About this poster

"Well, first you have to understand that there are these raccoons...and they have a feud of sorts with these rabbits, which has become increasingly more hostile as it has dragged on. It goes back a long time: one would have to literally do ancient research to figure out just exactly where it started. But it's primarily over a modest patch of woods that they both feel belongs to them. There have been various bunnies and 'coons throughout the ages who've made quite the elegant argument for their respective sides. There is much debate over who was there first: no one really knows. The other animals of the surrounding fields...well, they just stay away. It's a shame, really...because this patch of woods is so beautiful and old. Many believe that the first animals of the area came forth from THIS forest. But this forest has seen so much death and conflict. Some animals of the area feel that the very trees there survive on the spilled blood in the soil. In recent years, a stranger from the west began to wander the perimeter of the forest. Offering knowledge and food and skill, he became involved with the bunnies. The stranger taught them how to control themselves, how to organize and think. He taught them how to construct weapons for their crusade and supplied the raw materials for these. He began to accompany them in their swaggering excursions into the deep areas of the forest. He stood with them, quiet and glaring, as they hurled taunts and threats at the raccoons. Threats became virulent attacks, and the stranger occasionally participated in the carnage. Homes were taken, families split, raccoons slaughtered. Several raccoon elders felt it was best to meet with the bunnies in an attempt to stem the violence. Few of these meetings were actually convened, and though some of these held out slim hopes for a peaceful coexistence in the forest, radical elements on each side sabotaged any progress. And to this day, the battle for a small patch of woods rages on. Bunny and raccoon blood soaks the soil, while the reckless voices on each side urge on more and more conflict. Through all of this, the silent stranger has stood near to his bunny brethren, supplying them with what they need in their struggle for the wood. Unable to compete with the rabbit population in this aspect, the raccoons have increasingly participated in guerrilla warfare tactics to strike their blows. Animals of the surrounding fields keep a far distance, afraid to become drawn into the violence of random and ruthless attacks. Though several of the raccoon elders have begged the population for peace and calm and a return to the 'honorable rules of war', the radical adherents have embraced the ways of terror. And here is where our image comes into play. One incident among hundreds, when a desperate group of animals who've lost fathers and mothers and children and lovers feel very justified in making certain sacrifices to inflict the same damage on their enemy. This is how wild animals think." - JR