(Header image created with microsoft co-pilot)
This blog reflects my personal experiences and opinions and does not represent or reflect those of DierenAmbulance Nederrijn.
Preconceptions
A rainy early afternoon greeted the beginning of the shift. Fewer people outside in the rain means fewer animals are found so I expected a quiet shift. I also expected it to be relaxed in another way – it was only Sally and I (no Paddy). Sally feels shares my feelings about workflow interruptions during training so that’s calming; not just that it means she thinks working with me is awesome ( 😉 ) but because it means my hesitation with the training debacle is more likely to be well-grounded.
Swinging over on the other side of the Scale of Relaxation was that there was no second team this week to take up the overflow if we were busy. Then again, I wasn’t here to relax, so no problem! 🙂
Arrival
For the first time in a long time it was quiet at the base! This was because the morning team were still out; it had been surprisingly busy, and indeed, rescues were still coming in! I looked at the list which told me quickly we had a lot to do!
Let’s go!
The centralist wanted us to stay until the morning team got back so we could use the new ambulance. The new ambulance is much more spacious inside (the back) than the old one. Not because it’s a little bit larger, but because things are stored very nicely inside thanks to the co-ordinator’s hand in designing it with workfloor knowledge. Sally and I were keen to get cracking with helping the animals so we weren’t that bothered about which ambulance to use, but by the time we finished explaining that to the centralist the morning team turned up.
Let’s go!
Nope. First the morning team wanted to give us a hand-over. This is really useful because this is the chance to tell us things like which equipment they’ve used from the ambulance and whether it needs to be replaced or cleaned before we head out. Or whether there are any rescues lined up with a history we need to know about.
In this case today, the hand-over was reading out the list of outstanding rescues I’d already read.
Let’s go!
We were nearly outside, but someone new came inside and introduced themselves. The morning team were training someone up and they’d been outside cleaning something. It turns out they’ll be with us next week! We made our introductions and finally headed out to the (new) ambulance for our first rescue.
First rescue: A pigeon who can’t fly any more
A simple rescue. This pigeon was on a fence but wasn’t flying away which indicated something was wrong with him. The admin suggested he was in a box, but it turned out the owners felt sorry for him in the box, and knowing he couldn’t fly set him loose in their garden. By the time we’d arrived he was ‘free’ and sitting underneath a small wooden structure.
It was simple to hold him and move him into our rescue box, and I handed the finders the last of our magazines. Well, sort of last; the rest were the children’s edition. Actually, that’s not entirely true either. When I took out the empty rescue box from the back of the ambulance I found a stash of magazines! Phew – we’d be set for the next rescues!
I almost felt like it was my first shift again as we walked back to the ambulance with the pigeon in our box. I mentioned this to Sally who felt the same way. We put it down to no Paddy with us. By our second shift, feelings were back to ‘normal’!
A Wounded Pigeon with Missing Feathers
This was a small pigeon and the centralist had advised the finder to put a bottle of warm water in the box with the bird. This told us straight away we needed to bring 2 extra things with us in addition to the rescue box; a hot water bottle and a small ‘nest’ which is effectively a small knitted upside-down hat we can put small birds in to keep them extra warm. They also help keep the bird stable during transportation.
This pigeon seemed very weak. I held him in my hand as the finder filled our hot water bottle. I couldn’t see any clear wounds. The nest we’d brought was slightly too small for the bird, but it would suffice.
I handed the magazine to the finder then invited their 2 children to hang on a sec whilst I went back to the ambulance to get a couple of the children’s versions. The finder encouraged them to come with us to the ambulance, so we gave them a little tour!
Cat Attack: Blackbird
We saw a black cat staring at us from the front window as we walked up the drive to the finder’s house. Indeed, we were asked to wait in the lounge whilst the finder retrieved the victim from safety upstairs.
They’d kept the bird in a pet caddy, which now as I think back to it, might turn their cat into a frenzy the next time it’s used for their feline friend who has a keen sense of smell. I should have thought about this on-site and advised them to give the carrier a good clean with odourless detergent.
Talking to the finders revealed a different story than what we expected – although the first surprise was easy enough to see for ourselves. The tiny, feathered little creature wasn’t a blackbird! An adult robin red breast had been spotted near by, so the running thought was this baby might be one of those.
And the baby robin wasn’t necessarily a cat attack victim. Rather, it had come out of his nest and the finders rescued him because he “didn’t look good and couldn’t fly”. Leaving him there on the ground wasn’t an option because there are lots of cats in the area who would have a go at him if given half a chance. Indeed, it was conceivable that a cat was the cause of him leaving his nest in the first place.
The finders had placed some worms in the pet caddy for the robin to eat and a hot water bottle for obvious reasons. I was pleasantly surprised he seemed full of life when I opened the caddy! It was easy to catch him, but keeping hold of him was more tricky. I could barely feel him through my hygienic gloves because he was so small and light, let alone see him. I was afraid of crushing him so I erred on the side of caution. Too much! I’d only just lowered him into the rescue box and he escaped through a small gap in my clasped hands!
This meant I was unable to put him into his nest we’d prepared for him. At first we thought we could open the box lid and try again in the back of the closed ambulance where he couldn’t escape, but we figured later this was probably useless; he’d flap or jump back out of it!
This time I’d brought both the normal magazine issue and the children’s version. I handed over the former and asked the finders if they wanted the latter. I felt awkward asking if they had children because it seemed too personal. I’ll need to think of a better way of approaching the subject for next time.
Our little baby bird tweeted loudly through the rescue box, so much so we could hear him in the front of the ambulance! It seemed cruel, in a way, but he was on the way to safe hands at the wildlife rescue centre. I made a note in the admin of our expected time of arrival there, and we set off.
Chicken stuck between a rock and a hard place
In this case, the small chicken was stuck between a fence and a bike wheel on an industrial estate and had been there all day. The finder suspected he’d crawled out of a delivery truck and was accidentally left behind. He advised us the small chicken was approachable
I was really keen on this rescue because freeing this chicken was an actual rescue and not just a transport service of moving an animal from one box into another and transporting it to a wildlife rescue centre. The second reason is the real reason. This chicken had literally escaped death by crawling out of that truck. I desperately wanted to help him win his freedom completely!
But first we had an appointment to keep.
Deceased Dog
An appointment had been made earlier in the day for us to pick up a deceased dog and bring her to a crematorium.
At first I was upset we were committed to keeping this appointment for a deceased creature when a live chicken was in trouble, but once I met the owners I realised I was helping them.
I’m marking the following as private because it concerns someone’s loved pet.
Next Steps
By now the rescues were adding up with lots of birds in trouble. 3 were in the town we were already in. I was itching to rescue the chicken, but he wasn’t just physically far away; reaching him meant travelling through traffic that was piling up ready for the long weekend here in the Netherlands. I had a raging headache; the anguish was tough to bear.
We checked in with the centralist. She suggested rescuing one more bird then head to the rescue centre; the finders of the other birds in trouble had already been advised an ambulance would come to them after 6 pm (i.e. by the team on the following shift).
Great Tit
This great tit had fallen out of a cat’s mouth! I couldn’t see any injuries on this tiny, tiny bird, but he barely moved. Birds this size need a hot water bottle which the finder prepared for us. But I couldn’t place him in the nest…it wasn’t in the rescue box we’d prepared!
We found it on the way back to the ambulance; we’d managed to drop it on the way up to the flat. In the ambulance we moved the baby great tit into the nest.
I made a note in the admin that he was more dead than alive, and gave an ETA so they’d know when they could retrieve him from the cupboards.
Wildlife Centre
My headache might have had something to do with it, but I was vexed when we arrived at the wildlife centre. Only 2 cupboards remained free from the 15 available. In other words, there were at least 13 creatures waiting for attention; it appeared nothing had been collected for a long time, even though lights were on in the building.
This new system of emailing reports to the rescue centre instead of using paper forms and phoning in advance is a pilot. The emailing side of things is brilliant, but I’m not convinced the incoming emails serve as a good notification for the centre staff that animals are waiting for them. This is gonna sound very English of me… I need to write a letter to someone about this.
Back at the Base
I was happy to be back! I’d found it to be a long and tiring shift – but good because we helped a lot of birds. Or at least, brought many to the rescue centre.
It was an hour past the time of our shift change, so I was upset the second team hadn’t left to deal with any of the many remaining rescues. It turned out – yes you guessed it – they wanted the new ambulance. Maybe I’ll suggest we take the old one next time.
Sally let the team know they’d need some more nests as we’d used a lot and they’d surely need some more. I pointed out the remaining rescues so they were aware of the urgency to get cracking more than anything else, and made a point to mention the poor chicken who needed helping.
Personal notes
And another lesson. I’ve sung praises about Sally several times. Now I realise I’m very lucky with the centralist we have who regularly works with us too! She has a good work ethic of passing rescues through instead of holding them back for nonsensical reasons. I must tell her next week! 🙂
