My Friend is Gone
Last night, Vaughn and I had to euthanize our mouse Jessibelle in order to put her out of extreme suffering. Jessibelle could hardly breathe at the end...she was straining towards the oxygen tube, trying to draw breaths...and I knew we had no other choice, but it hurt like hell to make that choice all the same.
She was old...at least 2 1/2 years...and we lived with her for a little under a year and a half. She lived with two other mice, one who was her biological daughter, and one whom she adopted (Sunny) upon the death of Sunny's mother. The three of them always slept together and cared for each other. They were such steadfast companions...it warmed my heart to see how good they were to one another. I never observed any kind of fighting or cruelty, only love.
Sunny died about 4 months ago, and I could see how hard it was for the other two. And now that Jessibelle is gone, her daughter Uniquia is all by herself. She is searching frantically for her mother, I can see, and I have no way of explaining anything to her. I don't know how to come to terms with Uniquia, who has lived her life with her two loving companions, now being all alone. It hurts so much I feel like my heart is being ripped out of my chest. I wish I could do something to make this all easier for Uniquia, but I don't even know how to begin.
I have lived with enough rodents to observe that they know more about love, loyalty and companionship than many humans ever will. A study came out several months ago involving empathy in rats. A rat was put in a cage with another rat, and one rat was given a lever for food, but every time he or she chose to eat, the rat next to him/her got an electric shock. It took only a few times for the first rat to make the connection, and invariably the rat would choose to forego food rather than cause pain to the other rat (who was unrelated to her and unknown prior to the study). The experiment was done with thousands of rats, and the results were consistent. Apparently, a similar study was done with humans, and with much bleaker results. The lust for power seemed to win out over empathy all too often in the human study.
I'm tired of people acting like mice and rats are expendable, when it's nothing more than blind prejudice and willful ignorance. I guess I should take the "forgive them, for they know not what they do" attitude, but I am not as noble as Jesus was. Millions of rats are abused in laboratories because somewhere somehow it might benefit a human someday. And worst of all, we artifically select for lab rats who are friendly, docile, and interactive, and then we proceed to use their good natures against them. It's so manipulative and heartless. Rats and mice feel every bit as much as cats and dogs do. They're wired the same way as we are in the most primal ways. We just don't want to see that, because it would put an end to our party, where we reign supreme in the Great Hierarchy of Being.
Anyway...Uniquia, Vaughn and I are hurting today. Due to the loss of Jessibelle, our worlds will never be quite the same again, and I am left with a "sorrow that lies too deep for tears." I can only imagine what Uniquia must be feeling.
She was old...at least 2 1/2 years...and we lived with her for a little under a year and a half. She lived with two other mice, one who was her biological daughter, and one whom she adopted (Sunny) upon the death of Sunny's mother. The three of them always slept together and cared for each other. They were such steadfast companions...it warmed my heart to see how good they were to one another. I never observed any kind of fighting or cruelty, only love.
Sunny died about 4 months ago, and I could see how hard it was for the other two. And now that Jessibelle is gone, her daughter Uniquia is all by herself. She is searching frantically for her mother, I can see, and I have no way of explaining anything to her. I don't know how to come to terms with Uniquia, who has lived her life with her two loving companions, now being all alone. It hurts so much I feel like my heart is being ripped out of my chest. I wish I could do something to make this all easier for Uniquia, but I don't even know how to begin.
I have lived with enough rodents to observe that they know more about love, loyalty and companionship than many humans ever will. A study came out several months ago involving empathy in rats. A rat was put in a cage with another rat, and one rat was given a lever for food, but every time he or she chose to eat, the rat next to him/her got an electric shock. It took only a few times for the first rat to make the connection, and invariably the rat would choose to forego food rather than cause pain to the other rat (who was unrelated to her and unknown prior to the study). The experiment was done with thousands of rats, and the results were consistent. Apparently, a similar study was done with humans, and with much bleaker results. The lust for power seemed to win out over empathy all too often in the human study.
I'm tired of people acting like mice and rats are expendable, when it's nothing more than blind prejudice and willful ignorance. I guess I should take the "forgive them, for they know not what they do" attitude, but I am not as noble as Jesus was. Millions of rats are abused in laboratories because somewhere somehow it might benefit a human someday. And worst of all, we artifically select for lab rats who are friendly, docile, and interactive, and then we proceed to use their good natures against them. It's so manipulative and heartless. Rats and mice feel every bit as much as cats and dogs do. They're wired the same way as we are in the most primal ways. We just don't want to see that, because it would put an end to our party, where we reign supreme in the Great Hierarchy of Being.
Anyway...Uniquia, Vaughn and I are hurting today. Due to the loss of Jessibelle, our worlds will never be quite the same again, and I am left with a "sorrow that lies too deep for tears." I can only imagine what Uniquia must be feeling.