@Sally, please offer our condolences to your friend. I'm sure she's so upset about this, even more so if some or all were more "pets".
Such a tragedy.
I'm sure it was much hotter at the ceiling. You can see a 15-20 degree temp difference in some cases.
She's "lucky" (<-- relative, I suppose) that it didn't cause a fire as a result of the malfunction.
Poor babies. What a horrific way for them to pass away.
I wonder if any had the instincts (or the resources, assuming she had water cups/bowls vs. tubes) to get wet?
This is one of my big nightmares - that something will go wrong and take out the lot. It's only second to my fear of fire. I have so many animals. If we had a fire, we'd definitely have losses. And there's a good chance I'd get injured or killed trying to evacuate them.
So frightening to hear about cases like your friend's.
In Florida, we don't have to worry too much about heaters, thank goodness. But I lived in Massachusetts up until a couple years ago, so I know the cold. (Plus, we lived in a large 125-year-old house with horsehair plaster and no actual insulation, so it was draftier than most newer homes.) So I know heaters and the worry they cause.
Fly free, Sally's friend's birdies.
