Hey guys! Today, we're going to take a trip down memory lane because that's where I've been spending a lot of time lately.
We've had a few animals pass away over the last few months,
and it's taken me some time to be able to talk about it.
I've talked before about how I cope with the death of an animal:
I try and focus on how good their life was and try to reassure myself that I did all I could for them.
But that doesn't always make me feel better.
I'm still sad. I struggled with whether I was going to share when animals died on my channel or not.
I almost decided not to because I just don't really like talking about it sometimes
But also, I didn't want to make you guys sad.
But I eventually chose to share all the parts of caring for these amazing animals with you
Because it's honest and real. So, here's the sad news we've had to say goodbye to three of our animals
Boxer the lovebird, Loquita the water dragon, and
Frasier the American mink. All three of these beautiful creatures were my friends and I'd like to go down memory lane now and remember how
amazing each of them were. Boxer was such a cutie - when I first met him, I seriously couldn't stop smiling.
He was bursting with personality!
He'd lived in a classroom for a couple years and then a parent eventually took him home. When he came to us,
he was scared of hands,
but he was free flighted and loved to land on shoulders.
With some work he learned to tolerate fingers and was soon traveling to schools and birthday parties and
eagerly jumping onto kid's shoulders and yelling about how happy he was.
It cracked me up when he would chirp his little song because he'd do it right into your ear! Such a tiny little guy
yelling into your ear, it actually hurt. Boxer had lived alone before he came to Animal Wonders.
We successfully introduced him to Sprinkles the parrotlet and they lived happily together for many years before
Boxer passed away from a tumor in his lung. He was always so happy and such a wonderful little snuggler.
Loquita was one of my favorite reptiles to share with audiences.
She was gorgeous and had the most laid-back
personality of any water dragon that I ever met. She would also do these things that were so unique and goofy that I never quite
knew what to expect with her. This is my favorite video of her:
[behind the camera] Loquita, this is not the proper way to water dragon.
[laughs]
I see you.
Hi.
Wake up.
Ooh, hello, what were you doing?
[laughs]
This
is proper water dragon-ing. [voice over] She loved eating insects that moved and if she was lounging on her branches
and I offered her a live insect, she'd dive off her branch and go catch them. She especially loved cockroaches.
She always looks so regal! I felt pretty special knowing her secret goofy side.
It's been about two months since she passed and it's hard seeing her empty enclosure
and not being able to share her with audiences anymore, but I'm glad that I had the privilege of knowing her.
While it was hard to lose Boxer and Loquita, Frazier's passing has hit me the hardest
and I think that's because I hadn't yet given him all that
I wanted to. Frazier came to us from a Humane
Society a few hours away that had had him dropped off with them by a local family
who said he was on their porch trying to get into their house. Mink are native to Montana and are illegal to keep as pets,
so the Humane Society called us up to see if we would take him in. It was either us or euthanasia.
We weren't prepared to take in a carnivore that could potentially harm every other animal we had, including us - Frazier was a biter.
But we decided to give him a chance and set him up in a temporary enclosure.
We then continued raising funds to create a "mink mansion" where Frazier would swim and play on dirt and grass.
Frazier was a challenge to work with: he enjoyed attention and loved to play with toys and do training sessions. He was so smart!
I was always impressed with how ready he was to learn new things.
He was also possessive and would bite and hoard anything
he could grab with his mouth. But even after he bit me
I was still comfortable working with him because he was always very clear with his communication.
About a month ago, as I was saying hello to everyone during my morning rounds,
I found Frazier weak and confused.
I immediately scooped him up and rushed him to our vet who found a piece of bone stuck in his lower intestines.
Before she could perform the surgery to remove it, Frazier passed away.
And it was so sudden and so unexpected. I so wanted to give Frazier the amazing new home
I had in mind for him.
But I've had time to reflect and I've come to realize that we did give him a pretty amazing home.
He would have been euthanized! And we gave him two wonderful years of companionship,
adventure, joy, and comfort.
He was a happy and feisty little mink.
When you care for and work with as many animals as I do every day, there's going
to be days that are really hard. When several animals die in a short amount of time
It makes me feel like I'm not doing enough or I'm doing something wrong. My wonderful friend,
who's worked as a vet for several large zoos, told me that it's normal to have these feelings, and to make me feel better,
she gave me a statistic: on average, a great animal facility will lose up to ten percent of its population every year.
This can be due to old age, normal illnesses, and random accidents.
As long as there wasn't a repeat of the same illness or accidents,
we were doing just fine. When you're dealing with situations that are heavy with emotion
it's good to be able to take a step back and see with clearer eyes.
It's taken me a few weeks to get my clear perspective, but I'm glad I've been able to share this with you.
I've always been honest with you, and I really hope this hasn't ruined your day.
I hope you can see the love and happiness that's in these stories.
I'd like to leave you with another walk down memory lane. Boxer, Loquita and Frasier
will always live in my heart, and I hope they've made a little space in yours as well.
[upbeat instrumental music starts playing]