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Shift (Re)Start
Back from holiday, and happy to be back rescuing animals! 🙂 (Another first; I’ve never enjoyed going back to work after a break!)
We’re encouraged to work at least one shift every two weeks so we stay on top of things and don’t forget protocols. So after a shiftless fortnight, I was curious how I was going to perform today.
There was a change in the planned driver due to sickness, but seeing as I hadn’t yet worked with them – or the replacement – this didn’t raise any issues.
Aside: To protect privacy I avoid using names of my colleagues in these posts. In my last post I realised referring to my colleagues as “the driver”, the “co-driver” or even “my colleague” sounded too dry and impersonal considering how we work together, which is why I used a nick-name. I’ll carry on with this. So the nickname for my ‘new’ driver for this shift is “Jill” (because she wasn’t ill).
Apparently the morning was quiet, so there wasn’t a handover. We pottered around waiting for something to come in. After 15 minutes the centralist came rushing through and told us there was a queue of rescues to carry out; the centralist from the previous shift hadn’t phoned them through!
Abandoned Dog
My first dog rescue! An unattended American Staffordshire dog had been seen left on a lead by a supermarket, and had been there for at least an hour.
The location we had was vague: “opposite the supermarket”. But this supermarket was on a shopping plain, bounded by alleyways and backed by a carpark. The dog could be anywhere! We saw nothing when we walked around several times, so we assumed the dog had been remembered and taken back home. But then Jill spotted him lying near a wall by a bench. It’s a good thing she knows dogs because she recognised the breed whereas I had seen him but assumed he belonged to one of the group of people loitering nearby.
I thought the dog was dead when we approached because he was motionless and there were several flies buzzing around. The guys on the bench called over to us. They were friendly, but also clearly under the influence. Conversation with them was strained, but we ascertained that the dog belonged to one of them – confirmed when a shopper walked ‘too’ close to the dog and he woke with a loud growl and got called back by his owner. It was at this point I was glad I didn’t need to go near it!
I was really impressed with how Jill dealt with the men. She was cool and calm and didn’t allow herself to be brought into a spiraling conversation with them, which as you might imagine, took all kinds of twists and turns.
It was a successful ‘mission’ in that the dog and owner were reunited; a rescue wasn’t really necessary. But we did let them know that it’s better not leaving a dog on his own for so long in a busy and crowded place.
As we got back to the ambulance in the carpark, we saw an Enforcement Agency van pull up. We wondered whether they were here for the same call. It’s good to know there are many people who are concerned with animal welfare! 🙂
On the way back the centralist gave us a call to see how we’d got on. Because there had been no ‘rescue’ and no “Finder’s Form” (used to ensure we don’t ‘steal’ animals and make financial claims) there was a chance we wouldn’t be paid. She asked me to highlight in the admin that the owner was found drunk, thereby validating our call-out on-site.
Wounded Blackbird and Wood Pigeon
As soon as we got back to base there was a call-out for a suspected cat attack victim; a blackbird that was bald between his head and right wing. Unfortunately the centralist called us en route to let us know that he’d died.
It’s moments like this which remind me I’m in an ambulance and not a van. Indeed, it is essentially a van loaded with gear to catch animals, but often there is urgency when we bring animals in to be treated.
As bad luck would have it, there was another call to pick up a wounded wood pigeon. Jill turned the ambulance around. In the Netherlands this is quite a feat. Country roads are barely wide enough for 2 vehicles, there’s a grass verge with huge trees on each side, then a cycle lane and then high vegetation. And she still managed! This was great because it saved a lot of time; the satnav was sending us kilometers away to turn around at a roundabout. (Don’t get me started on Dutch roundabouts…). Lessons learned from snake girl; I hoped I helped a little bit by telling Jill whether it was (still) clear or not.
When we arrived at the location there was quite a ‘welcome’ committee! A group of people waved us down, and eagerly handed over a shoe box with the pigeon inside. He was in a bad state – lots of blood and a broken leg. He’d been found on the pavement so no-one knew what had happened to him.
I usually keep spare blue plastic hygienic gloves in my pockets so I’m immediately ready to handle animals on-site. This time I was unprepared and needed to get some from inside the ambulance. No need – Jill was prepared and moved the pigeon from the shoe box into the rescue centre box.
We handed out a magazine which was very well received. Now I come to think of it, maybe I should have handed out more because the people were from different households.
Ringed Homing Pigeon
Our list of rescues grew!
Next up was ringed homing pigeon with a wounded wing. The damaged wing made it difficult to pick him up because the usual trick is to firmly grab both wings, and I didn’t want to do this for fear of causing him pain. We were lucky; he was docile and moved very little when I reached for him under the basket. I also saw there was blood on his back which might explain why he was so weak.
Unfortunately the couple weren’t able to tell us what had happened; they just found this poor creature in their back garden.
Now, as I relive this rescue, I don’t remember filling in the condition of the bird in the admin. I must have done it though because the system doesn’t allow blank boxes…
Stranded Homing Pigeon (Ringed)
And another homing pigeon. This one waited for us in a cage in a garden with notably no cats; the owners had pedigree cats who weren’t allowed outside! Fortunately the pigeon appeared to be healthy, but there was something wrong because he wouldn’t leave. Sometimes he flew a little distance away, but always came back.
Ringed pigeons are treated as pets so are always brought to the rescue centre where the owner can be traced from the number on the ring around the pigeon’s foot.
Ratted Out
The last rescue on our list was a (pet) rat who had been found in someone’s garden, and needed to be brought to a specialist rescue centre for rats. We determined to bring the pigeons to their rescue centre first, but we got a phone call.
It was from a member of staff from the rat rescue centre who wanted to meet us at the find location. We told her we’d give her a call with an estimated time of arrival once we’d dropped off the pigeons. After some advice from the centralist, we learned that if no “Finder’s Form” was required by the Rat Rescue, then there was no need for us to turn up on site. Indeed, this was the case , so we could simply continue our drive to the rescue centre and from then back to base.
At the Rescue Centre
All 3 pigeons were brought to the rescue centre. In only 3 months I’ve made so many trips here, but Jill had something new to teach me.
The delivery system is simple – we bring a bird in a box and place it into a cupboard. The cupboard has an empty box which we take and use for the next rescue. It’s a simple swap where the net transport is, of course, a creature in the direction of the rescue centre. But sometimes we leave more behind than just a box with a bird. It might be a hot water bottle we use to keep young creatures warm, or a small knitted nest. Or something else I haven’t come across yet.
Jill showed me a large container at the side of the building. Inside were objects such as these, and were left there for us to reclaim. In this way we found a hot water bottle which we brought back to the base.
Housework
Back at base camp, we were welcomed by the centralist as “The Pigeon Experts” on account of rescuing 3 pigeons in a row! But after that excitement, things were slow and in the absence of rescues we got down to housework.
This time it meant sorting out donated clothes. It’s for a good cause, but not only is it a dull task, it’s also in a small, stuffy room. Work space is limited, not helped by the presence of a huge chest freezer holding bags of dead animals destined for “destruction”. I’m most certainly not looking forward to taking any part in that, whatever that is.
Sorting clothes means emptying an plastic (bin)bag of donated clothes, chucking out the tatty or dirty items, and rebagging the clean items. The horrifying experience in the task today was some idiot had taken some of the dead animals from the freezer and left the bags lying around. This meant that when Jill picked up a nice clean bag to put some donated clothes into it, blood and water and I don’t want to think what else dribbled out of it and up her arm.
Apart from a “Eeuuuugghhh!” she didn’t mumble at all! Again, a great work ethic.
Washing the hot water bottle we retrieved from the rescue centre went much more smoothly!
A little while later the co-ordinator came in to say good bye and thanked us for our work. These little signs of appreciation go a long way! 🙂
