Edgar’s Mission Passport
Russell
Russell
Silkie Rooster
11th January 2023
An abandoned meat farm
Bouncing back from adversity
Scratching in the soil for the first time
Certified true likeness
Russell’s story

When Things Get Dark

Updated February 2, 2023

There is no doubt that things were dark in that shed of putrid despair. A shed that imprisoned thousands of harmless Silkie chickens in the hot north of our state.

Even the light of day could not extinguish this. But then, just over two weeks ago, kindness found a way to do so. However, she had to move quick. For small was the window of opportunity to save the hapless animals before the mandate for their deaths was to draw their final curtain.

Juggling logistics, oppressive heat and the long distance, at first the task seemed daunting, verging on impossible. However, when we saw the birds, we determined that it was not.

Each one was a unique and precious individual who deserved none of what had been cast upon them by the darkness of human exploitation of their sweet and gentle natures, coupled with their black skin and flesh. All of which was supported by our state’s wanting animal protection legislation.

As our hands carefully grasped each humble and forgiving bird, and they were lifted from their tiny wire cages, so too came the promise that something better lay ahead.

Today, they are slowly coming to terms with the honouring of this.

And as each one does, they are enlightening us as to who they are. Dear Russell being one of them.

So critically emaciated was he that his liver had become compromised. And, alas, so too his will to live.

So critically emaciated was he that his liver had become compromised. And, alas, so too his will to live. Working to revive both has since become our mission.

And the good news is it looks like we are winning on both fronts, for the little man has rallied, venturing resolutely outside today.

Whilst the soil was so foreign to him, his instincts told him it was not, and he knew just what those craggy chicken legs of his were meant to do. Scratching joyously about in his own version of a chicken Macarena brought a mixture of tears and delight to our eyes and heart.

What a little champion he is. Resilience bundled up in feathers.

Then he stopped. It was as if something called to him. He tilted his head skyward to find the source.

The sun. The rays of which had long teased him as they crept in through the cracks.

“Ah, that’s where you came from,” we felt his little bird brain mutter.

And he closed his eyes a little, his body fully immersed in sun’s brilliance. It was now time for his once-dull feathers to shine theirs.

And shine they iridescently did.

And in doing so, we are reminded that it is time to shine our brilliance as well. Which we do best through our individual acts of kindness offered to others when things get dark for them.