Wild Goose
Posted: Monday, 17 December 2007 |
7 comments |
The night before last I found a wild goose on the track beside the pond. It had an injured wing, so that is why she was easy to catch. She didn`t object at all to my picking her up, stroking her and bringing her home. Other than the wing, she seemed in fine enough fettle, but the injury, although there was no blood and it was still attached, made it awful difficult for her to walk.
So she was put into one of the hen hutches, given bedding, barley and water, and left for the night.
I`m no vet you see. I have not the touch with healing beasts that other folks seem to have (it appears to go hand in hand with lack of social graces) so she`d to take her chances.
She didn`t make it, but at least she died in peace, because I have seen injured birds before, harried by rats or the islands feral cats (or even the tamed ones!) and watched them without being able to get to them to help, as they panic, and get run over on the roads, or get chased onto the sea to drown, or just get torn to bits by rat, cat or sometimes, dog.
So at least this one died in peace.
I used to try and rescue every injured bird I came across. Normally they seem to be storm damaged birds, with torn wings, or having been clipped by cars. Had only very few successes though...the best one being an oystercatcher we`d to take the leg off, as it had been caught in sheeps wool on a barbed wire fence and the leg was almost torn off of its own self.
I still see it flying around the place, the peedie one-legged bird, with other oystercatchers, so am happy it made it.
Most of them die though.
Like this goose.
She was a bonny bird, soft and grey feathered, gentle eyed and just a pretty wee thing.
Nowadays, when I come across such injured birds, I tend to put them out of their misery if I can catch them.
I don`t know what made the goose different...maybe because she looked well apart from the wing...
but she didn`t make it.
It`s nature, that`s all.
Posted on Hermit Life at 19:04
Comments
sorry its 2 a.m here so haven't rread blog in full but look at one snap i seent fc which will be published sooon
carol from nz
Is yer Goose cooked HL?
Tws from Goosebumps
I was wondering about the practicalities of that too Tws, or whether, having made some sort of emotional attachment, it's then not possible to put it on the table. A bit like naming the creatures you breed to eat. Some say this is a real no-no...
Flying Cat from giving the oven a wide berth
Oh trust me, emotional attachment or not, ye can still eat them! But my dad told me never to eat anything unless you were fairly sure what killed it, just in case of parasite or disease. :-) I think this one was down to shock, but just in case..besides, wild geese are half the size of me ain domestic fat birds. Nae meat on her at a`.
Hermit from Sanday
Too much exercise I expect...if only my bipeds were like wild geese...
Flying Cat from patting a plump rump
I agree Hermit Life, it is nature and in the past I have had to do the same. But what a sorry sight it is to come across a rabbit with mixemotisis (not sure if I have spelled that correctly), but the disease is a terribly slow death for rabbits, and the kindest thing is to put them out of their misery.
Squidgy the Otter from Having a Gander
Hermit, some people have the nack of healing but it can be a bit of a strain on family life. My mum was very good at it but we had to put up with helping to feed razorbills (and they are!), herring gulls, even a monkey (who broke every one of my model aeroplanes before being packed off to a zoo). A meal usually ment about 90% of the chopped fish landing on the walls. Squidgy, the otter epsiode was before my time. But it is great when you see a wild animal returning to its proper life. For those who may be wondering the monkey was not indigenous to Scotland.
Barney from Swithiod no menagerie
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