Animal News: The Chronicles of Newman and other Stories

The Revenge of the Rooster

Greetings to you from Star Gazing Farm on this cold, muddy, March day!

First the news:

We give a warm welcome to Callahan, a 6 year old Paint horse who is partially blind and is providing much needed friendship and frolicking to Bello.

We say a sad farewell to George, whose team of "Betty and George" was a major impetus for us to buy this farm. We also say good bye to Spinner's best friend Quackers. These ducks will break our hearts.

Calendar announcements: the next visit of Our House boys will be Saturday, March 26. If you'd like to help by being a supervisor please contact me at farmeranne@stargazingfarm.org. The spring open house is currently in the planning. It will be held either the second or third weekend of May. If you'd like to volunteer to help plan activities or to work with the animals during the event, please let me know.

Now the story of the Revenge of the Rooster:

There are two characters in this drama:

Ti-gba the Haitian dog
Kramer, the White Rocks rooster

Ti-gba, before and after

Ti-gba's story, in short: in November of 2003 I found her in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, emaciated almost to the point of death and run over by a car. (her detailed story and photos can be found here: http://www.language-works.com/Haitidogs/tigba.htm) She was between 1 and 2 months old at the time. I brought her back to Maryland and after an extensive (and expensive!) operation on one leg and several months of good food, she morphed into Ti-gba the Terrible whose favorite activites were: raiding trash cans, killing bras, emptying sock drawers, tormenting the cat, terrorizing visitors, and chasing the birds.

Kramer arrived here in the summer of 2004. Kramer had been lovingly raised by hand by a woman in Silver Spring. He clearly imprinted on her and does not for a minute doubt he is a person. When visitors arrive at the farm he runs out to their cars to greet them. He walks alongside the group as we tour the farm, and attempts (often successfully) to follow us into the house for refreshments. (Just for future reference, his favorite is multi-grain bagel lightly spread with margarine.) He does have a habit of doing mating dances and subsequently trying to make love to people's feet - which can be a little disconcerting to the uninitiated. Kramer loves to be held and have his wattles and comb stroked. He will sit on your arm like a bird of prey, and once even jumped on top of Gardener Dean's head and perched there until his toenails became simply too excruciating for Dean's poor scalp.

Kramer with one of his many girlfriends (above) and singing his song (below)

A rooster-abusing dog.
During the summer and fall of last year, Ti-gba found great sport in chasing (herding?) the duck flock around the farm. She had a particular thing for Kramer, however. He was simply irresistible. No reason, no dog cookie, no command, in fact, no yelling at the top of one's lungs could dissuade her that he was the most interesting and provocative moving toy she had even seen. On more than one occasion I found Ti-gba in the garden, rooster immobile under her paws as she plucked out his tail feathers one by one. She made no attempt to bite or eat him - she just wanted those feathers. Because Ti-gba seems to have the capability of cloning herself into multiple versions of herself and shape shifting, it's impossible to keep tabs on her all the time, so I took to leaving the garden shed open so that Kramer had a place to escape to. Whenever I was unable to find him, I'd look behind the planting pots or under the utility table, and sure enough would find a disheveled and highly indignant male chicken hiding in there.

The tables are turned!
Who knows what transpires in the souls of animals to give them the courage to fight back?

I knew something significant had changed when on many occasions this winter I saw Kramer giving wild chase to Ti-gba. Up the hill of one pasture, under the fence, across to the other side of the house and down to the stream. In addition to exacting penance from his former tormentor, he also expanded his repertoire of chasing victims to my older dog Sage, Spinner the goose, and the entire duck flock. [So far he leaves Newman alone.] His tail feathers now fully grown out and wafting beautifully in the wind, he's as self-confident as a grand stallion.

One might think it was enough for him to have "won" the battle, but last week he played out a scene that was uncanny, funny, and just a tad disturbing.

I'd left Ti-gba in the garden so I could do my morning chores. When I returned I could find her nowhere. I called, looked... nothing. And then I saw it. Kramer, standing guard at the door of the garden shed, Ti-gba cowering under the table, behind the planting pots. Persuading each of them to give up their positions took quite some time during which I marvelled at the unselfconscious way animals work out their issues. Well, at least Kramer has HIS all worked out.

Until next time,

Farmer Anne
Star Gazing Farm
http://www.stargazingfarm.org

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