Reevaluation

This Slate article about herbivores eating meat, on occasion, caused me to reevaluate an experience I'd had as a much younger person. The author describes offering a bite of grilled steak to a white tail deer at a campground, which offer was accepted with gusto.

My experience was quite different, let me explain. Years ago, when nearly everybody still smoked cigarettes, the DrsC were RVing with friends at Lassen Volcanic National Park in northern CA. 

A mooching deer was hanging around our campsite and one of our companions offered the doe an unlit cigarette. This she ate with gusto and came back for more. Eventually the doe ate up all the cigs we could spare. 

Out of cigs I offered the doe a slice of dry salami. Not only did she turn it down, she fled from our campsite at speed and did not return.

I always assumed she rejected eating meat. Having read the Slate article, I now believe she was driven away by the black pepper and other spices in the salami, not the meat. 

Who knew?