Oh, sorry - I misunderstood you when you said you were "holding out" on
the pheasant. In the US, that would mean that you were waiting to see if
she'd eat something else before giving her your good stuff. Sounds like
you meant to say something else entirely. And I'm glad she ate it!

Continuing the purrs,
Joyce

it is my heartfelt belief that there are NO coincidences only circumstances,
Lee

Reminds me of a Pheasant story. This *actually* happened...

Before I went to Belize, we were trying to raise publicity to get
funds to go. The BBC did some filming of us for one of their
programmes. They sent a psuedo wildlife presenter (complete
lightweight, I still can't stand the woman) called Michaela Strachen
to present the film piece.

Tico, our tame Ocelot was refusing to co-operate and had gone to bed
as he was very bored after being filmed all day. So, to tempt him, I
went and got his favourite foods - a dead rabbit and a fully feathered
pheasant, to wind him up for the camera. Only problem was, that whilst
the rabbit was thawed and warm, the pheasant was frozen.... So, as I
was doing the piece to camera, I told Michaela Strachen to run up and
down Tico's cage like a complete idiot, with the dead rabbit in one
hand, and the frozen pheasant in the other - the idea being that it
would excite Tico enough to make him get out of bed....

God knows what Michaela was doing with the d*mn things, because she
managed to get the frozen pheasant stuck in a tree. So, being the evil
b*tch I am (I told you I can't stand the woman) I made her try and get
it down by pulling on its tail feathers. Needless to say, it went from
the sublime to the ridiculous when I actually had a camera man film
her doing it.

I'll never ever forget the look of Michaela Strachens face at the end
of the *episode* when she admitted she was a vegetarian!!

Helen M

Can you freeze the other 3 until you're ready to cook them? I guess
you would have to skin them first.

Yep, we city folk are pretty spoiled in that way. But it's a weird
contradiction, isn't it? On one hand, we're grossed out by a dead
animal that is very clearly an *animal* - still having its head, skin,
feathers, or whatever else it had in life. On the other, we're all too
happy to eat the dead animal when it's been cleaned and cooked.

I'm not going to pretend I don't have that contradiction myself. I'm
also not so sure I'll resolve it any time soon, since I have little desire
to learn how to prepare a kill for a meal, nor am I about to become a
vegetarian. I guess if at some point I am ever forced into that choice,
I'll deal with it then. Most likely, I would find a way to get used to
dealing with dead animals. I'd have to be in a close-to-starvation state
to be forced into that choice to begin with - in which case I would not
turn down *any* source of food.

Joyce

so glad it worked for you, I am like that about Bambi, won't shoot one but
if its dead give me a knife and lets not waste shall we, Lee

Yummy. We were also presented with pheasants from my brother-in-law a
few years ago. I found a nice recipe where you lay streaky bacon over
the breast to keep it moist (which then goes nice and crispy during
cooking), and make a red wine and chestnut gravy to go with it.
Delicious.

Deb.

I don't mean to offend, but I find it hypocritical that people who are
perfectly fine with eating supermarket meat turn their nose up at freshly
killed game.  The only difference is that, in most cases, freshly killed
game have suffered a much less painful and traumatising death!

Hugs,

CatNipped

Yes. We'll continue the purrs for her to get her appetite back.

Joyce