Golden Rooster, Strawberry Fox, What is Death, or Departure for Animals?

As I am working, movement and sound catch my eye. I look just to the left of my computer, out the window, and onto the chicken coop across the grounds. A golden rooster is flapping and jumping. He is being chased. I assume it is just another rooster. Something similar in color moves. I see bits of his 'chaser'. A flash of strawberry fur moves like wind around a bush. It moves again, dancing through the air. A white tipped bushy tail and white tipped ears. The golden rooster is flying for it’s life! FOX!


I instantly move out of the chair and run. No real thoughts form... but to go. I run down the stairs, out onto the porch, looking for anyone and hearing/seeing none. I bend while in motion to grab my shoes from the porch and continue running without placing them on my feet. “No No No No No!” I repeat.


I make it to the chicken castle. It is silent. They all look at me. They are spread out in various places. One rooster of black, rust, red, gold, and green...walks right next to me. He is alone on the periphery. I put on my flip-flops before tromping through the sticks,leaves, and spanish moss to check on everyone. I find the hens in the bushes. The guinea hens start coming out from the forest. The roosters start popping up. Everyone starts walking towards me. I do see the golden rooster. I see golden feathers on the ground. I see no blood spatter.


These chickens and roosters have only seen me for two weeks. They are cared for by the residents of the house. I have said hello and spoken with the roosters and the few hens while the guinea hens seems to be the most skittish. Today all of them come right up to me.


The immediate sense in the area was shock. A feeling of wariness, not for me, but for something that had just happened. The main rooster was the beat cop coming up to me to let me know that things had gone down and that we (all the flock as of the now) are still here. I walk the length and look and speak, verbally and with my heart, to them.


I stay for a little and then grab the house owner, noting the cats on the porch, while I head inside. After coming to check on the coop she tells me that she only sees one of her golden roosters. “There are TWO?!” I say.


The fox made off with the biggest rooster on the property. We go into the forest looking for him, in case he escaped and is hiding. Max and Oogi, the property cats, come with us to search. We look at tracks in the mud, turtle homes, and the creek. The squirrels chatter at us communicating their awareness of us. The trees stand tall all around, some hollowed out.


As I come back, I begin to think about animals and death. How did I not know one of the roosters was gone? Was it my shock at running out without thoughts? Was every bird in present tense? Is death different for this flock? Is it more like the rooster just left? The danger was over? The flock was ok and the fox was gone?


I begin my inquisition.


I find the roosters, hens, and guineas are all in present tense. They keep to the moment.

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2015, Dalah Nyx Ostara

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