The Inhumanity of Our Humanity
This is the story of when an entire species became the world’s adopted pet.
Sadly, this pet obituary is more like a requiem for one species, passenger pigeons, brought to its demise by another species, human beings. A pet eulogy for an individual animal who is the last sole representative of her species is heartbreaking.
As humans, we’re capable of so many inspiring acts of love and compassion; but, sadly, we can also be the direct source of unforgivable displays of destruction – such as orchestrating the extinction of an entire species.
Martha, the last passenger pigeon to exist on earth, represents both the uplifting and malevolent sides of our nature: human nature.
The Path to Loneliness
Martha died alone at 1 pm on September 1, 1914, having taken the last breath ever by a passenger pigeon. Though the origin stories of Martha (and her parents) are varied, muddled, and unsubstantiated, the most widely accepted version is that Martha – who was named in honor of America’s First Lady, Martha Washington – arrived at the Cincinnati Zoo either by birth or relocation by zoologist Charles Otis Whitman sometime around 1902.
Martha, the last female passenger pigeon, became the focus of a compassionate and noble effort by human beings to reverse the slide of passenger pigeons into extinction. However, after four surviving male passenger pigeons died during a Milwaukee winter, Martha and her two male counterparts at the Cincinnatti Zoo became the last remaining passenger pigeons on earth. Unfortunately, Martha’s male companions died in April 1909 and July 1910, respectively, rendering Martha the last of her kind on the planet.
She was all alone.
One wonders if an animal knows when they are the least of their species.
A Singular End for a Lone Voice
Martha, as the sole living representation of her species, became such a celebrity in America and beyond that $1,000 reward was offered to anyone who could provide Martha with a male mate. No such mate was found.
[More pet loss advice, insights, and resources: How to Write a Pet Eulogy, Pet Loss Condolences: What to Say and How to Say It, and Life After Loss: 5 Signs It’s Time for a New Pet.]
Martha died while molting, leaving the extinction of her species in her wake. To our credit as a species, the people in charge of Martha fully understood the profound significance of her death. With the help of the Cincinnatti Ice Company, the Cincinnatti Zoo professionals immediately froze Martha in a 300-pound block of ice by and had her expressly delivered by train to the Smithsonian Museum in Washington, D.C.
Martha’s last days are beautifully chronicled in this story on American Bird Conservancy.
The Humanity of Animal Lovers
Few living creatures continue to impact the world for decades and even centuries after they pass. Martha is one such creature. And so are the human beings who treated Martha’s cadaver with such care, diligence, and professional skill so that generations of us would have a physical entity to appreciate and ponder, giving passenger pigeons an eternal presence in death.
Thank you to William Palmer, who carefully skinned Martha. Thank you to Nelson R. Wood, who thoughtfully mounted Martha’s skin. Thank you to Robert Wilson Shufeldt, who meticulously dissected Martha’s internal parts in the name of science and understanding. And thank you to the National Museum of Natural History, for giving the body and DNA of Martha a forever home, and for being a place where people can celebrate animals and learn from our mistakes.
Technically, of course, Martha was not a pet. But in many ways, Martha became the adopted bird of an entire cause and community of people who are focused on stopping – or, at the very least, slowing and drawing attention to – the extinction of animals, regardless of species.
RIP Martha. Your life and loneliness were not in vain.
[Visit more bird eulogies, bird funerals, and bird obituaries.]