Chuckles and Arabelle: Who They Are, Not How They "Taste"
Published August 03, 2009 @ 07:15AM PT
Chuckles came to Poplar Spring Animal Sanctuary in 2001; he was around 1 year old, and had been found wandering the streets in Northeast DC.
When Arabelle arrived at Poplar Spring Animal Sanctuary last summer, she was a tiny baby, small enough that it took a few days before Terry and Dave were certain that she was a guinea hen, rather than a turkey. Yet the guineas weren't interested in hanging out with her, and so it was a gentle turkey named Gertrude who took her under her wing and raised Arabelle.
Though in those early days she seemed to move and act like her surrogate mother, and we wondered if she thought of herself as a turkey, Arabelle now spends all of her time with one of the other guineas, Chuckles. They roam their part of the sanctuary, always together.
When the sanctuary held a Farm Tour event recently, I volunteered to work in the chicken/turkey/guinea/peacock area. Early on, a man and woman asked me a few questions. Most of the birds were in the shade under the trees or in the barns, so there wasn't much for them to see until the guineas wandered into sight. "Do they taste good?" asked the man as his companion shook her head in embarrassment.
I explained to the man that this was a sanctuary, and we don't eat the animals, that we save them. By his "yeah, but..." response, I am not sure he understood, even after I explained.
What I found jarring was the reminder that he sees living animals and wonders how they taste. I see living animals and I see them as individuals, living their own lives, who should have every right to do exactly that. I watch Chuckles and Arabelle together, and I wonder why they're always on the move. When they have something to say, they're loud, and they don't stop for what often feels like hours. They have their own purpose, their own wants and desires, and even if I don't understand any but the most basic - the desire to live their life, the desire to eat, and the desire to have a mate - I respect them as individuals. I respect their right to live their life and pursue the things that are important to them, regardless of whether I fully understand what that is.
When I see life, I don't think about ending it. When I see Arabelle and Chuckles, I see two special lives that have been preserved because of people like Terry and Dave, and the sanctuary they started that exists for that purpose.
Though rescued years apart, Chuckles and Arabelle were both found wandering the streets in DC; likely they escaped being victims in Santeria rites. Instead they live at the sanctuary, where they can wander the chicken yard looking for goodies hidden in the grasses, taking dust baths if they want. The bond between the guineas is as close a bond as any of us could imagine. Seeing them more than a foot apart is a rare occurrence. Watching them move is like watching a tightly synchronized dance.
Birds are different from us, different from what most of us are used to in our more common companion animals, and that often makes them seem harder to read. Harder to understand. Alien. Other. Perhaps this makes it easier for people to justify when they kill and eat birds, even when they don't eat other animals. Perhaps birds seem so different from what we commonly understand that it is easier for some people to look at the living embodiment of the human-idealized mate bond and say, "Do they taste good?"
It is a question that is startlingly superficial and unobservant. Anyone who spends time with birds learns that they have distinctive and vibrant personalities, that they are as individual as any other animal, and that they are intelligent. Chickens have been shown to have cognition at the level of primates; if intelligence is a criteria for respect and consideration, birds should be at the top of the list, not the bottom.
Intelligence, as we humans define it, is not a criteria for me. Just as I wouldn't disregard the needs of a human with lower cognitive abilities, I don't disregard the needs of animals, no matter what their cognitive abilities are determined to be. In the end, "intelligence" is a meaningless distinction. What matters is that they, and we, are sentient. What matters is that we can choose to harm, or not.
When we watch the birds around us, there is much we can learn just by opening our minds and our eyes. There is much they can teach us, when we realize that they are not food; that they are individuals who enjoy living their life on their own terms. Just like us, but different.
All photos in this post by Deb Durant
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Comments (14)
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Author
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A vegan bike-commuter with shutterbug fever, Deb Durant's activism, life choices, and volunteer work are driven by passion for her fellow earthlings and the planet we share. She volunteers every weekend at a local animal sanctuary, where she has a chance to spend time with some of the individuals so directly impacted by our choices, as well as indulge her love of photography. Deb's photography and the stories of those individuals appear regularly on her blog, Invisible Voices.
It's not for humans to decide who gets the "rights" to live or die. No matter how we may try to separate ourselves from the natural world, we are a part of it too.
As annoying as it was for the guy to be asking how the birds "tasted", at least he was at the sanctuary in the first place - even if he was there because his wife brought him, he still agreed & still learned something.
And so interesting your points made about birds seeming so alien. I know too many people who get "freaked out" by birds. I don't know why, but when I'm at the park, you can usually find a few birds very close to me either walking on the ground near my feet, in a branch over my head or sometimes even on the bench I'm sitting.
To me, it seems like approaching any animal with an open mind ensures that you will learn something new about yourself in the process.
Posted by Lisa Smolen on 08/03/2009 @ 08:07AM PT
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Very good point that it was great that this guy was at the sanctuary, whatever the reason! And they came back later with their 3 preteen girls too.
"To me, it seems like approaching any animal with an open mind ensures that you will learn something new about yourself in the process."
Very true!
Posted by Deb Durant on 08/04/2009 @ 04:48PM PT
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Birds tend to freak people out. I don't eat things that freak me out. Cows are weird too.
Posted by Turk Fowler on 08/03/2009 @ 08:37AM PT
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I happen to think birds are the most unbelievably fantastic animals alive - I have a special soft spot for chickens and other farmed or "game" birds. Sadly, most people still clutch to their preformed ideas of these birds as stupid and dirty and annoying, when they're anything but. Thanks Deb for yet another awesome Poplar Springs post.
Posted by Jen Ruff on 08/03/2009 @ 11:22AM PT
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"Alien. Other."
I think that's what makes it easy for people to eat fish and other sea dwellers, too. But the more you hang around and observe them--or anyone, I suppose--the more you see that all of us have some similarities because we're all animals. Most important, we all have an interest in living our lives free of the domination of others.
Posted by Mary Martin on 08/03/2009 @ 04:33PM PT
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Really good points. It is probably even more pronounced with fish and other sea animals - I don't think anyone ever questioned whether birds feel pain, but I'm pretty sure the new "research" and "proof" that fish feel pain as well did shock people.
Posted by Deb Durant on 08/04/2009 @ 04:54PM PT
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I do like chickens. It's sad to drive past KFC, El Pollo Loco and other avian eateries. I can almost hear the screams.
Posted by Turk Fowler on 08/04/2009 @ 08:21AM PT
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This is beautiful, Deb!
Posted by Kelly Garbato on 08/04/2009 @ 10:30AM PT
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I've had the pleasure of sharing my home at different times both with two chickens, and currently a pair of budgies. The bond between the budgies is amazing - and it was the same with the chickens. I was pleasantly shocked by just how loyal and loving a chicken can be, to a human as well as to other chickens.
Posted by KiKi Lyus on 08/04/2009 @ 12:03PM PT
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Thanks for the nice comments everyone. Always a pleasure to share a little piece of the magic of Poplar Spring with others!
And I didn't mention the souce in the post, but with regards to chicken cognition being equivalent to primates, that info came from "The Development of Brain and Behavior in the Chicken", which I learned from Karen Davis of UPC. In case anyone was interested! :)
Posted by Deb Durant on 08/04/2009 @ 04:58PM PT
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You beautifully captured the essence of Arabelle and Chuckles through two sets of lens: camera and verbal. This little vignette of two important lives reminds me of a book I recently bought and enjoyed: "The Inner World of Farm Animals" by Amy Hatkoff. It, too, has gorgeous photos! It also reminds me of a new series on the life of birds, directed, narrated and probably produced by Sir David Attenborough. You can read about the project on www.pbs.org/lifeofbirds. I will have to investigate how to view/hear the videos -- i.e. whether there are reruns on PBS or if one must buy the DVDs. I gather we can learn a lot about the behavior of a wide variety of birds from around the world. It doesn't have a vegan message, but being educated about other species can surely head one in that direction!
Posted by Olivia White on 08/05/2009 @ 12:59AM PT
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It is so true that all animals are individuals. I've loved animals before I could talk and always found them fascinating. Many people feel like that man in the article towards animals, it's sad but you most likely won't be able to change thier minds.
Animals/Wildlife are at our mercy, and that scares me to death because as a whole, humans have done a horrible job caring for them and being stewards of our planet.
I have noticed thru the years that attitudes are slowly changing. I am grateful there are places like Popular Springs, where these guys can live out thier lives in peace, without fear and pain. I wish we could save them all.
I always get a kick out of guinea hens, they make me think of a rubinesque women in a fancy dress with a big, colorful hat.
Posted by Barbara Devine Utz on 08/06/2009 @ 12:19PM PT
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i was 'supervising' arabelle her first day out with the chickens and turkeys after she came to the sanctuary. it's so great to see her grown and happy. she's such a sweety.
my aunt asked the same thing when she was looking outside of my mom's window at the pond with turtles in it: "they taste good, right?"
that question wasn't towards me, and i couldn't even bother with an answer. she still says things like "you don't know what you're missing" when she's eating meat--she doesn't connect my love for animals and my choices not to do certain things.
some people just won't get it, unfortunately.
Posted by kaiser shahid on 08/29/2009 @ 01:43PM PT
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Just got back from a safari in southern Africa. Was told guineas are a bit on the tough side.
Posted by Thomas Berg on 09/12/2009 @ 07:28PM PT
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