October 23, 2012
By Molly Talbert (Middlebury College ’14)
Aileen was scared.
Something was outside her tent trying to eat her and no one believed her, thinking that she was just overly paranoid, which she kind of is.
Then it happened.
Something peed on her sandals that were left outside of her tent one night! And then it happened AGAIN!
Proof that it wasn’t all in her head!
Something had to be done to catch the culprit and to discover what had done this terrible crime. So, a motion-sensor camera trap was set up right outside Aileen’s tent door, flour was scattered to get foot prints, and the bait was laid out: her now clean pair of sandals.
The next morning, Miles woke up before most people and the first thing he did was to take out the memory card in the trap and put it in the computer to see if there was anything of interest.
The first picture was of Aileen getting into her tent – nothing that exciting. Miles pushed the next button to see the other pictures. A genet with wide eyes and whiskers way too big for his face stared at the camera.
We caught the culprit!
A genet, a little wild cat, was what had been rustling outside of Aileen’s tent and scaring her and, for whatever reason, had decided to pee on her shoes. Maybe not as scary as a hyena or a lion but, still, Aileenhad been vindicated – it hadn’t all been in her head.
