Well, the deer are at it again…and don’t anyone try to convince me of how cute those critters are! I noticed the tops of all my snowdrops had disappeared and this afternoon the neighbour pointed in disgust to all her headless tulip stalks. Although I admit the evidence is purely circumstantial, we’re both convinced of the identity of the culprits who did the dastardly deed.

Just because I wanted a few more names to call these animals I typed Latin name for “deer” into a search engine. Here’s what I came up with: “Deer belong to the family called Cervidae. It depends on what kind of deer you want to know about.”

What other kind of deer do I want to know about? None except those tulips and snow-drop eating kind! In all honesty, though, I recognize the gentle, heart-warming, brown-eyed Cervidae are only doing what they need to do to survive, and when push comes to shove, they really are rather cute. It’s just that their lifestyle inconveniences me and only by the labourious and rather expensive option of erecting fences all around the yard will we avoid the loss of too much of our garden.

As much as it frustrates me, deer have every right to eat from my harvest just as I have a responsibility to care for the earth. As Cecil Frances Alexander once wrote: “All things bright and beautiful, all creatures great and small, all things wise and wonderful: The Lord God made them all.”

“The Lord is gracious and full of compassion, slow to anger and great in mercy. The Lord is good to all, and his tender mercies are over all his works. All your works shall praise you, O Lord…” Psalm 145:8-10

God in his tender care provides for His creation. And that even includes deer.