RIP Tweak

It was a sad day at the Zbeeb Zoo this past Sunday. We came home to find a pretty horrific scene in the backyard. The result, Tweak is no longer with us.

Andrea brought her dogs over for playtime with Barney and Lewis. We've done this many times with Toby, but this time she was babysitting Dodge, too, so he joined the backyard party. It's been a while since Dodge has been over, but our boys love the company of other animals, so we thought the more the merrier. Unfortunately, we didn't think about our beaked buddy.

Now, Barnibus and Lewis love Tweak. They all roam the backyard together and Tweak has even been seen perched on the edge of Barnibus' food bowl, which is amazing. And my boy Lewis, who has been known to kill a time or two (squirrels, rats, birds out of then air - you know, the normal hunter), he was captured in this picture loving on his feathered friend. I was simply dumbfounded on this day. And I attribute all of this to the love in our home on all fronts - and, of course, the pack leader, Drew's superior training skills!

Unfortunately, Toby and Dodge are not a part of our daily harmonious zoo. And we forgot that. When we came home from a couple hours out at lunch and the park with Asa, we found that the bottom of Tweak's cage had been ripped out and Tweak was no where in sight. A little further into the yard were many feathers and then we panicked. The search was on. Dodge was caked in mud and our boys were a bit distressed. The unthinkable must have happened. Tweak was attacked. The details remain a mystery, but we can only hope that he was able to get away and is somewhere in the neighborhood living the wild life, but our hope for that isn't too great. Tweak was not a good flyer. Truthfully, the bird thought he was dog. He barked like Lola and walked the yard like Barney and Lew-Lew. Unfortunately, he didn't have the bite of a dog and certainly wouldn't have won a battle versus Dodge (or Toby). Drew would like to think our boys defended Tweak long enough for him to get away.

But Sunday was a sad day, nonetheless. We'll miss Tweak dearly. He was a good bird. And Asa enjoyed seeing his "beeta" every day. Thankfully, he's too young to understand what happened, but we'll have to explain real life (and death) situations to him all too soon. Being parents (to both children and pets) gets tougher and tougher.