A Seagull, a Stoat, and the Cycle of Life
Just as I was about to put my sports bag down at the side of the track to start warming up, something white caught my eye. Something that hadn’t been there during previous training sessions. I took a closer look. It turned out to be a seagull, lying on its back with its neck in a rather odd position. It was dead, aside from the occasional twitch of its little feet sticking up in the air.
By now, a few other athletes had gathered around me, and a discussion started. Oh, poor thing. What should we do about this? Should we call animal rescue? No, they probably wouldn’t do anything in this case. Should we try to save it ourselves? No, that’s clearly too late. Best to leave it. Nature will take care of it once all the athletes have gone home later tonight and peace returns. The cycle of life will no doubt handle the rest.
Not much later that same evening, I see a video message from one of the parents of a youth athlete who had trained earlier. A video of what at first looks like a tiny baby hedgehog, or maybe a beaver, but turns out to be a stoat. Strange folk at an athletics track, far from its nest. Abandoned, maybe. Or forgotten, who knows. A new video shows the same parent squirting a little milk from a syringe onto their hand, which the stoat eagerly drinks. This time animal rescue does show up to take care of the creature.
Death and life, side by side, on what turned out to be an otherwise ordinary running session. Just a bit more commotion than usual, but after a simple interval run, I bike home alone, with the two extremes of our existence the only thing that really stands out beyond the usual.