Wilderness: Chapter 4
The Death of Sunny: In which something terrible happens to one of our rescue chickens
Wilderness: In Search of Belonging traces my journey growing up as a dual heritage child in a white family in predominantly white, rural Britain—a place where I never quite fit in, and my sense of belonging always felt out of reach.
Now, as an adult, with my husband and daughter, I have moved to a remote part of Somerset to begin a mini conservation project. This is my story of our rewilding adventure, an exploration of how nature can help us heal, and a deepening understanding of what it means to truly belong.
The first chapter is here and is free to read.
We call our new rescue chickens Willow, Sunny and Lulu. A few hours later, it’s apparent that Willow is seriously ill. I call our local vet at Bristol University’s Veterinary Department.
‘Probably internal bleeding,’ the vet says. ‘When companies get rid of hens, the men literally throw them into the containers. She’s probably been very badly man-handled.’ She tells me to keep Willow warm and feed her water with a dropper, mushed-up pellets and dissolved aspirin every hour.
What I’ve discovered is that