As the moon rises over the Everglades, the Osceola Forest, Paynes Prairie and the rippling waters of the Wakulla River, the sounds of war have begun to rumble.
From the Keys to Okaloosa, they come together as armies, knowing that in a short time, many will be lost. Their deaths have been legalized by our government, and soon the human inhabitants of the Sunshine State will realize the horror created as they witness the slaughter of one of our greatest treasures.
With no ability to defend, they desperately pray that the slaughter will not include the cubs.
But in Florida’s quiet forests and beside our creeks and on the edges of our trails, they continue to gather and wait patiently under the cover of darkness.
The proud American Black, traveling across our continent hearing the call to avenge what threatens his brethren; the curious Brown, finding ways to join the Black across this continent, Europe and central Asia; the wandering, massive and marvelously endearing smile of the Polar; the Asian Black, who has heard the drumbeats across the far ranges of southern and eastern Asia; the Andean, hoping from the continent below our Equator that his alarming, bespectacled stare might assist his allies; the Sloth sent from the heights of Nepal; the Sun Bear, coming from the shrubland of far-away Southeast Asia; the Giant Panda, sent by Peking from the provinces of Nanking and willing to abandon the bamboo; the misunderstood, already short-lived Koala and, of course, Pooh.
In quiet, yet huge numbers, they travel to become one. Fiercely loyal to each other, they stay bound by their commitment that they have never intentionally been harmful to man so they are unable to grasp what is about to happen.
They pray for the expiration of state-issued FWC permits. They pray for the term limits of all legislators. For protection, they try to shield themselves from powerful gunfire with left-behind trash can lids lying around deserted Alligator Alcatraz. Their common strength lies with the knowledge they will forever be the darlings of every small child’s book.
The Koala is, to these armies, welcomed, despite a recognition that children do not know and will never know while they are children, that the Koala Bear is actually not a bear. But the armies see the Koala as one of them and applaud his courage to join the battle.
As the sun rises, these armies will rise with it. Together they will become one, and they patiently await the signal from behind a great live oak, where Eeyore, covering Pooh as best he can, sends the quiet message to A. A. Milne that it is time to launch the charge.
Hank Coxe is a director of the Bedell Firm in Jacksonville and has served as president of The Florida Bar and as a member of the Constitution Revision Commission, Supreme Court Innocence Commission, Judicial Qualifications Commission and as president of the Supreme Court Historical Society. He practices primarily federal and state criminal defense.
