Denmark.)

I'm glad, either way, that it was released outside MArlowe's supposed range. They're sweet little creatures - just not, perhaps, in the household's footwear.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

They're protected under the 1981 Countryside Act.

Apparently cats are reluctant to eat them because they taste funny. That may explain why this one was still alive when we found it.

[wyrmwwd.livejournal.com]

Maybe Marlowe knows they are protected.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

Perhaps he only wants to play.

[artkouros.livejournal.com]

I don't think we have those over here.  I'd love to, I keep reading that we all evolved from "shrew-like" creatures

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

I guess they're our not-so-distant relations then.

[veronica-milvus.livejournal.com]

We had a similar incident yesterday with our two mogs standing guard over one of my boots. I repatriated the shrew / vole thing to the bushes. Then the cats disgraced themsleves by killing a yellowhammer and leaving its corpse neatly on the hall floor. They are on the RSPB's "red list for rare birds. They are even rarer now.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

I don't believe I've ever seen a yellowhammer.

I have mixed feelings about cats. There are times when I hate them.

[michaleen.livejournal.com]

Are British shrews venomous? Our short-tailed shrew is the only venomous mammal in North America.