Up yours, Uncle Walt

A young friend of mine just showed me a handsome scar he earned this weekend thanks to a swan. Seems that he has playing fetch with a Labrador puppy in the pond on his family's farm when a swan took umbrage at the canine intrusion. The swan – as most large birds are want to do – rushed and pecked the much smaller dog. My friend jumped in to the save the puppy – who wouldn’t? – and in turn got a stout pecking himself, resulting in a nice gash on this thumb.

Having grown up as the victim of frequent geese attacks at Cave Hill Cemetery, I was a little unnerved by the whole story.

Animal lovers don't know much about animals.