Angel of Death

My dog just murdered a baby seal. I can't believe I am even writing that--but it's true.

There we were, Baxter and I, enjoying a beautiful walk on our secluded beach after a four day trip to the hell that is Los Angeles. After about fifteen minutes of strolling down the sand, wind whipping in our faces and the sea foam spraying our feet we were both all smiles. Then it happened. My sweet little baby boy became a murderer.

First we came upon a decapitated adult seal. There's been a large shark in our area and I suspected the seal had been the latest victim. So, Baxter sniffed and poked and I tried to send it love and give the last rites, as I usually do when we come upon such sights--which is often up here in the land of the wild! Shortly we walked away, me contemplating the cycle of life and Baxter with his nose twitching in the air. Nothing abnormal. Until, a few moments later I noticed Baxter poking around something near the water's edge. I went closer and there it was...a tiny seal marooned on the rocky shore. Before I could fully comprehend what was happening Baxter had the thing in his mouth and was throwing it down on the rocks with sickening thuds. The poor little baby seal kept opening its mouth with little meep, meep, meeps and I couldn't tear my beast off of it as he crashed, thudded, stomped, and bit. When I finally got him under control the small rivers of blood in the sand and the half open eyes on the baby seal told me I was too late.

We sat in the wet sand on the edge of the sea, Baxter and I, and watched the seal pup as it struggled for a moment, gasped a few times, and then lay still. I don't know why but I felt that someone should be with the poor animal in its last moments, even if that someone is the murderer himself! Not that it must have given the seal pup any great comfort but I guess it comforted me. Gruesome, I know. I still can't quite believe that it happened. It was terribly upsetting. I still can't figure out though what this act really was. I know that Baxter is not really a murderer. He's a dog for god's sake! Dogs kill chickens and mice and all sorts of things...in this case it happened to be an innocent, baby seal ( I write with a shudder!) but to him it was just prey. But, here's my question: Was the seal pup the child of the decapitated adult? If so, it surely would have died a painful death of starvation and thirst there on the beach. And, in that case is Baxter just the vessel sent to do God's dirty work?

I took Baxter to the freshwater pond near where we parked so that he could wash away the traces of seal on his muzzle. And, we left the beach. Him, with a new sense of pride in his skill as a true hunter. Me, with a new level of respect for the speed at which the angel of death unapologetically takes on its task without remorse.