I Am Livid

For the last several months I've had a family of sparrows living above the door at the shop. If you aren't aware, sparrows are my favorite bird and it's considered to be good luck if they nest near your home. So to have them nest right in front of the shop, I was delighted.

Every morning when we got to work I'd see daddy sparrow leave the nest to find food and you could hear mommy sparrow up there chirping to her babies and you could hear their tiny chirps back.

After a few weeks the babies would learn how to fly and then gradually leave the nest. Then we'd just have the parent sparrows hopping around the parking lot collecting new nesting material, little seeds and bugs, etc., until they laid more eggs and the cycle started over again.

They had raised three families in that nest.

I knew that one day the sparrows would need to be moved since the nest was near a light fixture, so we had planned on purchasing a cozy little birdhouse and mounting it on the storefront so the birds would find it more attractive and reconstruct their nest there. Because let's face it, man has interfered enough in nature's plan. The sparrows nest in buildings because we've cleared the forests for our stores, restraunts, and homes. They have to live somewhere and trees are becoming a little scarce in most cities. It's our fault, the least we could do is accommodate them.

Before we could put up the birdhouse the sparrows were evicted.

When I got to work this morning there was no chirping. Daddy sparrow was not sitting on the wire in front of the building. The light fixture had been gutted, all of the nesting material had been stripped out. The ground was littered with feathers and straw and the birds were gone.

...

Where did they go? What did they do with the baby birds? Yes, they did have chicks in the nest, hatched just a week or so ago... When the nest was cleared did they at least have the courtesy to take them to an animal shelter? I somehow doubt it.

The property owner can make up whatever justification he wants to help him sleep at night, but those birds had just as much right to be here as we do. I'm absolutely livid. The superiority complex most humans have over other creatures is disgusting.