I think there is something so insidious about not only how people isolate themselves from nature, but how it's so normalized that those people are incapable of seeing what's wrong with it.
I am a 911 operator. People call in ridiculous things all the time. I'm not talking about someone calling to report that they're home alone and they think someone is in their attic, only for us to discover that there are squirrels in the roof -- we actually get that sort of call somewhat often and it's ALWAYS worth a check, so never feel bad about calling for something that ends up not being an emergency! No, I'm talking about someone calling 911 because Ulta won't give them a refund on used cosmetics or some bullshit like that. That kind of call is annoying, but it is what it is.
But the wildlife calls...
"There's a deer in my yard! Is it injured? Well, no, ma'am, but that's not the problem. Can't you get someone out here to remove it?" No.
Or "I'm the president of the HOA here and one of the homeowners is letting all these weeds grow instead of mowing their lawn. Maybe you could send an officer over here to give them a chat?" No.
Or "There's a fox in my neighborhood! No, no, it's acting normal and I only see it in the evening...but ma'am, this is a gated neighborhood, and it's a nuisance!" No.
It is genuinely shocking to some people that nature exists, that we are a part of nature, and that we can coexist with weeds and wildlife just as much as we can coexist with the storebought grass mowed weekly on suburban front lawns. There is a pervasive, deep-rooted idea that nature is something to be conquered, tamed when desired, and separated from us otherwise. I'm trying to be empathetic to people with this mindset and failing spectacularly, because it's just ridiculously ignorant.
