A beautiful decomposition.

2/16/09: I just wanted to share a really beautiful decomposition story. I am a veterinary technician. One year ago this past Oct. I was working in the Tom Minor basin south of Livingston on a huge ranch that borders Yellostone. Unfortunately two days before myself and the veterinarian that was working for arrived to castrate some yearling horses, the manager of the ranch had had to shoot a horse with a broken leg. The body of the horse was on a bluff about 300 yards away from the pens tha we were working in.
When we first arrived there were several coyotes feasting on the carcass. Shortly after we heard the coyote let out a cry and run off. A huge grey wolf came out of the timberline and began to get his share. We watched him through the binoculars for a while and then got back to work, he was breathtakingly beautiful. Then suddenly he trotted off into the trees. Next, a big black bear came out of the woods. He sat down to dinner. Now I wasn't doing any work at all, just watching this gorgeous bear when he let out a yelp and took off for a big boulder up the hill. Now what would make him run? A mama grizzly with two yearly cubs would do it. I couldn't believe it. There she was dining with her big babies. The cubs got a little excited so she had to remind them who eats first with a huge roar that I'll never forget. They settled down and were allowed back at the table as long as they watched their manners.
It was facinating to watch nature do it's thing in one afternoon. From that one unfurtunate creature so many others benefited.
That's the beautiful side of decomposition.