Cycle of Life?

Yesterday, as I often do, I got off the subway at Keele station and walked home through High Park. It was a gorgeous fall day...crisp, not too cold, sun shining brightly...all kinds of folks out enjoying the park, walking their dogs or spouses...

I was walking along, taking it all in, snapping a few photos, watching the multiple squirrels frolicking playfully and, truthfully, considering doing some frolicking of my own (I do love a good frolic!)...basically, I was just revelling in the beauty of nature and my good fortune to live in such a great place.

A woman was walking ahead of me, clearly just arriving at the park, and she let her dog, a fluffy, little terrier, off its leash and started walking down the sidewalk/trail towards the pond.

Keep in mind, this is not in a "Dogs Off Leash Area"....It doesn't normally trouble me when folks have their dogs off their leashes in non-mandated areas, as long as the dog in question is well-behaved/controlled and not prone to vicious attacks.

Suffice it to say, this dog was not well-behaved.

As soon as the dog was released from her leash, she took off after a squirrel, who immediately ran up a tree. The dog actually CLIMBED the tree (I shit you not) and the squirrel went crashing to the ground with a THUD!

I gasped and covered my mouth...I'm not sure if my reaction was in response to the squirrel crashing to the ground, shock that I witnessed a dog climbing a tree or split-second, psychic anticipation of what was to come...

The dog's owner frantically tried to control her pet by yelling at the dog in a desperate and scolding tone, "Mildred! Bad dog! MILDRED! STOP! MILDRED!"

I must interject with a puzzled query: Who names their dog "Mildred"? But I digress...

Anyway, the owner kept yelling at Mildred, but did not approach the melee. As soon as the squirrel fell to the ground, Mildred ATTACKED and within seconds the squirrel was dead. It was grotesque.

I was appalled and walked rapidly away from the murder scene. I'll be honest, I was a little shaken, even though I've never had any particular affinity for squirrels.

After I'd walked what I thought was a safe distance, I stopped to put my camera back in my bag and it was then that I realized I was being followed...Mildred the Hit Dog was trotting behind me (her human companion nowhere to be seen) proudly displaying her limp prey clenched in her jaws...

As my dad would have said, "Don't fret, doll, such is the cycle of life..."

But does it have to be so friggin' gross?