We had a huge tragedy in our zoo Friday night...I noticed that Snowbell, our parakeet, we laying on the bottom of the cage, in the corner. I thought she might be dead, and I was right. Her body was still warm, but the life was gone from her. The birds had been doing some strange things (for them) in the days before that...huddling in the corner on the floor of the cage, sleeping like that instead of their usual hanging in the corner of the cage sleeping pose. I hadn't thought anything of it at the time (except for "oh, how cute, they're cuddling!") but now I'm thinking that maybe she was sick and didn't have the strength to sleep hanging.
So, Torin was asleep, but Declan was awake, and I was trying to figure out how to make it as easy on him as possible. So, I decided to take care of Blueboy (the other parakeet) first...give him fresh water and food, talk gently to him, etc. He'd tried to come out of the cage when I reached in to check Snowbell, so I made sure that the door was latched. When I went to fill his water, there's a special door that goes straight to where the dish is, so I opened that one, and took out the water dish. I must not have twisted the latch all the way, because as I was at the sink rinsing out the dish, he pushing it open and flew out. Dash was nearby, and before I could even turn around, he'd leaped across the kitchen and had the bird in his mouth! I jumped on him, trying to pry his jaws apart and yelling "NO!" but as I pulled, Dash dug in, and when the blood started dripping on to the floor, I knew it was over. Declan was right there in the kitchen with me, and we both watched in horror as Dash walked away with Blueboy in his mouth...
Dirk came in and put Dash outside, and took care of both of the birds' bodies. We had a very sad night...and Saturday morning we found a spot to bury them, and decided to use one of my Margaret Hudson sculptures to mark the grave. We'll miss our little birdies...they brought joy into our lives.
