Goodbye to Peanut and Rosie

Peanut was a little bird who lived downstairs in the Heard Museum. He'd been with the museum since 2007, so for almost 5 years we've gotten to enjoy his presence. I'm not sure if Peanut was a male or female, but that little bird never laid any eggs, so I assume Peanut was a male. He had some injuries that would have made him vulnerable outdoors. He loved to get treats of meal worms and loved to sit on people's shoulders, particularly the shoulder of Angela, the lady who shared her office with him. He sometimes sat on my shoulder. He sometimes did other things on my shoulder, but since birds don't take to litter box training it's really not a big deal. He had a big cage that allowed him to fly around inside. We could hear him chirping and flying around his cage. That's one cool thing about being in offices downstairs at the Heard, you wouldn't just hear phones, copiers and other office sounds, with Peanut there, you could hear a little bird chirping. Peanut would always greet Angela when she came in by chirping at her. When she came to work yesterday, he didn't chirp at her. He had died during the night, there was no sign that he was ill the day before, so nobody got to say goodbye to him. He was very happy and well-cared for. When he first came to us, he didn't have a tail and his feathers were scraggly. After he had been with us for a short while, he grew a nice tail and his feathers looked smooth, the way they should look. He was well-loved. Goodbye to Peanut, we will miss you.

Another animal that was part of our little menagerie at the Heard was Rosie, the Dutch Dwarf Rabbit. She was beautiful and a real sweetheart. She loved to be cuddled. She was part of our education program. I used to clean her cage when we took care of the Live Room animals before we started taking care of the outdoor animals. I remember the day she came to the Heard. This lady could no longer care for her and she donated Rosie and her cage. Rosie didn't like people rooting around in her cage, like when they were trying to clean it. When Stacy and I cleaned her cage, usually Stacy would cuddle her while I cleaned the cage. Rosie also didn't like carrots. I've watched a lot of Bugs Bunny cartoon where he'd be eating a carrot and would say, "Eeeaaahh, What's up doc?" I could just see Rosie saying, "Ewwww! Yuck! How can you eat that!?" Rosie liked Rabbit Chow, Timothy Hay and Coastal Hay. Rosie loved Craisins. She could only get one or two per day because too many would throw her digestive system off. Rosie got some sort of cancer on her chest. It was getting worse every day and those who took care of her were afraid it had spread. The lady in charge said that Rosie was suffering, but I couldn't see it, she was still eating and alert. Rabbits are prey animals and prey animals don't show outward signs of illness until they are really, really sick because it makes them easy targets for predators. so maybe she just wasn't showing it.  The lady in charge said that it was time that Rosie be put to sleep. We all said goodbye to her. The Friday before, I held her for almost two hours, cuddling her and giving her lots of love. We also gave her hay which she went for in a big way. The lady that took her to the vet also cuddled her and gave her lots of love for a couple of hours. Rosie got lots of love before departing. Goodbye to Rosie we miss you.

That's one thing about working with animals. Most of them don't live as long as we do and even with the best of care, some will die or pass to the Rainbow Bridge as some people say. I don't know what's harder, being able to say goodbye or not being able to say goodbye. I think both are equally as hard. Opossum only live about 2 or 3 years. I have grown real attached to an Opossum that I help care for and I hope she lives to a ripe old age. When you work with animals, you are involved with them and care about them. Some you even bond with. Taking care of animals is a very special experience and I feel lucky that I have the opportunity to do this, even when the Mongoose snarls at me. Each animal is unique and has it's own set of adaptations and it's fun to learn about each and every one of them.