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Until now, my colleagues were very motivated and awesome in showing and explaining things to me, and very willing to answer my millions of questions – some in broken Dutch, and some, thankfully, in English. This morning, the motivation from my shift partners seemed to be lacking. I needed to dig hard to find out what I wanted to know and prise out information.
Injured Owl
The first call-out was collecting an injured owl that someone had found in their garden. To stop the owl moving away before he received the help it needed, the finders put a basket over him – a common trick with injured birds. Unfortunately in this case, the basket had handles so there was a large gap between the ground and the rim of the basket – a gap large enough for a persistent owl to squeeze through and escape by the time we got there. We searched the garden for the owl but without success.
For me, this was a complete mission failure; we simply didn’t get there quick enough. I’d like to think the owl did manage to fly away and that Mother Nature will look after him.
Dazed Tree-Tit
The next call-out was helping a tree-tit who’d flown into an office window and lay dazed on the floor beneath. We got there later than we should have because we drove to the wrong place first.
Thanks to a temporary technical glitch, the emergency phone-calls weren’t reaching the centralist who usually takes the calls, provides advice on the phone, and if needed, assigns the rescue to a rescue team. Instead, the phone-calls were coming straight to us in the ambulance. The driver drives(!) so the co-driver to take the calls and records the information accurately; information such as the animal we’re rescuing and the address we can find him, as well as the level of urgency. The (lack of) notes sent us to the wrong place…
By the time we got to the office the bird had regained consciousness and had been placed in a box. This meant we could look at him before ascertaining whether he could be relocated, or if it would be best to bring him to the rescue centre.
I must admit to getting really angry. The office receptionist was really happy to see us when we arrived, and offered us s cup of coffee. I politely refused, and my colleagues took up her offer. But I was appalled that coffee drinking took precedence over looking at the tree-tit. As did 2 toilet breaks.
I cold hear and feel the poor bird flapping wildly in the box by the time they came back. The driver took a careful look and decided that it was indeed OK to release him back into the wild. This took a lot of time – not just to walk through the huge carpark, but to find the right kind of tree; the driver knew a lot about birds – including this species – so knew that releasing him under the right kind of tree (she knew a lot about trees too!) is better than by the bushes. Indeed, as soon as I took the lid off the box, the tree-tit flew straight up and sat in a branch.
So (eventually) a happy ending for the tree-tit! 🙂
My take home lesson here is knowledge of animals is invaluable! If I knew more about tree-tits I’d have been more self-confident in going ahead and releasing the tree-tit in the right place much earlier. Then again, once my training (as observant 2nd co-driver) is over, I’ll be one of a pair and can act more forcefully to speed things along.
Goose on a Roof
A rescue with a much bigger bird than I’d come across so far…and from a greater height! This goose had a suspected broken wing and sat uncomfortably currently on top of a depot building around 6 m high.
I was nominated as the one to climb up a ladder to rescue her on the grounds that I was the youngest of the three of us in the ambulance. And that one of them was afraid of heights. I was more afraid not to try to help so I was happy to give it a go!
The ambulance is kitted out with a lot of equipment, but not a ladder to get this high. Thankfully the guy at the depot had one we could use; it took both of us to manoeuvre it out of a storage room at the end of a series of narrow corridors, and set it up near the goose.
My foot was already on the first rung when I realised my enthusiasm had run away with me; not only did I not have the net and goose box with me, I had no idea how to catch a goose with a net – let alone move it into the box if I was successful!
I asked my colleagues how to catch a goose (“with a net”). How to use the net (demonstration) and how to put it into the box without hurting it (demonstration).
I must admit it’s a welcome and new experience for me; wanting to know how to do stuff because I want to know how to do it, rather than in my previous work life where I asked how to do my work only so I could get it done and get it off my To Do list as quickly as possible. I made my way up the ladder armed with knowledge and a net. I’d come back down again for the box. The goose saw me as early as rung 2 and flew away. Yes, with a broken wing. I couldn’t see where she went so it was impossible to follow her. Dejectedly, I helped return the ladder to the storage room at the back of the depot.
Baby Jay
A baby Jay had been attacked by some magpies and crows and lay injured behind a log pile in a garden. The predatory birds cackling evilly in the trees overhead were prevented from coming back to the hapless little victim thanks to the presence of the property owner.
As soon as I picked up the baby, its nearby mother screeched and swooped at me. As a parent, I can easily understand her feelings not only of protection, but also those of helplessness and perhaps even despair.
Is it right, or even wise to take a baby away from their parent?
I was shocked to hear for the first time the suggestion that the baby jay should be left where it was food for the magpies and crows. I couldn’t believe what I was hearing! Of course, predators need to eat. But then why did we turn up?
The property owner couldn’t believe it either. We agreed it was best to leave the baby there near her mother, and the property owner would keep an eye on the magpies and crows. As I put the baby down, hidden behind the pile of logs and a little out of view from the magpies and crows, her little claws stuck in my plastic gloves, hanging on – I’d like to dream – to safety. Ultimately, she’s better with her mother.
I learned there’s an awkward line between leaving animals to nature and us stepping in. But I don’t know where the line is.
I’d love to know how the baby got on. Did the mother manage to bring her to safety? Did the property owner manage to keep the predators away? I’ll never know. It’s just one of thousands of incidents that happen and are easily missed every day in nature, but for this little baby jay, it’s a life event.
3 Baby Hares
Our next rescue was simpler – picking up 3 baby hares who’d been found by builders ‘renovating’ a garden by ripping up the green and replacing it with stones. Without a natural habitat or mother in sight, these adorable babies had nowhere to go. We brought them to our building where they would later be brought to the rescue centre.
2 Baby Mice
2 baby mice were found in a garden. Each was only about 1.5 cm long! Tiny, tiny little things that were so young their eyes were still closed. I made a small nest as best I could with a flannel (we have a lot of things in the ambulance!) and gingerly placed them into it. Like with the baby jay at the start of the shift, these mice gripped my rubber gloves! I was afraid of pinching them but thankfully it went OK. They were also brought to our building ready for transport with the 3 baby hares to the rescue centre.
Moorhen
When we arrived back at our building with the hares and mice, we were given our next rescue; a moorhen with a broken leg. Even though we had half an hour left on our shift (so 15 minutes before the next shift arrive on site), my colleagues wanted to leave this rescue for later. We’d had a lot of rescues on this shift, and I must admit I was exhausted…but what about the injured moorhen?
I asked about it and was told “If you want to help it, you can go with the next team.”
So I did.
My personal experience unworking with these colleagues was dreadful, but my motivation for pushing through always remained clear; I was helping animals and gaining experience so I could do it better with each rescue. As I’m learning about myself, whilst I love working alongside awesome people, it’s the final goal that pulls me through the difficult bits. Like cleaning dead cats. Like sorting through donated clothes. And sitting for 5 hours with a couple who seemed to take little interest in either me or the animals we were on our way to rescue. People join the animal ambulance for different reasons. Some for the animals, some for social contact, and others…I don’t know.
It seemed my colleagues had little motivation for the task at hand; I wondered whether my previous colleagues in my previous positions thought the same of me in my previous functions.
Anyway…new start, new attitude! 🙂
Shift Handover
My shift finished on an extremely grumpy note. I felt responsible for the moorhen so I asked the next two shift workers if I could join them for the rescue, and they agreed!
Shifts overlap by 15 minutes, and these precious minutes are spent with the ‘old’ shift crew updating the ‘new’ shift crew with ongoing situations. This might be, for example, rescues with lengthy administration, vehicle maintenance, incomplete rescues (such as this moorhen) or updates on the equipment in the van.
At the start of each shift, the co-driver runs through an ambulance specific checklist to make sure all the required equipment is present and functional. Practically, it’s often easier for the old crew to tell the new crew directly, if possible, if anything has been used in the ambulance which needs to be cleaned or replaced. It’s like doing a “fast save” on a word processor instead of a “full save”; noting only the changes rather than performing a full-blown system audit even when nothing has been done.
When the new shift crew asked for a (1 minute) update of the ambulance equipment, they were redirected to the checklist. It would have cost them at least 10 minutes to go through the checklist – all the while with an injured moorhen waiting for them. I told them about the net loss of the things we used (none), they did a brief double-check (I’m new! 😉 ) and we set off.
The change in colleagues was such a breath of fresh air, they deserve a separate post (see “Pole 2”). But I will finish here on a positive note; this was an extremely busy shift and I came across many different kinds of animals (ahem…and colleagues) and built up my experience. And I’m not sure if I’m proud of this or not, but at times it was so awful sitting in the ambulance that when we arrived at a rescue location, I was quick to get out and talk to the people who reported the animal in need. For me, as a quiet guy, this is quite a big deal!
