Well, I see wild animals whenever I visit zoos, but I assume you’re asking if I ever see them in the wild. We don’t have many interesting wild animals in Ireland. Saint Patrick drove all the snakes out of Ireland. Why did he do that? It was too far for them to walk 😂.
Anyway, that’s just a legend. Maybe you could say that he did it in spiritual terms, if you view snakes as a symbol of Satan. The only animals I see in the wild, apart from birds and the odd mouse, are deer, foxes, and seals. You see plenty of deer around Killarney. Seals are quite common in coastal areas, and I sometimes see foxes even around my estate. Well, by sometimes, I mean every four or five years.
I always like to weave a bit of music into my blog, because my writing is so boring.
This one is from 1975, 50 years ago. I’m old enough to remember when it was in the charts. I think this video was from a Top of the Pops show from Christmas 1975. This was before we had Top of the Pops in Ireland. I had to be content with Sweet on the radio, or posters of them in pop magazines.
The only song that I know about seals is Grey Seal by Elton John, from his Goodbye Yellow Brick Road album. Someone lent me that album in January 1976, so again, it brings me back 50 years. I can’t believe that time has passed so quickly 😂.
What about deer? I can think of two songs. I can remember Rudolph from my childhood.
And I remember “As the Deer Pants for the Water” from the 1990s. We used to sing it at Limerick Baptist Church and at Tipperary Christian Fellowship.
I don’t see seals mention in the Bible. The word appears, but not the animal
2 Cor 1:21-22
Now it is God who makes both us and you stand firm in Christ. He anointed us, 22 set his seal of ownership on us, and put his Spirit in our hearts as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come.
Foxes are referred to. Even Jesus mentioned foxes when he referred to Herod (Luke 13:32). I assume that back then, people saw foxes as sly or cunning. And nowadays, we still think of foxes like that. I don’t have much experience of foxes, but I don’t understand why they’re seen as more cunning than other animals.
The most delightful verses are about deer:
Psalm 18:33
He makes my feet like the feet of a deer;
he causes me to stand on the heights.
Psalm 42:1
“As the deer pants for the water brooks, so my soul pants for You, O God.”
Habakkuk 3:19
The Sovereign Lord is my strength;
he makes my feet like the feet of a deer,
he enables me to tread on the heights.
I could mention eagles too. I don’t know if I’ve ever seen them in the wild, but some were introduced in Ireland.
The Abba song isn’t a hymn but it does tie in with the mood of the other songs, and with Isaiah 40:21
Isaiah 40:31
31 but those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.
Hibernia Gospel 