After watching the Monkey Helpline videos of the monkey rescues you feel differently about them.

Not really.  I mean, someone could start a c*ckroach Rescue and post videos about how "cute" they are and have sad music to make you feel sorry for the c*ckroaches, but that wouldn't change the fact that I'm going to exterminate any c*ckroach that encroaches on my property.

Walked face-first into a spider web today.   

I was just doing an outdoor chore and walking around the house.  It was a new web I hadn't noticed before.  I cursed and frantically brushed at myself to make sure no spiders were on me or in my hair.  When I looked back, I saw the Joro in question clinging to what was left of her web.  The web's anchor lines reached from the hydrangea next to the house to the holly tree, a span of at least six feet and probably closer to eight feet.  (For the record, the longest anchor line I've seen for a Joro web was somewhere around 15-20 feet.)

I've still got some heebie-jeebies from colliding with it.  *shiver*

October is when these things reach their final-boss form and take over the land, so I'm sure this won't be the last web I'll have to destroy this year.

Our parish continues to support them. Our pastor goes there at least once a month with a truckload of supplies.

And even the ones that don't bite or attack people can be problematic.  They can carry and spread disease, including some nasty stuff...

We can get STDs from them.     In fact, that's where HIV originated: from human exposure to an infected chimp.

Like I said, I don't like to kill things, but sometimes that's really the only option.

Same here.  I'd prefer to not have to ever kill anything at all.  I'd like to live in a world where all the critters get along with humans in perfect harmony.  But we live in a Nietzschean/Darwinian world, not the Garden of Eden, and that means we must actively manage the environment if we want to remain a part of it at all.

Speaking of actively managing the environment, I'm still hoping to be able to plant some blight-resistant American Chestnut trees at some point.  That's the one genetic engineering project that I really want to succeed.  The world doesn't need the Dodo or Direwolf ( ) but resurrecting the fabled Chestnut forests of Appalachia would be absolutely wonderful.  It could potentially revolutionize the environment and the economy of the whole region.

I'd like to see woolly mammoths, too, though I doubt they would choose to live this far south.

One year later, lots of rebuilding has been accomplished, but plenty of work still remains.  The damage to agriculture will be felt for a long time.