Animals (alive and not so much) in Lidderdale
- 26 July, 2011
- Michael Morain
If the few flat miles out of Churdan weren’t enough to build up a breakfast appetite for RAGBRAI riders, the animal carcasses hanging on a fence in the Lidderdale park surely did the trick. Lisa Sommerfeld of the locally owned Snare Shop (www.snareshop.com) showcased taxidermy specimens of a badger, mink, otter, fox, lynx and a pheasant. (The badger was in much better shape than it’s road-killed cousin a few miles back.)
Sommerfeld flipped through one of the shop’s catalogs, explaining that the business sells live-trap snares worldwide to help people trap everything from bears to alligators to iguanas, which have been spreading in Florida.
“People say they can get pretty mean,” Sommerfeld said.
A more docile critter grazed in a yard nearby. Daisy, a two-and-a-half-month, 203-pound calf, quietly chewed her grassy breakfast while her owner, Grace Jardon looked on.
Jardon, 10, had taken Daisy to the Carroll County Fair last week and won a green ribbon simply for participating. But the cow helped her win something better. When Jardon had to fight city hall for special permission to keep the cow in the back yard, she documented the project – for which the county fair judges awarded her a purple ribbon, too.
The hardest part of the lobbying process? “Going in front of the old people,” Jardon said.
Pictured below: Grace Jardon; her dad, Phillip Jardon; Daisy; and some new admirers.
Michael Morain
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Great job Grace!! Way to fight the city!!
Grace, Excellent! Keep up the good work and political participation!
Oh Gracie!! You and Daisy made my daughter’s day, she is standing behind you in the picture!! Missa and Matt are on their first Ragbra! And first year in Iowa! You will be a wonderful memory for them.
Missa was about your age when we took her to the Cheese Festival in Wisconsin and she saw and touched her first cow.
Gracie: You rock!! Was great getting to know you and your Family. You’ll go far with your grounding in science, agriculture and now city hall politics.
Grace:
Great job with Daisy! Can’t wait to meet her in a few weeks! Keep up your work with the animals and politics!
We love Daisy!