Why do we do it?

Why do we do falconry or any other way of life with animals for that matter?

This week a friend sadly lost his falcon in a tragic accident - something only too familiar to anybody who does. His sincerity in the words he wrote of the incident seem to say it all.

To those on Facebook Simon Higham wrote:

"Thanks all for your kind words, Jimmy was the one constant in my life for the past 3 years, when times were difficult he was never questioning or judgemental, he was the perfect tonic to a stressful life and we each shared a passion to hunt in exquisite style. He just loved to fall from the clouds and I loved to watch him, he opened my eyes to what is achievable and for that and many other things I am grateful to him. I have so many memories of days where he left me in awe at what I had seen and very few where he left me wanting. In a hunting companion I could have asked for no more."

"It's hard to quantify just what a special a falcon means to us, or hard to qualify what exactly makes that hawk special. But if tears on the page of the hawking diary are anything to go by, my late star hawk 'Jimmy Riddlebritches' was very special, at least to me. Done to death by man's destruction of wild habitat once again, he went out in the best style it is possible to show. Bottoming from a 2000ft stoop and with eyes on partridges scudding 200yds ahead he didn't even see the power lines, he hardly made contact but at that speed it was enough to kill him instantly, he never pulled out. I hope he is still stooping now with his eye on his prize."

"Simon Higham thanks everybody for your support, it's comforting to see how many people care about a little hawk that many of you never saw, it really makes me feel good about humankind. It is a long time since I cried over the loss of a hawk but then he was a bit different. Jimmy was a big part of my life for three years and I am very proud of the pinnacle that he reached in Falconry terms, and now I think it fitting that the way he went out was doing what he loved. Isn't it weird how the happiest memories hurt the most? I don't envy the job of his successor, Jimmy set the benchmark pretty high!"

For those who don't share their lives with the natural world it would be hard to grasp the relationships we live within the values of a natural world where love is harsh and sincere. Whether our friends be people or animals their loss in the hurly burly of life takes much coping with.