All over the country (and world) people in their everyday lives stop for just a moment to notice some unfortunate incident affecting some poor animal causing it to suffer and possibly die. It is in the course of my business as a wildlife rehabilitator that I come into contact with these caring individuals on a daily basis. Usually these individuals have simply found these animals and brought them to us right away for care. Other times they may have fed something inappropriate overnight or for a couple of days and it is something that the animal can overcome with proper diet and medical care. In extreme cases, people keep animals for a week, or two, or four and the results can be catastrophic for the animal. What comes immediately to mind is baby animals that have been raised by humans and are so acclimated to their human caregivers that socialization with other animals may be difficult or impossible, resulting in either a permanently captive animal or euthanasia if dangerous due to lack of fear of humans. Other circumstances may involve an injured animal that is kept too long and allowed to heal improperly, or a baby animal that is fed the wrong diet for too long and is in the throes of death when brought to us.
The delay of a couple days will always bring the reminder from me of the importance of immediate care and bringing the animal in right away. Those who keep the animal longer or bring it in dying will get a harsher explanation from me as to the serious consequences of their actions. They will often get confused or angry when I tell them what they've done might cost the animal its life , but more often they will get upset and begin to cry when they realize the seriousness of their mistake. I have been criticized by others for this approach of what I see as "tough love," as not rewarding them emotionally for "doing the right thing." But I believe that by sugar coating the reality of the situation, you do no justice for the animal that will end up paying with its life and this person may walk away believing they did such a great job that why not do it again? So red-eyed and sniffling the individual usually walks away armed with the knowledge that will prevent them from making this mistake again and they will more than likely share this story with someone in the future, possibly preventing them from making this mistake.
So now since you have a little background info of my perspective on "good intentions gone bad," you may understand my outrage a little more deeply at what I am about to share with you. On Saturday, I caught an episode of Animal Planet's "Untamed and Uncut," a reality based show that shocks and horrifies viewers with actual violent footage of animal "accidents" from around the world. It's not my favorite show, but I keep the TV on as background when I am doing this or that around the house. They got my attention when they announced the next story would show how the rescue of a great horned owl in Arkansas played out. I stopped to watch the story unfold as a family found a great horned owl that had been captured in a steel trap and suffered a mangled and broken leg as a result of this heartless trapping method. The family, videotaping their every move, showed how they were able to secure the owl and pry the trap off. They then proceeded to debate whether or not they should put it out of its misery. They proclaimed rather triumphantly that they intended to "help" this bird and proceeded to cut its leg off with wire cutters. They were satisfied that they had done a good thing since the bird made no protest or show of pain. They then poured hydrogen peroxide and alcohol over the remaining stump as a precaution. What came next, I could not believe. They simply let it go!
Horrified. Shocked. Appalled. Saddened. All of these emotions hit me at once and are still swirling around in my head as I think of this poor bird flying off, dehydrated, in probable shock, and likely infected by the bacteria of a wound that was not fresh by the looks of it. The proud amputator proclaimed that now the bird had to work twice as hard to feed himself now that he only had one of his weapons. The guy even knew that! Wonder if he knew that if the bird survived the infection of his wound and debilitated state that he was likely to get an infection in the other foot as one legged birds are known to do?
So given my position stated in the beginning, I'm sure that you, the reader can imagine what type of conversation I would love to have with these people. That conversation is so important so these people won't go around bragging about this deed and what a wonderful thing they did. One can only hope that at some point, someone pointed out to them, uh maybe you should have taken it to a vet first? Yes, I hope they second guessed their decision at some point.
My deeper anger is directed at Animal Planet. I wrote them first letting them know how irresponsible the airing of this story was. That it was first and foremost, ILLEGAL. Rehabilitators like myself are not allowed to release birds with one leg and must be considered carefully on a case by case basis to keep them in captivity because of the propensity of the other foot becoming lame. It is for the same reason that horses with 3 legs are not typically saved. The other thing that Animal Planet is guilty of is glorifying an act that was clearly the wrong decision. Some producer felt that the wow factor was more important and spinning it this way was acceptable programming. It was in my opinion a morally reprehensible decision to air this story, and it was my suggestion to Animal Planet that they will examine these stories a little more closely before airing them.
I am really not that surprised, but I feel that enough is enough and I hope that people will speak out and let them know that they do not approve of this sort of irresponsible programming that ignores not only the law, but the codes of common sense that an animal that has just lost an entire limb needs medical attention by a trained professional, something that should be inherently obvious. Here's the web address if you have a quick moment to let Animal Planet know that you do not approve of this sort of irresponsible content: http://extweb.discovery.com/viewerrelations . The show is called "Uncut and Untamed" and aired Saturday August 29th.
Meanwhile I commend and applaud all of you that do take the time out of your busy lives to help animals. Don't stop trying, but just remember that like us, they need the care of a trained professional. You took the time to care, now take that extra step to find them the help they need.
I spent my first summer with children since the days of my first paid job back in the summer of 1999 as a summer camp instructor at Zoo Atlanta. Can't say I've really missed it, but it wasn't that bad! Here I am showing campers at the Museum how to dissect a dead quail. Never fear, these specimens didn't go to waste. The kids were allowed to watch the feeding of their subject material to the raptors.
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