DEAR ABBY: I am president and co-founder of the Wildlife Center of Virginia, one of the leading teaching and research hospitals in the world for wildlife medicine. We have treated more than 70,000 wild patients since the organization was established 35 years ago. Like the reader (“An Apple a Day,” Aug. 11) who is under the impression that throwing an apple core out the car window is doing something positive for the Earth, many individuals make “little” decisions without considering the unintended consequences.
The example of the apple core has been at the heart of our education program for more than three decades. Before throwing that apple core out the window, believing that some small animal will come finish what’s left, people should consider what will happen if the animal is on the other side of the road.
Throwing the apple core would lure the creature to harm’s way. Countless opossums, raccoons, skunks and other small mammals are killed every day because of food waste on road shoulders. It doesn’t stop there, either. Predators also suffer. They hunt along the side of the road, not because they eat apple cores, but because they eat the mice, voles and other small animals that feed on the apple core. Then, when the opossum, raccoon or predator is hit by a car, scavengers are attracted to the pavement, where their lives, too, are at risk.
If readers want to help the earth, they should take their waste home and dispose of it or recycle it properly. The small act of throwing an apple core out of a car window can cost the lives of the very creatures they claim to want to help. – Edward Clark of Waynesboro, Va.
DEAR MR. CLARK: When that letter appeared, I received a flurry of mail about it. Many readers touched on some of the points you have expressed. Thank you for writing so eloquently to educate my readers – and me. Lesson learned.
DEAR ABBY: I’m 29 and I’m having trouble holding down a steady job. I am a college graduate, and it’s not because I don’t like to work. My problem is I have a strong personality and I tend to butt heads with management. Deep down, I think I’ll only be satisfied with a job if I’m the boss or own my own business. Do you have any suggestions about positions for someone who can’t handle having a boss? – Miss Independent in the Bronx
DEAR MISS INDEPENDENT: No. Unless someone has rich parents or a magic lamp, most people have to work for – or with – others until they build enough capital to start a business. Even then, business owners must interact with clients they don’t always agree with. Because you tend to butt heads with those in management positions, you would be wise to start working on becoming more patient and less dogmatic. Both qualities will help you in the future if you can develop them.
DEAR READERS: Well, 2017 is at an end. Out with the old year, and in with the new one. Please accept my heartfelt good wishes for a happy, healthy and prosperous 2018. And – as I caution you every year – if you are partying tonight, please be safe! Appoint a designated driver and remind that person to drive defensively. – Love, Abby
www.DearAbby.com
