Monday, June 9, 2008

fighting nature

As I was pulling out of the driveway early this morning, nature was taking its toll on a fledgling bird. A crow had attacked it and done a fair amount of damage. In an effort to try to save their offspring, both mommy and daddy bird were trying to attack the crow, and he dropped the baby bird. Right in the middle of the road.

Of course I could not just drive past it. I gingerly moved the injured animal off of the road and into the neighbor's flower bed. When I got back home from my Curves workout, the bird was still there, panicked and panting. So I did what I know will be a dumb mistake. I picked it up and brought it inside.

I called a vet friend of mine, who interestingly enough has the same scenario going on at his house (his was attacked by a cat). His advice was to feed it cat food and watch it overnight. If it was alive the next morning, chances are good.
The only problem is that this bird looks like something you'd pick out in the poultry section of the grocery store. Each time I look at the poor little thing, I think, "why am I doing this?"
The thoughts encircling my brain:

  • I am going to have nightmares where I transfer a sickly baby bird onto one of my kids.
  • My philosophy is Never Give Up.
  • Infection will set in before those wounds heal up.
  • Why am I taking this time away from my own children?
  • Why didn't I let nature take its course?

So, even though in hindsight, I probably should have let nature happen, I couldn't fight my own nature in trying to rescue this sweet little beady-eyed creature.

More to come......

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

mr subliminal has this to say:(salmonella) have you (salmonella) thought about taking the little (salmonella) thing to the vet (salmonella) or to the (salmonella) animal shelter?

Perryn said...

hey there. i don't think you made a mistake. i think god meant for you to try to help one of his creatures. i mean, why else did all this happen where you could see it?! i reckon that even if the poor little bird doesn't make it, god meant for you to try to help it so it didn't die helpless, terrified, alone and uncared for in a patch of dirt. even if the bird does die, this could be god's way of reminding all of us that even the small and ugly among us are deserving of at least some portion of love and compassion. that's my theory, anyway and i'm sticking to it and i think you're a magnificent human being!!!