Murder (2004-05-03)
Last week I went to lunch with a few friends at Yayoi Kaikan. It is a small hotel with a function room and a modest landscaped garden mostly catered for wedding receptions. The lunch buffet was cheap and nothing spectacular. However good company compensated for dull food. I had a very good time catching up on girly talks with my girlfriend since she returned from her hometown Taiwan recently. After lunch the two of us went to Ueno (
) to do
some shopping while the others went their own way. As we took a shortcut through Ueno Park, we saw a murder being
committed.
A large crow was attacking a helpless little pigeon in broad daylight. The big black bully was tearing at the ruff of the pigeon while the poor thing was flapping its wings madly and trying to break away. The pigeon was no match for the crow's powerful grip and was dragged along on its belly on the ground fighting a losing battle. There were tons of pigeons right by them and a couple more crows standing by ready to join the attack. I know this sort of thing happens in the animal world where one species feeds on another, but we couldn't bear to watch that pigeon being mauled to death in front of our very eyes. So we rushed to separate them hoping to save the poor bird's life. The crow ditched its prey as soon as we got close to him and retreated to a nearby rail scowling at us. Meanwhile the pigeon was struggling so hard to stand up and all it could do was to drag itself more on the belly with its wings half expanded flapping limply on the ground. Then its body began to convulse and in less than a minute, it twitched for one last time and lay still. We had come too late for it afterall. Knowing the crow would tear the pigeon's body in bits if we did not dispose of it, we placed the dead bird in a paper bag I happened to bring with me that day (presage?) and put it in the park's big trash bag. Since we couldn't bury the pigeon, I figured cremation was at least better than mutilation by crows.
May it rest in peace. Amen.
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