# please read



## sleepingbeauty (Aug 18, 2004)

*Kamoa's Story*

i found her on the side of the road in the industrial district. she was badly hurt from getting hit by a car. her lower beak was dangling and bloody, and her tongue was hanging out cause it had nowhere to go and she was very weak. she had a serious head injury, was covered in blood. she looked up at me and let out the most pathetic little squak and i swear to god, she was crying. i, felt terrible, but being a chicken eater(guilt) and knowing there was no point in trying to help her(egotistical thinking), i went home.

i couldnt stop thinking about her and i didnt sleep a wink. the next day i went back to that spot, and there she was almost dead. i picked her up and she struggled weakly. i was shocked that she was completely skin and bone. she must have fallen off a truck and wandered around without food for a while before getting hit.

i put her in a box and brought her home, having no idea what i was going to do. she was too weak to eat, and having baked in the hot sun i knew she was completely dehydrated. i got a syringe and fed her water and liquified babyfood by putting it down her throat. i tended her wounds and cradled her like a baby because she couldnt hold herself up. i fed her 10 times a day little by little and every day i thought was her last. her beak never worked again, and healed dangling from the spot. eventually she became well enough to walk on her own, but because the condition of her beak, she couldnt eat on her own. one day while i was feeding her some chicken mash soup through a syringe, she proped up and stuck her head right into the bowl of mash soup and started to eat! she figured out how to eat without use of her beak!

eventually kamoa became the most healthiest bird you ever saw, except for the fact that her beak was hanging down. she started laying eggs, but she refused to lay them if i wasnt home. she would hold that egg inside her all day while i was working, and when i got home she would hop in my lap, give me a cuddle and lay an egg right there! it was like she was giving me a present thanking me for helping her. everyone who met Kamoa was in complete shock. this 'stupid' bird was everything but stupid and 'emotionless'. she loved me to no end. she would purr and coo in my ear. she would talk to me in her chicken language and eventually i figured out what she was saying, just by watching her and observing. i found out that chickens are just as smart as any dog or cat or horse or dolphin or parrot, OR person. this bird was loving, but she also had tons of personality. if you dont believe me, you can ask anyone that met kamoa.

one of those people, was this woman who fell in love with kamoa, and thought it cruel of me not to do anything about her beak. she offered to pay for surgery to fix it. i was very reluctant because she was eating fine on her own, very messily, but she was healthy so i thought it was unnessisary. they brought in this vet that specializes in birds. all the day of the operation i was a basketcase. kamoa was my baby. she really was.

long story short the doctor botched the surgery and removed the entire beak. they told me they were going to put her down. i told them not unless they wanted ME to put THEM down. and then i find out that the doctor had no idea what she was doing and had never worked on a chicken before and thought it was a good opportunity to experiment. i was furious.

now kamoa was worse off then ever. the last time it took 2 months for her to recover. this time she was on the brink of death for much longer. i fed her antibiotics through a tube. she couldnt open her mouth without assistance and she was in constant pain. i felt terrible that i had done this to her. she did get better, but she had to learn how to eat all over again now that all she had was a fleshy lip and no beak at all.

eventually she was back to her old self again. she cheated death TWICE. she was back to laying eggs in my lap and rolling over to sleep on her back and coo as i stroked her belly. she was so happy and content.

then one day i was working out, and i got this horrible pain in my neck. it wouldnt stop and i knew something was seriously wrong, but not with me. kamoa was on my mind over and over as i drove home like the wind. as i approached the house, i got a flash in my mind of kamoa being decapitated. i swore at the intrusive thought and knew that when i went to her she would be fine. but she wasnt. she had been decapitated. a mongoose had chewed through the wire on her coop and attacked her. my kamoa was gone.

it was literally, the worst death that i had ever experienced or will ever experience. im crying now as i type this. my screams could be heard all over the neighborhood, and my neighbors were shocked to find me wailing with the decapitated corpse of a chicken in my arms. a stupid, emotionless, lowly chicken. thats all she was to them. but to me, she was everything.


----------



## MrMortgage (Aug 26, 2005)

Dang so sorry to hear that. Death is so hard to handle.

Why does death of someone or something close to us make us feel so bad? I see it this way, it makes me feel bad because now we are left all alone. I dont feel bad for the person or the thing that died, I feel bad for the person that was so close to the thing or person.

I already, went through this with a dog, this was my best friend, until I got a girlfriend, and when we had to put the dog down, I felt so bad.

Very sorry sleeping for you loss.


----------



## peacedove (Aug 15, 2004)

Damn, that was a rollercoaster. I was near tears and then smiling and then near tears again.

Life is cruel.


----------



## Milan (May 29, 2005)

Sorry to hear.


----------



## sleepingbeauty (Aug 18, 2004)

ive been holding this inside me for 4 1/2 years now. i wrote this not only to finally make peace with my loss, but so that others may learn from it.

i was inspired after realizing how very dismissive most peoples attitudes are toward animals. especially animals that are raised for food. that their capacity to think, reason, and love is far deminished from lets say, a dog, or an investment banker.

i could go on and on but i wont because the last thing i want is lifeless textbook rants polluting this thread. i may only have a highschool education, and perhaps my experiences are all i have, but im damn proud of them because at least i have something REAL and not written to hold onto. how can one really know so much about something unless they have experienced it first hand for themselves? thats why i wrote this. to inspire people not to take to heart what they read in books. to go out and EXPERIENCE life first hand, then come and show me how knowledgable you are. only then will i know you speak true wisdom.


----------



## terri* (Aug 17, 2004)

SB, it is very hard making it thru this world with a heart so big and a mind so special. Thanks for sending out this post that not only brings awareness with it, but it comes from your heart.


----------



## agentcooper (Mar 10, 2005)

oh sleepy, that made me cry. i'm so sorry!


----------



## sebastian (Aug 11, 2004)

God, was that ever sad.


----------



## g-funk (Aug 20, 2004)

That story has really brought tears to my eyes SB.

It is so hard caring for animals that are sick or dying. People truly underestimate it. You went through a lot.

I syringe fed/spoon fed my cat for months to help him recover from an accident. Now his mouth isn't the prettiest thing (well, it is to me) and he has a messy time eating, but I certainly won't let anyone try to convince me to get him 'fixed' after reading this.


----------



## Homeskooled (Aug 10, 2004)

Dear Sleepy, 
Your story was very beautiful. I'm almost positive that I heard this before. Its touching. I understand who it was directed to from the previous thread. You said you wanted people 


> to go out and EXPERIENCE life first hand, then come and show me how knowledgable you are. only then will i know you speak true wisdom.


Here is a story of my own.

When I was 11, my father gave his children the option of building us a treehouse outdoors (my family loves nature) or to get a pet. I had owned a rabbit when I was five, and I named it Lovebunny, I loved it so much. I took him for wagonrides everywhere. Every animal I loved, I seemed to find a way to put it in its name. The squirrel outside our kitchen window, that our nextdoor neighbor, Mrs. Timmins, used to handfeed peanuts, I called Lovey. Every time my youngest brothers and sisters see a squirrel, they too call him Lovey. He's probably lived double a squirrel's lifespan at this rate. In any event, with a choice between a treehouse and another pet, we of course chose....rabbits. My father built a "hutch", a frame into which the cages could be inserted, with a roof, three sides, and long legs to keep the rabbits off of the ground. We had 4 rabbits - My brother owned Chipsy, my sister owned Flopsy, I owned Ruby, and we all shared Hershey. Chipsy and Flopsy were lop-ears, Hershey was a Netherland Dwarf, and Ruby was a Rex rabbit. Rexes are beautiful, even-tempered creatures. They're prized by rabbit lovers because their coats are like velvet. She had an orangish coat of soft, shiny fur, and she would let you hold her on your shoulder just like an infant. A very sweet rabbit. Each day we would go outside during our homeschooled lunch, and let the rabbits out to roam around our yard while we read books. You can train rabbits, just like dogs, to respect certain boundaries. It was a treat for them, getting to roam about and nibble clover, and none of us liked to see wild creatures cooped up.

Unfortunately, Chipsy became sick the first month we had her. It was a rare affliction called Rye neck. Its an infection that settles in the vertebrae of a rabbits neck, and twists it mercilessly until their head is at the side. Chipsy's head went all the way upside down. It scared the heck out of us, and my poor brother. Every day my brother, my sister, and myself gave her medicine and antibiotics we droppered onto clover flowers and fed to her. When her head turned too much, she began having little convulsions. Then we used droppers. It was horrible to see. It lasted about two weeks, but she pulled through. She was always a bit "ditzy" compared to the other rabbits after it attacked her nervous system, but we loved her all the same. She always seemed to attract bad luck,and when a pack of dogs attacked the rabbit cages while we were gone one afternoon, she lost a toe on her paw....we bandaged it up, and in a couple of days, she was as good as new. We cared for these rabbits because we genuinely loved nature and animals. We all still do. With what capacity Chipsy had to suffer and love and feel satisfied and love back, she did. It wasnt and would never be as great as the love or emotion of a human being, and even as children we knew that. But what she had to offer, she gave willingly, and what we had to offer her, we gave back to her, which is how people should treat nature. I dont speak from textbooks only. I speak from my heart, and experience, _and_ textbooks. I'm not trying in any way to demean your love of animals or experiences, which I can see are very true and deep, and so I'm asking please dont demean mine.

Peace
Homeskooled


----------



## Guest (Jan 13, 2006)

More effective than a Doc Martin to the dangleberries - bought a tear to my eye.


----------

