Karma…or Is It?

"According to the karma of past actions, one's destiny unfolds, even though everyone wants to be so lucky.”--Sri Guru Granth Sahib

They are cute little industrious critters. Enthusiastically scrambling around the edges of the woods, up the bird feeders and diving under the deck. Excavating tunnels throughout the planters surrounding our house and devouring or disrupting the root systems of the plants my wife and I cherish in the landscaping surrounding us. Industriously destructive is their true essence.

And every spring and early summer, the population of them surges to the point of overflowing in the area surrounding our house and yard. Such is the plight of rural dwellers.

Chipmunks. Gophers. Ground squirrels. Oh my! (Sorry, I couldn’t help myself from using a cheesy rip-off from “The Wizard of Oz”)

So population control measures need to be enacted around our residence, and since the critters don’t provide much meat and I am not partial to killing without consuming, I broke out the Hav-A-Hart live trap and proceeded with control measures. Catch and release style. Now it should be noted here that my record of gopher trappings the previous year was 11 total chipmunks and a small possum that wedged its way into the trap. Don’t eat possum either. Catch and release.

This spring and summer I was well on my way of reaching that previous years mark--and possibly breaking it as well--the way they were throwing themselves at the sunflower-seed-as-bait suggested by “The Wife” when my bread crumbs were not drawing much action. However, this bait did lead to a male cardinal and a red squirrel falling victim as well.

Now my method of relocation is to hop on my bike and ride about a half mile to a stretch of road where no houses are present. I then release them to hopefully take up residence away from civilization. Then I ride my bike home triumphantly. And here is where karma comes into the story.

Number 12 was reached in early July, a milestone in chipmunk catches for the season. So with “catch” accomplished I went on to the “release” stage. After peddling down the road the required distance and releasing the quarry, I turned home with trap in right hand and left hand on handlebar. About 50 yards from the release site, a chipmunk dashed out in front of my bike and I instinctively applied the brakes with my left hand. Now if you ride a bike, with handlebar brakes, you may realize that when only the left brake is applied, only the front brake is engaged. This locks up the wheel in the front and immediately flips you over onto (in my case) the asphalt surface of the road. Then the bike continues its tumble and lands on top of you even as your fall was broken by the live trap and road surface.

I lay there and began to wonder why I felt no pain. I must have fallen just right.

But I know in the distance I heard the chattering of the chipmunks I had released, saying “gotcha!”

Now about the chipmunk: Eastern chipmunks mate twice a year, in early spring and again in early summer, producing litters of four or five young. They are prey and predator both, as they are consumed by an assortment of larger predators and when not eating nuts and seeds will eat bird eggs, nestlings and small mammals like baby mice.