Missing Gaz and Zim - Haiku - On Loss, But Ultimately, Renewed Hope

Missing Gaz and Zim
Sad to know their songs are stilled
Now they're flying free

Sadly, after losing his longtime mate and lady love Gaz, our male dove Zim effectively lay down to die.

I was successful in getting him to drink some water, last night before I went inside for the last time, but it was too little too late, and I found him dead in his cage this morning.

We gave him a place of honor in our back yard, with a lovely young Rose of Sharon tree as his memorial, and honored his bond with Gaz by burying him with a couple of her feathers.

Rest in Peace, beautiful soul. We miss you both already.

Here is a video I posted about them during happier times, specifically March 2013, when somehow one of us failed to latch the cage securely, and Marek walked onto the front cage to find an open door and an empty cage. Oops.

Being captive bred doves, neither Gaz or Zim quite knew what to do outside the cage, and so thankfully didn't go far.

Which was a wonderful thing, as we have quite a large population of hawks, large owls, and even occasional eagles, all of which prey regularly on our much larger native mourning doves

Marek spotted Gaz first, not surprisingly as she was pure white, in the Yoshino cherry tree outside our bedroom window.

It took a few tries, but armed with her food bowl, I was finally able to coax her onto the edge of the bowl, and then into their small travel cage.

It was later that day when we finally spotted Zim, in a tree at the edge of the woods. because his buff-colored feathers were much better camouflage, which was an advantage for him.

In the end, it took three days for us to recapture Zim, and it all came down to his lady love . . . he lit on the edge of their cage, on the front porch, Marek coaxed him to perch on the bowl he was carrying, and slowly brought him around to the front of the cage, opened the door, and Zim hopped in of his own accord.

And he and Gaz were thrilled to be back together.

This is the video of that final rescue, courtesy of Marek and Zim:

In a fairly bizarre irony, no doubt due to my being upset over the loss of our doves, when I went to top off our rabbit Smoke's food and water this evening, I was greeted by an open door and an empty cage.

Oh crap. This one was entirely on me, as I'd fed her and given her treats earlier in the day, and clearly hadn't fastened the latch securely.

The last time this happened it was her sister, Mist, and Lolo killed her before I had even realized she was out of her hutch.

Not so this time. I spotted Smoke on the other side of the cage, and though she thought about coming to me, she couldn't quite make herself do it, and I wasn't quite able to get close enough to catch her.

Luckily Marek was tending the fire in the fire pit, just around the corner of the house, and so I called out softly to him that I needed his help, but I needed him to be quiet, so as not the scare her.

Long story short, it did take us both, but we finally managed to get her back into her cage unharmed, and it only took us about twenty minutes or so.

Even better, she was clearly not traumatized in the slightest, as she immediately began eating.

She has always been the most skittish and least trusting of our rabbits, so with the woods beginning only about forty or fifty feet from her cage, it could easily have gone badly.

But, instead, it went beautifully.

Whereas I had been feeling guilty over the deaths of Gaz and Zim, and feeling as though I was failing utterly as an animal caretaker, getting Smoke safely back into her cage made me incredibly grateful all over again for our animals, for this place, and for my wonderful husband, and the fact that when we really need to pull together and work in concert, we're rather good at it. ;-)

So life and death are endless cycles, loss is a painful but necessary part of life, and the lessons it teaches are profound and enduring: Zim and Gaz, and GIR before them, will always be a part of this place, and will always have a place in our hearts.

Every time I see Smoke I'll be reminded of everything I have to be grateful for, especially for her still being with us, as only in the past several months has she begun to willingly allow me to pet her.

Perhaps we can build further on this trust. We'll keep working on it, she and I.

Life, even when it's hard, and even when we sometimes feel like giving up, is always worthwhile, and continues getting better, better and better.

And this is so.

Thank you all for your kind words. I love you all.

Please note that I am posting this from my phone, and will format it properly later, on my laptop.

Peace!

art and flair courtesy of @PegasusPhysics