Today's the first time I've experienced the loss of a pet.
Our turtle, Wugui (turtle in chinese) just passed away this morning.
Wugui was a rescued turtle from my previous workplace. She was living in a pond enclosure that we built from scratch. During an inspection by the authorities, we were ordered to tear the enclosure down and to get rid of the pool before we post out to a new place.
Fishes were adopted by some of my colleagues, but nobody wanted Wugui. The reason? She was a blind turtle. Never had eyes since the day we got her. She was still able to look for her pellet food just by her sense of smell, but was always at the mercy of the fishes that were fighting for food with her. As she may have quite a long life span, many of my colleagues did not want to commit to taking care of her. All of them were deciding whether to abandon her at the nearest freshwater reserve, or just turn a blind eye to what's happening and act blur, leaving her to her own fate.
This wasn't right, I thought. How was she going to survive in the water reserve in her condition? Gazing at her face, as if under some sort of spell, I volunteered to take her home. Water tanks and pumps were gathered hurriedly, and a simple home for her was set up, with much rejection from my Mum.
I had a revelation that day, that people of the older generation, especially those from the Baby Boomers era, had little or no interest in other life forms other than humans. Guessed they toiled their days to make sure their children could have comfortable lives. Their human babies were all they ever cared about. Under fire from the intense scrutiny by my Mum, Wugui's tank was moved from the living room to the kitchen. Finally after one last fight with Mum, I moved her into my own room. I never knew why I was so persistent on keeping her. Mum was always start by saying," Let her go free, let her be in her correct environment, its cruel to keep her in a tank." and stuff. When the fight gets worse, comments would escalate into,"Its dirty! Its smelly! Get rid of it before I kick you out of the house!"
As a young adult then, I was fearless and was unfazed by her threats. Of course, no Mothers would do that to their kid over a pet turtle. It did leave a dent in our relationship though. Quarrels often revolved around Wugui. This went on for years and when I got married and moved to a new home, I brought Wugui along with me.
She would always surprise my friends and relatives when they visit. They would start asking about her story on how she got blind, how she ended up at my place and why do I chose to keep a handicapped reptile pet like her. A few of my relatives had the same reaction like my Mum, which pisses me off much. They had everything to comment, from the water color, to some sort of imaginary smell (which didn't have any), to even electrical bills that they weren't even paying for me.
Anyway, Wugui lived well for the next 6 years without much illness, until she passed away today. She wasn't eating much since last week. A strange growth over her nose area has caused her sense of smell to deteriorate. She couldn't find her food I guessed. One week prior to today, she was just laying at the bottom of the tank and hibernating. I even tried hand feeding her, but there was no reaction. This morning, she was floating at the top, which was unusual. I still heard splashes before leaving home for work today. That might had been her struggling for some precious last breaths, before departing this Earth.
My only regret was that I did not have a bigger pond for her to live in. She might have been happier, grew even bigger and healthier, and stayed with us longer. She was about 10 years old, maybe even older, when she left us today.
To Wugui:
With all things imperfect about you, you were still the most exquisite pet to me. I would miss your water splashes much. Rest well now, and thank you for your time on Earth with us.
Travis
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