Hindel Kidz 23: In Memory
Hindel Kidz 23
In Memory
A few weeks after Pete and Peanut were born, Lizzie got very sick. It was a while before Sven and Grace noticed something was wrong. Lizzie had been lying inside the building while Chloe was lying outside. They were almost always together.
One day, a person came over because he wanted to show Lizzie to his little granddaughter. He had seen Lizzie before and knew how tame and friendly she was. He didn’t see her at first so Grace went over to look. She didn’t see Lizzie either. She had blended into the surroundings. Grace hadn’t seen her lying in the building. Jack went in and shoved Lizzie out into pen. Even though she might not have felt very well, she still went over to the fence and licked the peoples’ hands. She still licked Grace’s chin when she leaned down.
Another day, when Sven and Grace went up to feed, Sven noticed Lizzie’s hip bones were sticking out. She had lost a lot of weight. Jack said she had been eating apples, but no grain, corn or molasses. He thought she must have had some kind of virus. Chloe had been sick last year, but had finally come out of it in the spring.
A week later, Lizzie had gotten worse. She still lay in the building and only got up when it was feeding time. Her backbone was in plain sight now and she was all skin and bone. Her ears were always down and it looked like some fluid had begun to build under her jaw. She had to struggle to get up and walk and it looked like her front legs were sort of bowed. Sven said Jack might have to put her down. Just hearing him mention something like that hurt Grace’s heart. She loved Lizzie so.
When Jack said Lizzie had eaten some corn, Grace hoped it meant she was feeling better. But the next day she had stopped eating again. Even though Grace didn’t want to believe it, she knew Lizzie wasn’t going to be there very much longer.
On September 21st, Sven and Grace went up to feed. Jack wasn’t there because he had to go to a volleyball game. But Lizzie wasn’t there either. Jack had gone out to the pen that morning and bumped into Lizzie and she had fallen over. She had tried to get back up and kept falling. Jack decided she had suffered enough.
“It’s just a fact of life,” Sven said.
Grace knew that and she knew in her head Jack had done the right thing, but try and tell it to her heart. He had done it for Lizzie’s sake. Grace was glad Lizzie wasn’t suffering anymore. But it still didn’t make it any less heartbreaking. Grace didn’t know who was going to have a harder time with it, Chloe or her. Chloe had never been by herself.
A day or so later, Grace went over to pet Chloe. Chloe let her pet her head, face and neck. Sven said Chloe knew Lizzie wasn’t there anymore. Grace couldn’t tell if she was lonely or acting different. She still had the goats.
Sven asked Jack if he was going to get another fawn next spring for Chloe. Grace secretly thought another fawn might make it easier for her also. Jack said no. The only reason Jack got Lizzie was because she was a Christmas present. After Chloe dies, Jack says no more deer. He was more into the goats anyway.
Grace should feel happy she had everyday for the past two years to spend with Lizzie. Lots of people would never get the chance to help raise and care for a whitetail deer. She gotten to see Lizzie grow from a baby fawn into an adult deer, bottle feed her and having Lizzie love her the way she did.
On September 21st, Lizzie went to deer heaven. She was born on May 30th, 2007. She is preceded in death by five baby goats and three cats. She is survived by eighteen goats, three people and six cats. Lizzie was one of a kind. There will never be another deer like her. She was the sweetest, tamest and friendliest deer that ever lived. She was two years old.
Lizzie would lick you up one side and down the other. She even tried to climb up on Grace just so she could lick her face. When they tried to take pictures of Lizzie, they either got a wet black nose or a close up of a big brown eye. Once Grace was trying to take a picture of Chloe. While she was taking the picture, Lizzie was licking her elbow. Sometimes they tried to make Lizzie stand on her hind legs to get leaves or a piece of bread. At seven months she was almost taller than Sven and he is 6’2”. They called it a kangaroo trick. When Lizzie started to shed her winter coat, Grace would get the wire brush they used on the goats and brush her down. So much hair came off they could have built another deer. Because Lizzie had never seen another deer and grown up around the goats, she thinks she is a goat. It’s the only life she has ever known.
IN LOVING MEMORY
LIZZIE
May 30, 2007- Sept. 21, 2009
