We know that people really love their pets, and that most people who have pets consider them a member of the family. But this might be going too far... A family in purchased an obituary for their family chicken, Big Mama.
According to The Eagle:
The Swords — Stephanie, her husband, Gregory, and their two sons — adopted the chicken in September 2013 after a family that had raised her in a Houston apartment decided to have her euthanized.
A veterinarian convinced the family to give her up for adoption, and the Swords heard about her through an email distributed to the Texas A&M School of Veterinary Medicine.
“We were hooked instantly” after seeing a grainy photo of a skinny chicken looking at herself in the mirror, Sword wrote in the obituary for her bird.
Sword said Big Mama flourished as part of the family’s existing flock.
But because she started her life living in a Houston apartment, it took her a while to get used to the outdoor life and being around other chickens, Sword said, adding that she had a few peculiar habits.
“She refused to go in the chicken coop at times, and she would try to come into the house,” said Sword, a graduate student. In bad weather, she’d stay at the back door and sleep on the patio furniture.
But over time, “she came into her own and flourished as a chicken should: living in a flock, outdoors, free-ranging.”
“She was a happy chicken from that point on, and we were happy to have her for as long as we did,” Sword said.
Big Mama, who had been spayed before the family adopted her because of a life-threatening reproductive disease, became a member of the family, Sword said.
Sword said they noticed Big Mama had been slowing down recently, and on Sunday, when she was the only chicken that didn’t come out of the coop, they knew.
“She was in her favorite spot in her coop,” Sword said. “She just went to sleep, and that was it.”
It was comforting to know that Big Mama died naturally in her favorite spot, she said -- “a dignified ending for a dignified chicken.”
Sword said the family decided a paid obituary would be a way to spread the message that every life is worth saving.
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