Well Shoot...

[nekosensei]

I got to Willowbrook, and they told me that they didn't take house sparrows, but there was a place nearby that did. I figured, okay, I can do that. They offered to take her in back to see how bad her injuries were, so I took them up on it. They came back with bad news. The bird was in the process of dying (most likely from some kind of head trauma) and it was highly unlikely that she would make it to the other place or that the other place would be able to do anything about it if she did make it there. They told me that I could try to take the bird there if I really wanted, but really the best thing to do was to euthanize it. I told them that I trusted their judgement on the matter and let them euthanize it. Bummer.

I guess I'm not all that surprised. It was sitting quietly when I checked on it at nine o'clock last night, but perked up when I put more food down. It didn't show much interest in flying away and it looked a little unsteady on its feet. And when I looked at it this morning, again it was sitting quietly. I kind of poked at it to get an idea of what kind of shape it was in, and it didn't respond much, just blinked up at me. Still, I was hoping that it had a chance because it did live through the night after all. Oh well. At least it had food and a quiet, comfortable place to spend its last hours.

So yeah...this seems to be the usual outcome whenever I get a sick / injured bird. I'm starting to think that, if they're too hurt to fly away in a couple of hours and they don't have any other visible injuries, then they're generally not going to recover. Brain injuries? Yeah...not so good. I'm still not sure whether I'm going to try to do this again in the future. Am I giving them any comfort or am I just prolonging their suffering by taking them in? What do you guys think?

Comments

[quietdarkness.livejournal.com]

I can't see how allowing them into a warm comfortable place with food and water is prolonging their misery. I think it's called allowing a creature to die in comfort. You might not be able to stop the course of events, but you can change the quality of the events.

It's what I'd do, anyway. Thank you for trying.

[nekosensei.livejournal.com]

Well, it kind of is prolonging their suffering because-- and I hate to put it so bluntly like this-- sick and injured critters tend to get put out of their misery faster in the wild.

I don't know. I might do it again. I suppose it really doesn't hurt anything.

I have to take my hat off to the lady who came in at the same time I did with an injured squirrel though. I'd be too afraid to corral a sick or injured mammal like that because, my luck, I'd get bitten and have to go in for rabies shots. I suppose I could give something like that a try if I had thick welding gloves and a carrier dedicated to that, but if I did do that, I'd never hear the end of it from doomsey.

[gipsy-dreamer.livejournal.com]

Last summer I was on my way to the shops when I found a Blackbird in the middle of the pavement. He had a broken leg and a broken wing, and he was fluttering around and panicking.

We get a lot of idiots around here who think it's okay to ride a pushbike on the pavement, and so I picked him up, deposited him in a nearby garden for safety and collected him on my way home.

We put him in a box and placed the box in the garage. I knew he was never going to make it and he was dead by morning. He's buried next to one of my rose bushes.

Would I do it again? That Blackbird would have been at the mercy of local cats if I'd not brought him home. He died in a quiet place away from predators and that's what he deserved. So yes, I'd do it again.

[barsukthom.livejournal.com]

Our dog caught a rabbit; we interrupted him half-way through. I think it's back was broken, but it definitely was Tharn. We gave it a safe box and a chance to slip away quietly.
Half the time, I know & understand they're prey animals, and are destined to be a damp squeak. I still watch out for squirrels when I'm driving.

[hopefulspirit.livejournal.com]

I think you did a wonderful thing by taking care of that bird and doing what you could.

[nick-101.livejournal.com]

At least you tried to make the bird comfortable while injured. Sorry that it had to be gone so soon.

[lark_ascends]

I think you did the right thing.