Calgary Wildlife Rescue and Rehabilitation Society

Do you know an animal hero? I do. The nurse who babysits my cats works for Wildlife Rescue Rehabilitation Society. She is a writer too. She writes the stories of their latest animal acquisitions and sends their stories out in their newsletter. I've read them. They are great. They give each of the animals a name. Her stories tell how they were injured and the story of each recovery. My cat babysitter goes there and donates her time regularly to rehabilitate predatory birds. Her articles would be great children's stories.

Anytime I encounter an animal emergency, I call my friend for advice. Last year, where I was living I encountered a bird emergency. I called my friend. It was a long weekend. The vets locally were closed. The nearest vet was 280 kilometres away and three hours away. I had just returned from a very long trip a bit late in the evening looking forward to a long rest. I encountered rain storms on the last part of my trip. As I arrived home, I saw a beautiful beautiful gull on my lawn. We looked his species up. He was a Bonaparte's gull. You can see his likeness at: http://www.spwickstrom.com/gulls

Being a CatMom I had lots of cat carriers on site. I cleared out our cat carriers of cat belongings. I put in new paper towels. I went outside to get the gull. The gull was unsure of me. He ran three yards over and around a house to avoid me. He tired. I picked him up and gently put him into the cat carrier. I brought him in the house.

The cats who usually yack yack yack at birds through the window knew this was a singular and unique occurence. They all wanted to see the bird. They were very curious. I put him alone in our basement, but based on advice from my phone call to my friend, I brought him back up to my bathroom to keep him warmer. I placed a towel over the door to give him privacy.

We assessed him. He had a broken wing. He had bled. There was light pink fluid on my paper towel bedding. It was hard to tell how serious the injury to his wing was, and I hoped beyond hope he could be rehabilitated. Yes, he was a very beautiful gull. His markings were clearly attractive. He'd had an accident in the rainstorm being pushed into something and his last landing ended up on my front yard. He was a sitting duck or rather a sitting gull. He knew he was badly injured and it was a matter of time.

We had to make a decision. I wanted to save the bird. We drove to the nearest vet. We made it to the vet by 1 a.m. in the morning and back home by 5 a.m. The local chapter of animal wildlife rescue was going to pick him up from the vet if he was able to be rehabilitated. What I found out was that the bird took great comfort being in the cat carrier. I was told to not feed him for the moment. I bundled him up in more paper towels. We got on the road.

I put on soft classical music because I know it calms my cats. The bird did not make any loud noises, except for a few squawks. Mostly, he seemed comfortable, but I can't imagine what it was like being on a ride with a broken wing. I had tried to fold it in for him seeing that I did not do anything that would increase his discomfort.

I called back to the vet a few days later. The vet was not going to update me on the status of my bird rescue. I told the vet I gave up my weekend and stayed up a night to give the bird I brought in a chance. I told them I thought I deserved a status update. The lady told me she would check into things and get back to me. She called me back. After they examined the bird, they almost immediately put him down. They determined the wing breaks were not going to heal properly. A team of young people had looked him over. As you can imagine, I was sad and still tired. I had to give this gull his one last chance.

Should you ever encounter an animal in emergency, call the Wildlife Rescue Line. Their phone is:(403) 239-2488 in Calgary Or click here for a list of vet clinics accepting wildlife on behalf of the CWRS.