Urban legend...

An elderly woman brings her beloved pet canary in to the student-run free clinic of a veterinary college for treatment of its seriously broken wing. The students decide they should cauterize the region as part of their treatment. First they anesthetize the bird with ether, then they reach for an electric cautery, forgetting that the bird’s bones are hollow. The highly flammable ether has entered the broken bones, and when the tool is applied the bird immediately bursts into a ball of flame, leaving nothing behind but a small pile of scorched feathers.

From Jan Brunvand