Tags
backyard birds, bird dog, dead bird, dog owners, dogs, pets, sage thrasher, thrasher
The ultimate dream of humankind – that all should live in perfect harmony – has been vividly proven unachievable to us this weekend, at least when it comes to peace and harmony in this fallen world.
As this blog’s readers already know, we have a pet English Setter, but we also have a soft spot for all sorts of what could be considered wildlife: wild bunnies, squirrels, birds… We try to protect those small creatures from our English Setter whenever possible, but sometimes he is just quicker than we are, and unfortunately, quicker than bunnies or birds. This weekend, we had the third bird casualty in our backyard since we moved to this house at the end of March.
One can ask how a sweet, lazy, spoiled dog like this could do a horrible thing like killing a bunny or a bird, but no matter how sweet and well behaved an English Setter, he is still an English Setter – a hunter at heart, a bird dog. And so is our Gage.
He grabbed this poor young thrasher before we could do anything, while the unsuspecting little thing was pecking at grapes fallen off our backyard grapevine.
He carried the bird in his mouth, and although he didn’t even break the bird’s skin, when he dropped it on my command, the poor little thing had such bad internal injuries that it had no chance of surviving. With two sad humans at its “deathbed,” little thrasher passed away even before his bird life had fully begun. Rest in peace, little one!
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