"He ain't smelly. He's my bayou."

(Yeah, that's right. And if you know the Osmonds version of that song, you're just as much a sucker for good cheese as I am. Sing it Merril!)
Seriously though, right now, this beautiful scene isn't really accessible to Shreveporters, unless you dare to hop a fence. Because these bayous are fenced and most of us don't have contact with them, and because their use is drainage, which sounds unseemly, many think they are smelly and full of vermits. But I've taken jogs on various routes through them, and usually enjoy fresher air there than in the street. And the only animals I've seen have been alive, and they've been egrets, some herons, a couple of cats.