Lady Amherst’s Pheasant. Have you ever seen such gorgeousness? I’m enthralled.
And of course in a Google search, I find out people are breeding and selling them! Why? Because they can. Its like when I recently read that in traditional Chinese medicine the bile of black bears is extracted (after caging and painful process) for god knows what purported benefit. Don’t get me wrong, I believe in the efficacy of that tradition. When I lived in Chinatown, I had a roommate whose friend was a Chinese herbalist, and he gave me a script (in Mandarin) for a recurrent upper respiratory infection that I took to an herbal pharmacist who only served Chinese. I just watched him read the note, and pull out of the battered odd-sized drawers of his old wooden dispensary various plants, bulbs, leaves, twigs, etc., which he then ground up into a tea.
(an approximation)
It was syrupy and woody in taste, a little nasty, but it did the trick! Sans the dizzy effects of most decongestants ala pseudoephedrin. So maybe there is some great tonic in bear bile, but it sounds pretty esoteric, and unnecessary. I mean if someone told me that an ingredient in my tea was obtained in this horrific way, I’d have said, thanks, but no thanks.
(red golden version)
Anyway, I guess I shouldn’t be surprised when my curiosity to learn about a creature leads to: “www.efowl.com › Adult Pheasants $114.99 Buy Lady Amherst Pheasants from eFowl.com. Have Lady Amherst Pheasants safely shipped directly to you. The Amherst Pheasant is an excellent aviary bird”. Though it does reinforce my general antipathy toward what I’m calling late-stage humanity. Wondering what that might be like, owning such a beautiful creature? I don’t know, but here’s a sense of how pleasant life for the pheasant looks . And of course there’s the impossible allure of the feathers, this pic from a fishing tackle/bait site. I guess we just can’t help ourselves.
