Vultures. They're possibly the most disliked birds in the world because they pick on the dead and the dying. Crows and ravens are also carrion-eaters, and are also disliked by many.
Why do we not like them? Why do they appear in our literature and films as signs of doom? What do we hold against them?
Is it just their diet? Or is it because we see them as desecrating the dead, and it violates our ideas of what is moral and what is not?
Likely, it's a combination of the two.
But if we as a society hold in such low regard those who prey on the dead, refusing to leave them in peace, why do some people think it's okay to pick at the bones of Waldsea Lake?
Things have been disappearing from Waldsea Lake, even as cabin owners pack up their belongings and leave their cabins to be destroyed, or taken away. It's just little things, I hear - a satellite dish here, some outdoor furniture there. But the fact that it's happening at all is absolutely awful.
And I don't understand why those doing it think it's okay.
Whether these things were going to be taken away by the owner, or if they were going to fall under the wrecking ball, doesn't matter. No one but the property owner has any right to that property. Period. Full stop.
The people who owned cabins at Waldsea Lake may not have the sympathy of all. For many, those cabins were second homes. There were very few that were considered primary residences. Some may think that the loss of a second home doesn't rate feeling any sadness or empathy. The owners have a house or other property to live in, after all.
But whether you recognize it or not, these people have lost something with the closure of Waldsea Lake as a park. They have lost the places where they spent their summers, their vacations. Where they took their kids when they were little, where they watched them paddle in the lake. Where they'd sit around the campfire with their friends and neighbours, roasting marshmallows and hot dogs in the evenings, while their cheeks still carried reminders of the sun, and their hair traces from the salt lake.
All that is gone now. They no longer have those neighbours - the cabins that were once at the lake will be scattered around the province, or will be piled in the landfill. They won't have this place to go to, to take their families to, to spend their summers at.
And that is a loss.
And while they are dealing with this loss, they are also having to fend off the vultures - those who would steal whatever they can carry, whatever might have value from this dying lake. People who have absolutely no right to even be out there, are taking from them when they've already lost so much.
Talk about kicking someone when they're down, all for the sake of a few things.
It's not that the things that are being taken are extremely valuable - at least, not the things I've heard of - that makes me shake my head at this. It's the fact that the cabin owners don't need to deal with this crap on top of everything else they've had to deal with.
For years, these people have pumped water out of their properties, then had them raised up. Or they've moved new buildings in as their old ones couldn't be saved. They've seen large machinery rip up the grass and beach as they built up berms to protect their cabins from even more flooding. And they've pumped water out of their properties again.
And now they've had to close them up, move them out, or see them destroyed, because the water can no longer be held back.
It's sad. And it's even sadder that they aren't able to deal with this sadness in peace.
So if you're thinking of heading out to Waldsea Lake to see what you can steal - let me tell you, there's not much left out there - think again. Think about what you're about to do. There's no honour or sense in it. Just stop.
