"Beauty confronts us with the requirement that we place ourselves among...the redeemers, the leaders in the protection of life. Once you have seen the bush on fire, you are not going to get out of the assignment unless you close your eyes to the beauty.... [You] either have to close your eyes or go back to Egypt and set the people free." - Rev. Dr. Rebecca Parker, "Rising to the Challenge of Our Times"

Thursday, March 29, 2007

Local tragedy

The cover of the Chico Enterprise-Record grabbed my attention today. A fire in a reptile supply shop killed almost 200 bearded dragon lizards Wednesday morning. There were some very sad photos with the article, you can look if you want but I wasn't up for reposting them. As some know I have had a beardie named "Lizardora" for several years, and I'm worried that I haven't always done right by her (actually I'm not even sure that she's a "she" but she's never been one to complain about pronouns). I have realized that I am probably better suited to caring for pets who sing little songs or bite your toes or jump on your head or try to trip you on your way to the bathroom when they want your attention. Fortunately beardies are fairly sturdy, quite docile, and interested in their surroundings relative to other lizards people keep as pets. My reptile vet in San Francisco once said that beardies are the golden retrievers of the reptile world. I think Lizardora may be getting on in her years, she's about 8 I think. I don't know how much time we have left with her, but I want to offer her a bit more attention and serve up as many tasty mealworm salads as possible while she's still in our household. We've photographed her before but I can't find the photos...will take some more if I can catch her in a good mood. Meanwhile this (copyrighted) photo bears a striking resemblance.
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3 comments:

adamf said...

I don't know why it makes me sad to hear about these nice lizards meeting their tragic demise, but it does. I'm sure there's a speical place in heaven for bearded lizards and their meal worm salads.

12:40 PM
Emily said...

thanks, I felt the same way. On the one hand it may seem a little hard to get all soft over reptiles. On the other these are such docile little creatures, who didn't ask to live in a pet shop, or maybe they did, who knows. I hope they get to go to the Heavenly Outback and experience new life as free-ranging lizards of the desert.

4:45 PM
limes said...

oh dear. you probably don't hug lizardora, but i am compelled to tell you to hug her anyway.

7:23 AM

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