The most read piece on my blog is the one I wrote about the day my sister was in London (60 miles from home, in an area of London she didn't know at all) at a homeopathy conference, when she came upon a grievously sick pigeon, ignored by all other passers by. She did the best she could throughout the day for the bird and then at the end of the day had no choice but to come home with the pigeon, on the train and then in the car, where the bird died late that night. We were all sad and also upset to think how many people may have walked past the distressed bird and not stopped to help. We are not perfect, we don't set ourselves up to be better than everybody else, but it's obviously the case that if we all adhered a little more closely to the idea of doing as we would be done by, then the world would be a much nicer, kinder place..
We are a family of ethical vegans, and maybe it's because we don't have those artificial, cultural, 'normal' barriers between (non-human) animals and us, and so if we see an animal that needs help, we always feel obligated to stop and do something, in the same way that we would if it were a human that needed help.So, anyway, yesterday, we weren't going anywhere..in fact we weren't going anywhere because we were celebrating Mouse's 5th birthday. Mouse was still asleep when I went downstairs to feed the cats, but I hadn't even done that yet when Fin and Pony came and told me that there was a dead bird in the living room. I went and turned on the light and was absolutely horrified to find the living room completely awash with drifts of feathers- the room was covered with them, and there was a dead thrush on the floor in front of the couch. I retreated to feed the cats and then came back a few minutes later with some paper towels to scoop it up with, in case it was really damaged and messy. As I scooped it into a paper towel the bird moved its head, almost imperceptibly, and suddenly we were in the middle of a completely different situation..not just a sad,messy, clearing up job, but an emergency with a very very sick bird which appeared to be dying.
We made up some homeopathic remedies in warm water; treatments for shock, trauma and terror and applied to the bird's beak with a cotton bud and within a few minutes the bird started briefly opening her eyes and raising her head. We did this at five minute intervals, and to make sure that we didn't get sidetracked we set the kitchen timer again, for another five minutes, each time. Wildlife casualties are often stressed by captivity so they generally need as much peace and quiet as possible. We were keeping the bird in the dark, on a wrapped up hot water bottle, in a cardboard box with a towel over the top; but although we knew the bird needed to be kept quiet it was obvious that it desperately needed the remedies, so it was a balance between trying to keep the bird peaceful and giving her remedies which in an emergency situation often need to be given more frequently. The remedies were easy and quick to give to her as we had dissolved them in water so all we had to do was put a moistened cotton bud to her beak every few minutes.
We did this for the next 6 hours before the bird seemed to have stabilised and we extended the time between remedies to 6, 7, and then to 10 minutes, and by bedtime we were at 15 minutes. By then we had started introducing some liquidised food, also on the end of a cotton bud. We'd also bathed the bird's injuries several times with Calendula tincture and warm water and added in remedies for lacerations and bite wounds.Mouse had a great birthday- he got a red sparkly guitar, some pipe cleaners and a crocodile costume- and he was really heroic about stopping at 5 minute intervals while opening his presents and waiting while we tended to Spotty (I know, sorry!) before resuming, for the next 5 minute burst of present opening. he was very understanding, and so were the other children, but I must say that it wasn't easy to be making birthday cake and organising a birthday meal (Mouse chose Tofu Tart, Roast Potatoes and Roasted Broccoli for his meal), while tending to the bird every 5 minutes!
We are not professional wildlife rehabilitators, but we have been looking after animals all our lives, and helping them with homeopathy for over 20 years now. Homeopathy is such a powerful medicine but so gentle and safe that it is ideal to use in situations like that of Spotty yesterday who was unconscious and unresponsive, and so deeply shocked and traumatised.
Birds like Spotty, who is a song thrush, wouldn't normally eat at night, so we eased off on the food but continued with the remedies, less frequent now, into the night. We made a fresh hot water bottle last thing at night and propped it, wrapped up, at one side of the box, so Spotty could choose whether to be near it or not, and then left her for the night.
This morning, Spotty seems to be doing well. Her wounds have dried well, and she seems bright and alert, and to be co-operating well with taking the water and food she is being given.We have transferred her into a big cage because we are hoping that she will start taking food herself. At St Tiggywinkles thrushes are fed live food, maggots, I believe, but although this might be ideal for Spotty we cannot do that. Of course we are feeding her meat, and, I guess that morally it is no different from giving live food, but I couldn't feed live creatures to another animal; when I worked at an animal shelter I could not feed live insects to the family of swifts that we were rearing.
So, our de-railed birthday turned out fine after all, in spite of having to tend to our unexpected guest every 5 minutes for most of it! We have had many many days that have suddenly dramatically changed shape because we found an animal in distress- there was a road we used to take on which we found a woodpigeon three Fridays in a row; we picked up a beautiful cock pheasant on the way to a tea party miles from home and had to bring him with us; I found a skylark on the way to catch a coach to London for an important clinic day during my homeopathic training and had to phone my then boyfriend, and ask him to drive 20 miles each way and come and collect it from my car which I had to leave unlocked. Miranda picked up a pheasant when she was on the way to the hospital to come and collect our oldest son and me from the transitional care ward at the hospital a week after he was born- she had to turn round and take the pheasant home and give him remedies, and then set out again, so she was very late to pick us up.There is never an ideal day to suddenly find yourself having to do that all that, especially if you are a long way from home, so, I suppose, on balance, a Vegan Day In is still easier to manage than a Vegan Day Out!
