I became vegetarian for many reasons; one of them being – I don’t like to see animals get tortured and watch their blood make a mess. Well, Sparky is under the impression that I need to be reminded that he loves the taste of blood in the morning. Today is our trash day and as soon as they picked up our yard waste I set to refilling our bins. I was busy picking up spiny plants when something moved in the dirt. I didn’t have time to react before Sparky grabbed it and put distance between us.

He had no problem flaunting to the world that he just killed the beautiful lizard I saw the other day in our yard safely guarded by cactus. He did a pride walk and showed Piggy and then flung it about in his mouth some to make sure it was no longer moving of its own free will. He came to me to make sure I had seen what he had done. I wish instead that I could teach him to kill weeds and leave cute animals alone. I grabbed the camera to get some evidence, though now I’m not so sure I want to be reminded of his hunger games. If that wasn’t enough, he took to rolling around and savoring the dirt where blood had been spilled.

I will finish cleaning up the yard and wait for the carnivore with thumbs to get home and clean up what’s left. Caleb just happened to come home as I was typing this. He got to witness Sparky’s savage side and apparently the lizard has some after-death defense mechanism that makes Sparky’s mouth foam. He waits for the foam to go away and then goes back for another taste. Caleb picks up my use-to-be garden pet and kindly ‘buries’ it with the yard waste. I was looking forward to having critters to photograph in my yard, but I hope they stay away now so they too don’t suffer a similar fate.