Why Do People Do What They Do?

[lovezebs]

Hello Bird Lovers.....

Searching on kijiji the other day, I came upon an ad regarding a bird needing a new home ($15.00). Of course I had to to check it out.

And this is what I found. This poor emaciated creature almost broke my heart. The guy claimed to have found him on his porch. He was wanting to get rid of him because he was starting a new job, and was offering bird, cage, and food for sale.

I e-mailed him, telling him that this bird was in very sad condition, and obviously the food he was feeding was not meeting it's needs. Told him that he really ought to do the right thing, and set it free. I also gave him a web site, where he could get help with this bird, in case the bird was ill.

Then I reported him to Alberta Wild Life (Wild Birds Rehab). Within a couple of hours, the ad was gone.

I really hope this story had a happy ending, for the bird.

[Babs _Owner]

lovezebs

That is very unfortunate. And keeping a raven like that, it may never be able to be set free.

Judging from his short tail feathers, the cage he had lived in was too small. Oh just aweful for such an intelligent bird!

[MiaCarter]

Oh god.

That is so sad. That cage is so tiny. Look how he's hunched. And his scraggly feathers.

Poor boy is in sad shape.

My guess is that he had something going on with him when he found him, as you shouldn't be able to simply catch a wild bird with ease.

I hope he doesn't try to release the bird. It will surely die in this condition. I hope this baby gets the help he needs. I wish i was in your area as I would have scooped that baby and rehabbed him myself or taken him to a place that could help.

As a rehabber, I encountered SO many cases of good-hearted people who thought they were "rescuing" an animal. In actuality, they were neglecting and imprisoning it with improper care. Sadly, many are beyond help by the time they reach out for help.

Quite often when birds are found right beside a structure, it's a case where the wild bird flew into a window, getting stunned....then someone picks them up and assumes they're injured/sick. When really, they just need a heat lamp, rest and good food for a couple days, then they're good as new! But the person assumes they're in need of rescue and they unwittingly imprison this creature. Especially common with lots of the smaller more dominant male corvids, some jays in particular, during breeding season. (They fly into the window trying to chase away a male - their reflection). I worked in a building with all glass siding and I'd get half a dozen or so stunned birds a year just from work! All but one or two was good within 48 hours.

Did he say what he was? Definitely appears to be a corvid, but hard to tell exact species. The beak looks a bit heavy and long for a crow; a bit too curved for a raven. Hard to tell with the small photo and odd angle. And not sure what you've guys got up there! My best guess would be raven, which eats carrion. If he's been fed birdseed in captivity, then that would explain his overall bad condition and bad posture (weakness...though the hunching it could also be due to the small cage). Crows tend to be a little more omnivorous, but still lots of meat which he's probably not getting.

But whatever he is, he looks awful, and he's far to large (and likely far too intelligent - all corvids are) to be locked up in any cage, especially one so tiny.
I worked with a handful of larger corvids when I was a rehabber and they're the type of bird who's not content to be caged. It's a very unique brand of intelligence they have; very, very different from a parrot (the type of bird intelligence most are familiar with; a very social intelligence). You can't simply provide a friend as you can with a parrot and expect them to be happy; they need to get those mental gears turning to be happy -- and you just can't do that in a small cage. (And challenging even in a big enclosure!)

So sad. Very upsetting.

[lovezebs]

Babs & MiaCarter

Guy stated that it was a Crow.
I'm kinda kicking myself in the butt, that I didn't just get him, and bring him to Wild Bird Rehab. It was only $15 buck.....

Poor birdie...

[MiaCarter]

lovezebs --- So this is interesting....

I wonder if it was a scam or if that's an actual photo of the guy's bird at all.

I performed a google image search to see if Google happened to cache the kijiji posting with the guy's info, so you could call to see if he still had the bird and offer to buy it if he did.

I didn't find the kijiji posting, but I did find a bunch of other postings of that exact same image.
http://tinyurl.com/nljz4wk

So I wonder if the guy just snagged a photo off the web (though why you'd choose a clearly neglected bird is beyond me).

So perhaps this isn't the actual bird.....not sure if that makes me feel better (knowing that the actual bird may not be in such bad condition) or worse (knowing there are multiple birds in this condition; at least 1 that we can't help.)

I might call Alberta Wild Life --- just in case they didn't follow through. You can usually call to follow up; most agencies and organizations are happy to provide info on the outcome. I always follow up because there have been cases where the agency didn't follow through on the report....my cat Tobin spent 3 extra days on Boston's Tobin Bridge because they didn't follow through on my first call! (Tobin wasn't my cat at the time, by the way. Someone dumped her on the bridge. I adopted her once her 3 days in kitty jail on stray hold was up. Full story here: http://www.petfinchfacts.com/all-posts/ ... in-bridge/)

[lovezebs]

MiaCarter

Thanks for sharing your story, Mia. I know where you're coming from when it comes to animals.

My last two cats, (Thomas and Gillie) who have since gone to kittie heaven, were both throw away cats.

Thomas, (the sweetest most loyal cat in creation), was left behind to fend for himself in a Canadian Winter, when his owners moved away. Gillie , a little orange scrap of a kitten (around 3 or 4 months old) was dumped to fend for herself in a busy bank parking lot, on a cold November day.

My dogs.... Danny, had the misfortune to be born on a reserve, and lost his doggy family very early in life. From his birth, until he was rescued by the SPCA, he was chased, starved, his tail ripped off, vet thought that he was probably hit by a vehicle, and we suspect shot at as well. When he finally was rescued, he was a great age... a whole 4 months old, and so wasted, that he had to be hand fed. Our Katy bug, was bought as a toy at six or seven weeks old, for a one and two year old. When she tried to defend herself, the family decided to get rid of her, dubbing her 'child aggressive', which she is not.

So this image of this bird, has appeared elsewhere as well? That is so strange. Maybe it was some sort of a scam, I honestly don't know. Why would anyone put a picture like that in an ad? Sigh.... it's such a weird world we live in, and animals, are so much nicer than people and suffer for it, and yet are so much more forgiving than people. We could learn from them.....

[MiaCarter]

lovezebs -- We're so alike, Elana!
All but 2 or 3 of my babies were rescues. But I'll save you the stories, as there are 15 cats and 6 dogs and each one has a story (plus dozens of stories of animals who've passed or fosters who've moved on to their forever homes.)

I often curse people for being so unkind to animals....and then I realize that if it weren't for that cruelty, I wouldn't have my babies!

My best guess on the crow photo is that he didn't have a photo of the bird so grabbed the first one he found online. I just hope the bird gets the help it needs. Crows are so incredibly smart and they have very precise dietary needs.

You're right - we could learn a LOT from animals. I try to learn something from my babies each and every day.

[lovezebs]

MiaCarter

Amen to that!

[Colt]

I suppose it could also be possible that Parks and Wildlife posted the ad in order to catch people who are keeping wild, native birds illegally and that there wasn't actually a bird at all? Like if you'd shown up and purchased the bird they would have slapped you with a fine...

[Stinch]

That's one emaciated and stressed out corvid... That's shocking, most likely a scam since no one in their own mind would SELL a corvid where they're native and corvids aren't cheap you know.

Kind of the same situation with tanagers, grosbeaks and most other cagebirds where I live and the rest of the world too... Some people keep Rufous Thrushes, TYRANT FLYCATCHERS/KISADEES (Need a lot of space and normally feed on flying insects and other small animals) and Cowbirds in such small cages. (Big enough for them to flap back and forth and stay upright, but not enough for them to fly, open their wings and do... Stuff.) I see a lot of birds being kept in conditions that either they can live or just plain innapropiate for such an animal to stay in. Such as canaries in "canary cages".

I can't really say much myself, since I'm keeping 6 societies in a breeder cage. I plan to upgrade them to a flight or a way larger cage, luckily I let them out in my bedroom occassionally, problem is me getting them back in the cage... I might ask my parents to put window screen on all the windows and put double doors and the house entrance and the backyard and maybe turn my bedroom into a bird-room?

Sadly, my mother does not approve of this. (Except for the window screen, this house needs it) So I'll TRY to save up some cash to make 4 flight, one for my goulds (They currently don't need one, but I want to take them out of that cage just in case), one for socies (They need more space), a "hospital" cage and a quarantine cage. And maybe one more just in case and some more mesh for future cages or aviaries.

[lovezebs]

Colt

I don't think they have time to play games like that.

I think this chap, did have a bird (which he wanted to get rid of), but when I mentioned Alberta Wild Bird Rescue, he got spooked and pulled the ad.

Have not seen it since, so I don't know what happened to the poor bird.

[lovezebs]

Magnificent BirdMan

You have a lot of good plans going on there , lol. Need to get Mom on board I think.

I really hate 'Canary cages'