Hi everyone!

After the first cold front, I clipped off a couple of damaged leaves of my 4 ft tall papaya plant. I wanted to leave the rest of the dead leaves on the plant hoping they will eventually dry and fall off. But the first picture is what I found about 4 days after that. I’m not really sure what happened here -if the birds were on it or if the plant is giving up hope on me :(

I have cut the damaged part of the main stem and that’s about 2 ft. Should it be cut at an angle? How can I take care of the top cut?

Will appreciate any help.

Thanks!