Over the weekend, my wife and I had the always-rewarding opportunity to save another life. We don’t get all the credit of course; we only brought the stranded murre to the local wildlife rehab center. But as the rehabber pointed out, those birds don’t last long on exposed beaches like that, with all the cars and dogs running off leash who might happen by.
Starving or otherwise stressed pelagic birds, like murres and grebes, loons and others, sometimes get washed in on the storms and find themselves too weak to make it back past the breakers. Last year, when I was rescuing just such a stuck sea bird who was washed up on the beach, a busy body local (probably resentful that birds sometimes eat fish) tried to convince me to leave the bird and let nature take its course. I wanted to tell him to butt out and mind his own mortality.
When I relayed the story to the rehabber she said what I’ve always thought: How often does he visit a doctor? Implied was the question: Why doesn’t he just let nature take its course next time he’s sick or injured?
Text and Wildlife Photography Copyright Jim Robertson
Exposing the Big Game 
great post and great point.
Thanks, I wish more people would
I’ve been taking injured birds and mammals to a local rehabber for years. And, I will continue to do so. It’s called empathy, and respect for the lives of other beings. We are all connected, we are all here to help each other.
Wish I would have thought of this comeback last year when I saved 3 goslings. I worked in a high rise building that had 2 roof lines. The lowest was on the 6th floor and we were on the top floor so were able to look down and see that a mama goose had laid her eggs on the lower roof. We watched and waited until one morning there they were. Six adorable babies. The obvious question discussed among us was how will the babies get down. I learned a lot about geese last year. Apparently the mom encourages them to jump! A rehabber told me that because the babies are so light they pretty much flutter to the ground and are rarely hurt. Unfortunately there was a big ledge going around the perimeter making it impossible for the babies to jump. The mom was flying up and down and honking her little heart out. One baby managed to jump and later that day I took pics of them. I asked the superintendent if he would put a plank up there so the remaining babies could get up on the ledge and he said he called the ODNR and they told him to just “let nature take it’s course” He didn’t know who he was talking to. He asked me if I wanted to talk to ODNR and named the one idiot from that office who I have had dealings with before. I advised him that that was a really bad idea. It ended happily though. I pestered a friend who had a really tall ladder who very kindly came out twice so I could climb up there (I am very afraid of heights) and get them food and water and the next day get them into a carrier and to a rehabber. No easy feat. What I wanted to say to the ODNR idiot though was this…..since when do you guys let nature take it’s course? They are the numero uno enemy of nature.
Most excellent comeback and one I will remember!