K.Riggs
Songster
- Aug 22, 2017
- 523
- 513
- 196
My favourite little drake that I rescued and nursed to health died suddenly a few months ago and I was a lot more upset than I expected to be! When he came to me he had been beaten and scarred by guinea fowl and had never seen a duck or swam in water before, he didn't know how to be a duck.
He died in my arms within seconds of me walking down to his pen where I found him convulsing. My toddler was already there a few minutes before me as I stopped to turn on the tap. He told me an apple hit him.
He is only 3 but it sounded plausible there were big green apples on the ground. I asked him if he hit him with the apple and he said yes, but then again he answers yes to everything I ask him so not reliable testimony.
I didn't quite know what to do with him so I put him in the freezer and cried for a few days. A few days later I went to get him out of the freezer and have a look at him and decide what to do.
I couldn't believe how perfect he still looked.. like he was sleeping. He was so soft and white. I couldn't bring myself to get rid of him, then the thought jumped into my mind to see if I could find a taxidermist. I have always really appreciated the art form and I thought he wold make a very nice piece.
Anyway I found a guy out in the middle of nowhere, the last house on a dirt road that turned into a goat track with a big bull skull on the gate, you get the idea.
He wasn't just any guy, he turned out to be the best bird man in the state, maybe even the country.
I handed over little Ollie in an insulted cooler bag that I'd had under my seat for the trip, along with half the payment. I looked with amazement at some of his work, a mix of native and exotic birds, mammals and even primates and felt confident Ollie was in the right hands.
A few days ago I got the call that he was finished and I was so excited, I made the long trip down to collect him, the taxidermist informed me that he had no injuries he could see and he was in fact an old duck which I did not know.
He now sits in a glass cabinet in my lounge room and I am so glad I did it. What a lovely piece to pass down in my family. And it may be silly somehow I just feel a bit better about it.
He died in my arms within seconds of me walking down to his pen where I found him convulsing. My toddler was already there a few minutes before me as I stopped to turn on the tap. He told me an apple hit him.
He is only 3 but it sounded plausible there were big green apples on the ground. I asked him if he hit him with the apple and he said yes, but then again he answers yes to everything I ask him so not reliable testimony.
I didn't quite know what to do with him so I put him in the freezer and cried for a few days. A few days later I went to get him out of the freezer and have a look at him and decide what to do.
I couldn't believe how perfect he still looked.. like he was sleeping. He was so soft and white. I couldn't bring myself to get rid of him, then the thought jumped into my mind to see if I could find a taxidermist. I have always really appreciated the art form and I thought he wold make a very nice piece.
Anyway I found a guy out in the middle of nowhere, the last house on a dirt road that turned into a goat track with a big bull skull on the gate, you get the idea.
He wasn't just any guy, he turned out to be the best bird man in the state, maybe even the country.
I handed over little Ollie in an insulted cooler bag that I'd had under my seat for the trip, along with half the payment. I looked with amazement at some of his work, a mix of native and exotic birds, mammals and even primates and felt confident Ollie was in the right hands.
A few days ago I got the call that he was finished and I was so excited, I made the long trip down to collect him, the taxidermist informed me that he had no injuries he could see and he was in fact an old duck which I did not know.
He now sits in a glass cabinet in my lounge room and I am so glad I did it. What a lovely piece to pass down in my family. And it may be silly somehow I just feel a bit better about it.
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