Animals Have the Right of Way

Beyond the beautiful and inviting animals of the deep for divers, the land animals are celebrated on Statia with complete freedom to roam. The animals here are more than a part of the daily life and scenery, they are honored in the folklore and art. Coming from the U.S. I would never imagine this phenomenon.

The chickens appear to be everywhere. Mostly in small packs of one or two male roosters and a few females with or without young chicks. They don't seem to get too close to town, but in the burbs of this 2x5 they seem to everywhere; even on the face of the dormant volcano, the Quill. There are many more in pens behind houses too.

The (and I do mean "the") donkey is the stuff of legend, but I don't know it yet. I've got to find out more about this guy, but he seems to be all over. I've seen him close to the administration building of the school mostly, but I saw a photo of him near the beach too. This isn't a large island, but he is an old guy. Doesn't seem to have much jive in his step anymore. And he doesn't move out of the way of a rental car very quickly either. I think there is actually a "donkey" clause in the rental contract.

Beside the dogs, and occasional (obviously) feral cats, the goats and the cows are the biggest population of "roamers with right of way" here. On the back side of the island, on the "highway" (and I use that term loosely) there are pigs as well. And like Hawaii, they are absolutely destroying the ground with their "rooting" eating habits. Whole areas seem to have been denuded by this behavior. If they don't pen them, or control them soon, more areas of the this 2x5 will be without ground cover and any heavy rains will wash the land out to sea.

By far the most exciting "right of way" was my meeting a bull on the national park trail hiking on the volcano. Needless to say, we scared the piss out of each other when we met. I came tooling around the corner and almost had the chance to experience the life of a matador. He finally decided that it wasn't worth the effort, or more likely, that I was just another of the 3000 other two legged creatures that share "right of way" with him. I am comforted though that if the delivery barge ever gets stuck in St. Maarten with food supplies, there are plenty of pickings from the free roaming "deli" that is here on the 2x5. I will not starve in medical school. There is plenty of meat walking around school and my apartment.