"I am the Lorax. I speak for the trees. I speak for the trees, for the trees have no tongues." I want the voices of those who are not heard to be heard. Dr. Seuss's "The Lorax" shows us that one person with a voice can speak and make a difference for all the others that are without. If what I have to say gets under the skin of ANYbody, even just a little, I feel that I will have started to make a difference.
So Mr. Ricky made it through his first night back at home. He's still not as active as he was before, but he has made huge progress since this began on Saturday night.
Last night I gave Ricky his first round of meds at home. The vet said that it was okay to only do two of them so I don't stress him out too much; he had a very big day yesterday. Today around lunchtime I gave him his first full round of meds... all five of them. I also changed his bedding which is very hard to do with one hand when holding him with the other. Since he still requires "warm, dark, and quiet" and this was only my second time handling him, I opted out of putting him in a shoe box for (literally) a minute while I scrape the loose seeds and shells out. I didn't want to send him into another episode by doing too much at once. At least I got the poopy towel out.
He was chirping this morning and was very excited to see me at breakfast. He was running around his tank and climbing on top of his mirror. After I gave him his medicine, he ate a big lunch which was very good to see. He has also been drinking lots of water which he really needs too.
Taking a nibble
Having a drink.
Now back to eating!
I hope the heat is making it through the towel I put down for his bedding. I don't want him to get too cold; too often this house can feel like an igloo.
YAY!
On a totally different note, last night I got some bad news. Hosanna, one of the pigs at The Gentle Barn left us yesterday morning. Hog heaven is lucky to have you, sweet Hosanna.
If you are a bird, today is a great day to live at my house! Birds are making miracles happen all over.
Our little Ricky came home today and is as chatty as ever. I got him all set up in the terrarium with a towel, a heat pad, food, water, a treat, a ball, and, of course, his mirror. Every time I go check on him I am terrified that I will send him into respiratory distress.
He isn't allowed to perch, but he really wanted to. He tried to climb on top of the mirror (which is flat against the side of the tank), but he couldn't stay up. He managed to find himself a new perch, though: his treat. He decided it was a good-enough substitute. Check out the pictures below!
Finally home and in his new space.
Taking his first nap at home.
As you can see, he's made himself comfortable on his makeshift perch.
Many a nap has been had since his homecoming.
In other bird news...
After I got Ricky all settled into his new space at home, I was dying to go check on our outdoor birds. I couldn't believe what I saw: Mama now has THREE eggs in her clutch!!! How exciting!
It seems our house is the place for lucky birds today! Such a good feeling!
So this morning, like every morning, the first thing I do when I come upstairs is to check on the nest. This morning Mama was sitting on her egg. *WHEW*
After snapping a couple pictures she took off. At first, it looked like there were no eggs in the nest, but when I stood on the couch to see, there were two eggs!! I am very excited!
It has been very rainy and thunderstormy the past five days, and The Weather Channel predicts another five more. Today it is chillier than it has been, and it is too far too chilly for the end of June. Hopefully this means that Mama will be on her nest more. Maybe we will even get another egg!
Update on Ricky So the conditions under which Ricky can come home are: 1. He can't have another episode of respiratory distress, and 2. He must be off oxygen for at least 24 hours. The doctor is talking about doing blood-work to see if they can figure out exactly what is going on. Besides the fact that he is teeny tiny, they are worried that the blood-draw will stress him out and send him into another episode. On the other hand, if it reveals what is wrong, there may be something else they can do. If not, then we will at least know that so we can do everything we can to make him as comfortable as possible.
Last night our lovebird, Ricky, was behaving strangely. He appeared to fall off his perch, and then sat silently in a corner at the bottom of his cage for almost 30 minutes. He usually is up at the top talking and flirting with himself in his mirror. While he was down there I noticed that he was having some breathing issues.
Ricky in front of his mirror.
He loves his mirror but doesn't mind taking a break for the camera!
90 minutes and 27 miles later after wrong turns and construction detours, we finally made it to the vet. The vet said that it would be smart to keep him there so they could monitor him overnight. Luckily I said okay since early this morning he went into respiratory distress and had to be on oxygen.
They took chest X-rays to see what may have caused his episode. On a normal X-ray, Ricky's air sacks should have been visible. The vet said she couldn't see his which means there is probably something in his abdomen pressing into it preventing it from opening and closing. What does this mean? Well, unlike mammals, birds do not have a diaphragm. Instead, air is moved in and out of the lungs through pressure changes in the air sacs, but if the sacks don't fill with air, the pressure doesn't change, and thus the bird can't breathe. This happens to be very common in older lovebirds, and it is usually caused by an inflamed liver. This is what happened to his mate, Lucy, and inevitably was the cause of her passing.
Since he is so small and can't breathe on his own, a liver biopsy would certainly kill him. They are giving him anti-inflammatories and an antibiotic incase he has an infection and to decrease the inflammation of whatever is obstructing his airflow. If/when he comes home he will be on mandatory "cage rest". He will not be able to climb, swing, or perch since they use too much energy and will risk elevating his breathing. He will be in a terrarium, not a cage, to make sure his feet stay on the ground. We will put his mirror in with him, and we will put his ball in there too so he won't be bored. Hopefully we caught this early enough so that he will be able to come home. Now, in other, happier bird news.... Everyday I have been checking on the nest to see if eggs had been laid. I was getting worried that mom and dad had abandoned their nest since I hadn't seen then flying in or out since Wednesday. This morning I took a peek, and there was one egg!!
I am concerned because I haven't seen anyone come or go to and from the nest. After an hour or two outside, I thought maybe my presence was keeping them away, even though they were there before the egg was in the nest. I have been looking through the kitchen window to see if anyone has come back to the nest and haven't seen anything. Fingers are crossed for all birds.
Spring has sprung and summer is just about here! It's the time of year for animals who lay-low in the winter to come out and do what they do best: eat and reproduce.
Every year we robins that nest in the smoke tree that is right off our back porch. Because of all the ice and snow that we had last winter, the tree was badly damage and had to be cut back almost to the trunk. It was a nice surprise when the leaves filled out what looked to be a tree trunk in the dirt.
Over the past week or so I've noticed a pair of robins flying to and from the tree. I couldn't help but feel bad that there was no place for them to build a home and raise their kids. I couldn't see where in the tree they were flying to and from so I wasn't sure if they were actually in the market for real estate or just perusing. Yesterday I looked in and around the tree to see if there was a nest or anything that might resemble such and only saw some scraggly twigs/dried grass (nothing spectacular) which really could have been dropped/ blown/ accidentally put there by anybody. This morning I finally saw where they were going, and, lo and behold! I found an entire nest!!! Right where the grass/twigs were yesterday!!!
So, want to know when we might have little ones gracing our home with their presence? Here is the timeline from last year's brood and what you might expect to find around these dates this year:
June 17th - we discovered a 3-egg clutch in the nest
June 27 - 3 hatchlings!!
June 29 - Eyes squinting open; one fledgling missing
July 1 - Eyes wide open with lots of down; beginning to get their (baby) robin colors; moving wings; will call for food
July 3 - Fully spreading/stretching wings; well-feathered; will stand up to take food
July 7 - Second fledgling missing; remaining baby walking/hopping around nest, fluttering wings; standing on the edge of nest
July 8 - Leaves nest
Here's what we've got so far:
Sad little tree
Happy little nest!
Bringing home some furnishings
Putting them into the nest
More furnishings
More into the nest
Mama's been watching me like a.... robin?
Hopefully by the weekend we will have a clutch! Check back for more updates!
**Just a disclaimer for those with a weak stomach: the portions written in RED may be too graphic or unsettling for you. Please use your judgement.**
The past year and a half has taken my life on a mental roller coaster. Like all roller coasters there are ups and downs, fun parts, scary parts, exciting parts, and parts that make you wish you were any place else.
In the past 18 months I have gone from vegetarian to vegan, from sad and single to happily attached, from carefree and careless to carefree and aware. On this journey I discovered an amazing organization called The Gentle Barn which stands for so much of what I believe in and what this blog is about.
The Gentle Barn (may be referred to as "GB") is an animal sanctuary located in Santa Clarita in the mountains northeast of Los Angeles. Their mission is "to rescue, rehabilitate and give sanctuary to abused animals. Through the interaction with our animals, people learn reverence for all life." While I already had reverence for all life (Hello! I am the one relocating picnic ants from the shower before I turn the tap on!), I gained an even greater reverence upon visiting them this past May.
Before going, I already knew of the torture, torment, and trauma endured by animals born and bred for human consumption. It turns out it's worse than I thought. During my visit, I met their (then) most recent rescues, Mercy, Bob, Ari, and Roy, four calves rescued from the E6 Cattle Company in Hart, Texas.
At E6, calves are no more than a by-product of the dairy industry. They are not raised for veal nor are they euthanized; some are sold for minimal profit, but all are merely waiting to die. One of the rescued calves was found in a box in a dumpster still alive. I consider him lucky. Some calves are like that one, quietly starving and awaiting their decease. Most are not. At E6, the chosen methods of murder resemble what one might see on a gory, psycho-thriller TV crime drama. The methods? Hammers, pickaxes, pipes, you-name-it to the head. We're not talking one blow, we're talking four, five, six... Sometimes the calves would be knocked unconscious, sometimes they would die; for some, they were left to suffer with shattered skulls, open head wounds and in incomprehensible pain. Many had terrible infections or wounds and were never given medical treatment (why spend money on something you don't want?).
Now, back to The Gentle Barn... Ellie and Jay, the GB directors, worked closely with an undercover investigator from Mercy for Animals who documented what went on behind closed doors at E6. (There is a graphic video on the link. Feel free to pause it and skip it to read the article.) Once the investigator gave the go-ahead, Jay drove from L.A. to Texas, and, posing as a buyer of calves he was able to save those for calves. Here is their amazing rescue (may be too graphic for some):
Ari, Mercy, Roy, and Bob were still very weak when I met them, but they are much stronger than when they first were brought home to the Gentle Barn. Here are some pictures of them during my visit:
Ari
Michelle with Bob and Roy (and Ari's tush!)
Mercy
Mercy
The little guys were desperate to nurse, and without a mother, they figured the next best thing would be me. Take a look:
Back in November, the GB had a fundraiser of sorts so that, with a minimum donation of $20, a lucky winner might get the naming rights to the GB's (then) newest cow. Well, I donated my $20 and put my chosen name into the drawing. Shortly after Thanksgiving I received an email from Ellie saying that my name had been drawn.
When The Gentle Barn rescued Serenity, she was extremely unweight and had no trust in humans. Right around New Year's she was let out of quarantine and in to the pasture with the herd. On New Year's Eve a video was posted on The Gentle Barn's Facebook page. Here is the post: "Serenity has never been treated gently by humans. We rescued her from slaughter and she was terrified of us! We vowed that one day she would trust us and we would give her a hug and brush her. Well, that day was today! This is what we live for and work so hard for!" The video reveals a remarkable improvement in Serenity:
It seemed Serenity had finally gained some trust in humans again. In March, I was checking my updates on Facebook to discover the most wonderfully surprising setback: Serenity had become a mommy! Little Rumi is the spitting image of his mother. Even at four hours old, he is very strong. Like a good mother, Serenity's maternal instincts took over; since all of her babies before Rumi had been taken away, her progress regarding her trust in humans took two giant steps back. That being said, she was very willing to let me feed and pet him but always stood close with a watchful eye.
Mommy Serenity with little Rumi
Feeding Rumi some grass
Serenity keeps a watchful eye on us and Rumi while we feed him grass and let him lick our hands.
Serenity gets in on snacktime too!
The Gentle Barn is such an amazing place and these animals truly have been blessed with a second chance at life. I should probably should say "first chance" at life since what they were doing pre-Gentle Barn wasn't living and it certainly wasn't a life.
It's funny: all the videos and writing about the E6 Cattle Company I had marked as being potentially too graphic for some to stomach, and yet, many people reading this blog will actually stomach it. That is to say that this is where your hamburgers, hotdogs, and filet mignons come from. This is where your food, shoes, belts, furniture, and car interiors come from. Those of you who have read this blog know that I am not one to preach to someone to "make them" change their ways; I will, however, try to educate someone or make resources available to them, so that they can make an educated decision about their food and lifestyle choices.
So many people I have spoken to say things like "oh, no, I would never buy milk, cheese, butter, etc. from a place that treat their animals inhumanely." Well, when you go to your local grocer, do you KNOW what dairy your dairy comes from? No? Then how do you know the cows were treated well? Because the store says so? Let's be honest; if they said, "no, we only buy from farms that beat their animals to steal their milk," would you still buy dairy products from them? Probably not. The point is, unless you KNOW exactly where your products that are animal-derived/contain animal-derived ingredients actually come from, each time you buy beef, dairy, bacon, chicken, eggs, shampoo, soap, sunscreen, etc, you are SUPPORTING the mistreatment of animals.
There is so much more to tell and SO many more animals to see. To learn more about The Gentle Barn, their work, and the wonderful animals they save, please visit the following resources and websites:
It is with the utmost contrition that I apologize for the shortage of posts in the past, oh, eight and a half months. I feel bad that I disappeared without notice or any follow-up to my last post. Life dealt me hands I thought I could play, and yet, most of my chips still managed to make their way into the pot. However, things are now on the up-and-up, and I am hopeful it will remain like that for awhile.
Starting today, right now, I promise to do my best in bringing you - at the very least - one post a month. Now that summer is pretty much here (5 days!), there should be much to talk about. Immediately following this post, there will be two wonderfully cheerful, happy animal, hooray for summer posts!
