# Slightly traumatizing. :|



## MellissaG (Apr 18, 2007)

Man i am a sucker for animals. 
On saturday I was running around doing errands trying to prepare for my friends birthday party that night, and also my trip to the local themepark the next day Sunday. 

During the day on one of my FOUR attempts to go to the gym -- im just about to walk through the doors when... a pigeon about 4-5 weeks old plops out of the tree next to me. He's just sitting there, clearly not old enough to fly I was worried he would get run over or something so close to the road.. so I went up to him to see what I could do. He attempted flappnig away from me, but not much effort was put in to this. Not as much as it should have been, and I knew right away something was wrong --  *deep breath*.. 

so, i pick up the bird in both hands to keep him from struggling.. and I saw it...them... ugh... both legs severely broken. One leg was just limp, but the other.. almost COMPLETELY torn off. Dangling. (Im sorry, weak stomachs).. Dripping blood like crazy. 

He did seem highly alert, still, so.. with bird in both my hands.. gushing blood, I, the crazy bird lady I am, began asking random strangers to run inside the gym ( i work there, too, so I know them...) to grab me a box or something.. not wanting to go inside with a bleeding animal, obviously. Finally someone helps, I put the bird in the box -- run back inside myself to grab some towels. 

My first idea was the vet clinic emergency animal hospital around the corner.. about a block away. I walked him all the way over there, and they told me I had to take him all the way downtown to the wildlife rescue  I was sort of shocked, they didnt even have anything to help me stop the bleeding? come on. Some lady gave me $20 to take a cab down there.. so I did just that. I called ahead, but when I got there things were terribly unorganized. A nice lady directed me to a waiting spot while running around trying to answer everyone elses stupid questions about what dog they should adopt... finally I got her attention enough to tell her this guy's bleeding to death here.. so she grabbed the box and took him to have the vet look at him immediately. I was there for about another 30 or 40 minutes when they said he was still alive, but the outcome unknown. In total, I was with him for about 2 hours where I KNOW he was alive. 

Unfortunately, they get so many animals and pigeons especially in they said calling to check up would result in probably no answers, as there is a high turnover rate of both animal and worker/vet ... my poor pigeon is lost in translation. I do hope he's okay, but im sure they had to put him down.. there was definitely no hope for the one leg, it would have had to been amputated. 

I had to explain to everyone why I was late for the birthday pre-party, with 10+ people waiting for me ugh. "Sorry, I had a pigeon emergency." Oh well. Poor guy was such a trooper.. I do hope he made it! Quite the adventure. 

Anyway. The thing that bugs me though... the tree was high, and maybe was a high enough drop to indeed break the legs(about as high as a house roof?)..but the one was hanging on threads pretty much. I dont think the fall would have done THAT MUCH damage... so what the heck :|


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## flitsnowzoom (Mar 20, 2007)

I'm wondering if a predator of some kind had him and then he was able to break free. Poor baby. At least you were there to help so he wouldn't get squashed, bleed to death without anyone caring, or eaten by something. I'm sure you did the best you could for the little one. I'm glad at least someone cared enough to give you cab fare. 
We can hope he's still hanging on. 
Feather hugs


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## TAWhatley (Mar 6, 2001)

Thank you so much for helping this badly injured pigeon youngster. I'm sure it was a very difficult experience for you and certainly for the little pigeon. My husband was just going through his "We can't go anywhere without a dozen bird calls coming in" or "We can't go anywhere at all because of all these birds" .. it's hard for some people to understand why some of us are compelled to do what we do to try and help birds and animals. It's not that other people, including my long suffering husband, dislike the birds and animals .. it's just that they don't understand the lengths we will and do go to ..

Terry


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## MellissaG (Apr 18, 2007)

TAWhatley said:


> Thank you so much for helping this badly injured pigeon youngster. I'm sure it was a very difficult experience for you and certainly for the little pigeon. My husband was just going through his "We can't go anywhere without a dozen bird calls coming in" or "We can't go anywhere at all because of all these birds" .. it's hard for some people to understand why some of us are compelled to do what we do to try and help birds and animals. It's not that other people, including my long suffering husband, dislike the birds and animals .. it's just that they don't understand the lengths we will and do go to ..
> 
> Terry


I know. My boyfriend apparently has a huge fear of pigeons. After my first babies were born, he told me the stories of his childhood of his older cousins locking him in his uncles pigeon cages. (LOL...) But now he is traumatized. I can't even say the word pigeon. And everyone thinks im psycho.. :| Imagine someone standing on the side of the street holding with both hands a pigeon bleeding to death..with a foot visibly dangling, asking random strangers to run inside a building to get a box and/or towels... it took me 4 tries. can you believe that? 

I was glad the lady gave me the $20 to take the cab. If that didnt happen, it would have taken me at least an hour..more maybe... to subway it, then streetcar it to the humane society. I was surprised she handed me the money though. I was thinking about just putting it out of misery on my own, or rather..having Bf do it, I wouldnt be able to take that. I just couldnt though. I am going to call tomorrow and see if I cant get ahold of anyone to let me know how hes doing. Ill keep you posted.


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## MellissaG (Apr 18, 2007)

flitsnowzoom said:


> I'm wondering if a predator of some kind had him and then he was able to break free. Poor baby. At least you were there to help so he wouldn't get squashed, bleed to death without anyone caring, or eaten by something. I'm sure you did the best you could for the little one. I'm glad at least someone cared enough to give you cab fare.
> We can hope he's still hanging on.
> Feather hugs


In reponse to this... could be -- I didnt notice a squirrel or anything in the tree. But I think if something was chewing on his leg, he would be squeeking quite a bit.. who knows.

In any event,
I did manage to get a picture...cellphone pic of course... of him while in the cab heading to the humane society. I had him wrapped in a towel because although he was pretty calm, probably in shock or in too much pain to move...occasionally he did flap around in the box a bit and it was too horrible for me to see his poor leg dragging around... anyway, he started passing out but I kept checking his reflexes every so often id poke at him and he'd wake right up again... not sure if that was a good thing to do but I figured I couldnt let him pass out.. if he did, he'd be a goner... so I just kept petting him softly on his head


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## MellissaG (Apr 18, 2007)

In events like these...although I dont even know if he made it or not. He could have. I hope he did. But I still feel guilty in any case -- what else could I have done? I thought about tying off his leg with a rubber band or something to cut off circulation to the near amputated leg... he was bleeding quite a bit. Now that I think of it I should have done this... I just wasnt thinking straight. argghhh


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## flitsnowzoom (Mar 20, 2007)

He looked a beauty. We don't always think straight when in the middle of a crisis so like you are doing now, it's good to think through "what would I do if". I have to do that in my job as if there is a problem, every second and action can really mean the difference between a serious personal injury or just a minor cleanup so before I go into the lab, I always "what if" so I am more aware. 

You might consider carrying a small first aid kit in your purse or fanny pack or whatever you carry. It doesn't have to be more than a couple of bandaids, a small ointment pack, a few rubber bands or tieoffs, a stiptic pencil, a small folding knife (very lightweight) and a tweezers (for destringing). That little bit will occupy a space smaller than a folded up "Razr" phone. Put it in a ziplock sandwich bag or something similar and you'll have it handy.

You did what was right for the bird. I'm so glad you were there for it and were able to hold it, comfort it, and keep it safe from further damage. Hope he makes it, but if he didn't, you did the best for the bird you could.


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