31 May 2026

Walking from the East Sands up to the clifftop above the water, I met a man with his dog. I noticed the dog first. It was a golden labrador and it had something hanging from its mouth. At first, I thought it was a woolly toy but, no, it turned out to be  a young rabbit.

I passed and walked to the top of the cliff. I looked back down the hill and noted that the labrador had dropped his prey on the ground – and it had tried to make its escape. He was unsuccessful. The labrador cornered him and began to make sport.

He swung the rabbit from side to side, hitting the helpless creature on the ground. All the while, the dog’s owner walked on without any concern for the welfare of the rabbit. They  exited the path onto the sandy beach. I followed behind.

At this point, the dog dropped the beast on the sand and his owner called him away. This was his first and last intervention. I was first on the scene and could see that all life had been knocked out of the rabbit. He was definitely dead. No need for any medical intervention.

I looked round. A few feet away, I saw a black crow standing still. He didn’t have the courage to come closer now that I stood on the sand too. As I walked away, the crow moved towards the dead rabbit. His first instinct was to peck out its eye!

Is this what Tennyson called, ‘Nature, red in tooth and claw’. I wondered more about the dog’s owner and the missed opportunities to save the young rabbit from a premature death. What inhibited him from restraining the dog’s raw instinct? Sometimes I think it is justified to play God.