Wild Animals

I’m sure you’re wondering what sort of wild animals we have in the Marshall Islands. Sharks? Dengue fever-laden mosquitoes? Some sort of large predator? Well, I’ve only seen one shark and it was pretty cool, not dangerous at all. There is Dengue fever here but it’s not the scary hemorrhagic kind, so mosquitoes don’t worry me too much. And there’s no large predators native to the island. No, the wildest animals here are of the domestic, or at least theoretically “domesticated,” variety.
The dogs are the worst. When you walk by a dog, it might bark like crazy, announcing and defending its territory. And they often look pretty mangy. But when you go for a run, the dogs here become a pack of bloodthirsty wolves. Heather, Allison, and I frequently get chased by packs of three or four dogs when we go for a run. They go into total attack mode, barking and coming at us with teeth bared. None of us have been bitten yet, but we figure it’s only a matter of time. At least they don’t have rabies here! We’ve been told to carry rocks to throw at dog, or just to reach down like you’re about to pick up a rock. That works when you’re going for a leisurely stroll- they back off pretty quickly. Eric thinks we’re crazy, because he can get dogs to back off with just a look. But it’s a totally different situation when you run: bending down for a rock doesn’t stop them, and anyway in no time at all they’re on us in biting range and there’s no way I’m bending down to grab anything. We’ve decided it’s time to start carrying big sticks when we run. I’ll let you know how that goes.
Then there are the pigs. I know, pigs are cute and cuddly, right? Babe the gallant pig, that pig in charlotte’s web, adorable little pink piglets. Most of the pigs here seem pretty harmless, medium-sized dirty-looking things that wonder around the jungle, our yard, and even the streets in town. But right near our house is a set of pig stables (I believe it’s referred to as the very fun word “piggery”) that contains the most terrifying pigs I’ve ever seen. They are huge, especially the one in the stall closest to the path we walk on. And when they get fed, they scream like they’re being slaughtered. The big one climbs up on the side of her stall, it looks like she could escape with no trouble at all. They foam at the mouth and go crazy over the food. It makes me think of that movie Snatch where they talk about how pigs could kill a person if they’re starved for a few days…these pigs definitely look like they could kill you.
Then there are the turkeys. I know, a turkey is a silly animal and not at all scary. But wait until you’re walking home from school one day and there’s a huge turkey on the path, with its feathers all puffed up, looking like it’s about to run at you and start pecking. Heather got chased by a turkey one time. It was pretty awesome.
So the domesticated animals are the really wild ones you have to look out for. There are chickens everywhere, plenty of dogs, and some harmless but mangy-looking cats. I think the cats and rats here are the reason why there are so few birds- aside from the chickens there are just a few little shorebirds and gull-like things. The most interesting animals, of course, are the fish. We go snorkeling a lot and we’ve seen some pretty awesome reef fish. I also love the geckos which crawl around our house (we let them be, they eat bugs!) and the colorful little lizards which scurry across the path. Plus the wide array of butterflies, grasshoppers, and other fun bugs that sort of make up for the swarms of ants in our house and the swarms of mosquitoes outside.