sumi
Rest in Peace 1980-2020
DS came home and told me to come help a bird that "got its toe stuck" somewhere. Intrigued I followed him down the road and found this...
The poor thing had a piece of string tangled around its leg and tied to this electric wire and was hanging and flapping around there with no chance of getting free
Being me I immediately started knocking on doors to see if anyone has a tall enough ladder for us to get to it. An hour's fruitless search later I found a man parked on a side street with a truck (big truck, not pick up). I convinced him to pull in below the wire and see if we can find a shorter ladder then, to put in the back of his truck and hopefully reach the bird. The only ladder we managed to get hold of was too flimsy and risky and he refused, understandably, to let us use it.
DS then said look, I'll find a stick and try and flip the bird around the electric wire to loosen the string some... So off we went and came back with about 9 foot of plastic gutter. He got onto the back of the truck and first supported the by now exhausted bird a bit, so it can catch its breath, then carefully manoeuvred it around the wire, until he had a few inches of string free. He then pushed against the string until it snapped. The poor bird fell like a stone!
I ran around the truck and found it laying flat on its back, looking dead. When it picked it up it moved through. I asked the truck driver to help me get the string off its leg and brought it home for some rest, warmth, comfort and mealworms if it feels up to eating.
Our hero, DS
Right now the poor thing is just lying down and moving a bit now and then. I'm guessing it's in shock, exhausted and possibly a bit hungry and thirsty too. I'm not going to force it to eat or drink anything though. I'll just leave it for a bit and see how it feels later or in the morning. I'm hoping it will recover from its ordeal and we'll be able to release it in the morning.
If you guys ever release a helium balloon, stop for a second and think about the string and this poor bird...
The poor thing had a piece of string tangled around its leg and tied to this electric wire and was hanging and flapping around there with no chance of getting free
Being me I immediately started knocking on doors to see if anyone has a tall enough ladder for us to get to it. An hour's fruitless search later I found a man parked on a side street with a truck (big truck, not pick up). I convinced him to pull in below the wire and see if we can find a shorter ladder then, to put in the back of his truck and hopefully reach the bird. The only ladder we managed to get hold of was too flimsy and risky and he refused, understandably, to let us use it.
DS then said look, I'll find a stick and try and flip the bird around the electric wire to loosen the string some... So off we went and came back with about 9 foot of plastic gutter. He got onto the back of the truck and first supported the by now exhausted bird a bit, so it can catch its breath, then carefully manoeuvred it around the wire, until he had a few inches of string free. He then pushed against the string until it snapped. The poor bird fell like a stone!
I ran around the truck and found it laying flat on its back, looking dead. When it picked it up it moved through. I asked the truck driver to help me get the string off its leg and brought it home for some rest, warmth, comfort and mealworms if it feels up to eating.
Our hero, DS
Right now the poor thing is just lying down and moving a bit now and then. I'm guessing it's in shock, exhausted and possibly a bit hungry and thirsty too. I'm not going to force it to eat or drink anything though. I'll just leave it for a bit and see how it feels later or in the morning. I'm hoping it will recover from its ordeal and we'll be able to release it in the morning.
If you guys ever release a helium balloon, stop for a second and think about the string and this poor bird...
