This blog reflects my personal experiences and opinions and does not represent or reflect those of DierenAmbulance Nederrijn.
Today I was a finder before I was a rescuer, and I brought my find directly into the base. The awesome centralist entered it into the admin, but shit hit the fan when a stander-by stuck their oar in. It riled me up, so I’m sectioning that off into a separate post (message to future Paul: write “Hier voor het Dier” and add link.)
(Message to past Paul: here’s the link!)
That said, I’m posting this picture of the mouse who deserves a place in this world.
“Pathetic Pigeon” (not my words!)
This pigeon had been in the finder’s garden for a couple of days. Now he was under a washing basket ready for us to collect him and bring him to the wildlife rescue centre.
Paddy noticed he was ringed. It was a struggle to get a good angle of the ring on the photo, although this wasn’t really necessary; the carers at the rescue centre would be able to read the number easily and therefore find and contact the owner.
Homing Pigeon on a Balcony
This rescue was left over (of course – see my future blog post “Hier voor het Dier“) by the previous team. It flew on the the balcony last night and was still there in the morning. It flew away briefly, then came back. The previous driver wanted to know if the pigeon was still there before making the drive, so called ahead. There was no answer so he left it.
This seemed odd to me. The centralist usually thanks finders for their call and informs them that we’ll come as soon as we can, bearing in mind the location and urgency of other rescues. The finders are either in, or make arrangements for an easy collection if they know they’re going to be out when we arrive. This might include wishing to be called to let them know they’re next in line and we’re on our way. Phoning ahead as the previous driver did was therefore not only pointless, but gave an excuse to leave the bird on the balcony.
All that said, Sally thought we may as well try calling too. The finder answered and we gave him our ETA; it was only 5 minutes because we were already on our way! 😉
The finder’s property was in a block of flats and I suggested we use the stairs. No point hanging around for a lift to arrive for just a flight or two. Perhaps a mistake; I didn’t know how high the flat was and we found out the tough way – it was on the 6th floor! The finder met us at the top and told us there was a lift. Sally and Paddy gave me a playful nudge for making them climb the stairs!
There was indeed a pigeon on the balcony, amongst some food the finder had thoughtfully provided. He fluttered a lot as I approached him slowly from behind. I was afraid he’d panic and fly away, but thankfully I was able to grab hold of him by reaching downwards from above which limited his movement in the wings.
It turned out this pigeon wasn’t just ringed, but double ringed (i.e. a ring on each of his legs). Paddy found out afterwards this meant this was a “competition” homing pigeon, and that if one is found, it’s usually disorientated and confused. This seemed to fit the picture we had here!
Another Homing Pigeon
Our third rescue was a third homing pigeon – also double-ringed. We wondered whether these homing pigeons were all part of the same competition as the find locations were relatively close to each other.
This one was found on the the finder’s driveway, and waited for us under a washing basket.
We needed a decent picture as homing pigeons count as pets. Getting a nice shot of his head was tricky! 😉
Take a Tablet for a Headache
We use a tablet to read, enter, adjust and update the admin when we’re in the field. It’s old, it’s slow, it’s cumbersome. It’s dim, it’s lethargic and unresponsive. In short, it’s a headache to use and it’s easy to inadvertently switch between tabs and rescues and enter information on the wrong rescue. As much attention that goes into entering information into the tablet also goes into checking the information is entered correctly.
During one of these checks we found an error. No-matter; communication between phone and tablet is seamless, right? Nope. But we got it sorted! 🙂
Wildlife Rescue Centre
A simple case of delivering our homing pigeons to the wildlife rescue centre. They’d check their health, help them recover, and find and contact their owners thanks to the numbers on their rings.
Cat on a Balcony
Another animal in need on a balcony! It wasn’t clear how the cat got up to the balcony on the first floor of the finder’s house, but the finder was afraid to approach the cat so called us to bring it down.
We needed to park some distance away but the walk to the house gave us a chance to see from outside the sweet-looking cat sitting in the corner. We’d just entered the house when we realised we’d forgotten to bring the chip reader with us – a crucial tool we need so we can determine who the cat’s owner is.
Sally went to retrieve it from the ambulance. She was gone for ages! Tectonic plates heaved and shifted around the world’s surface as we edged closer to the next geological epoch and awaited her return. Eventually she returned in a glow of blazing glory; she’d happened upon a local resident who not only recognisd the cat as belonging to a resident backing onto the finder’s property, but knew that one of our centralists lived nearby.
I’ve lived in the Netherlands for approaching 18 years, and there are some things I don’t understand about the Dutch. Such as: Why does it take so long to say “Thanks, now lets get the cat”? First we needed to call the (off-duty) centralist (who was on holiday) and then we could go up and get the cat. So Sally did and set him down on the driveway where Paddy read his chip number with the reader (thanks for the chip reader Sally!) and I made a note of the owner’s details.
The owner didn’t answer his phone, but his property was so close we set the cat free so he could walk himself back to his nearby home. We left a message asking if we could share his details with the finder so they could arrange something between them if necessary.
Runner Duck
From what I understood from the Dutch word (“Loopeend“) I was expecting to catch a “walking duck”. Little did I know, a Loopeend is a “Runner Duck” – a special species of duck which is not native to the Netherlands!
This one had been found some 15 km away. Clearly in trouble, the kind finders brought him home where they contacted us so we could bring him to further help.
As requested by the finder, we phoned ahead, and they double checked we were in the correct town; they’d had several visitors at the right street name and house number, but the wrong town! (We’d got it right! 😉 )
None of us were surprised to find the runner duck on the balcony! 😉 But the poor thing was in a real state. His neck was badly wounded, his right leg had something wrong with it, his wings weren’t hanging symmetrically and he had fleas.
It was clear the rescue box we’d brought with us was too small. This was my fault. Sally had asked whether I thought we needed a large or small one; I chose the latter because my head was heavily screwed up with the mouse and I was thinking ahead about the following rescue (for a smaller animal) than this current larger one.
(Did you notice how I’m building tension by not telling you yet what animal the next rescue will be?! 😉 )
Sally returned with a more suitably sized box. It was the first time I was to pick up an animal as large as this, but it was relatively easy. I’ve picked up a swan before (under supervision) when I volunteered as an animal carer, so I approached the runner duck in the same way.
At first I was worried about catching fleas from this bird, but once he was in my arms the thought dissipated. Note: the distance you see in the photos below is because we were trying to catch the injuries in the photos.
Since this was someone’s pet we needed a “finder’s form” to be filled in by the finder. This is a declaration that the finder is not the owner of the animal. I explain the reasoning when I ask people to sign forms on the assumption they’d like to know what they’re signing for. In this case it’s to prevent cretins from ‘finding’ their own animal who we rescue and arrange free healthcare, and the finder reclaims their pet having avoided healthcare costs. By declaring they are not the owner, reclamation isn’t possible (though adoption through the proper processes of course remains open).
The difficulty in asking honest finders to sign this form is obvious.
These finders were awesome – they’d made a special effort to buy suitable food for their patient, and even donated it to us. This will be given to the pet food bank.
Back to the Wildlife rescue centre
We were unsure where to bring our runner duck. He was someone’s pet, so the vet seemed like an obvious option. Alternatively, the wildlife rescue centre also look after animals like this one. We gave them a call asking whether they’d receive our runner duck. As the title above already gives away, yes they would!
Once I’d placed the runner duck into the cupboard I realised I’d forgotten to include the signed finder’s form which always stays with the animal. Posting it through a gap in the cupboard door wasn’t an option, but luckily I saw some staff on a break sitting outside, so I handed it to them. This was doubly handy because it gave me a chance to tell them the runner duck was in a really bad way and needed help quickly! He gave us a thumbs up as we pulled away! 🙂
Young Hare
I’m jumping the gun a bit here because this was entered in the admin as a rabbit, but it wasn’t until we brought him back to the base that someone from the next team told us it was a hare! (They knew because the fur was mottled brown and black).
This baby hare was found sitting still on the road near an office building. Staff there put him into a box and contacted us. Our navigation told us we wouldn’t get there until after 5 so we called ahead to ask if they’d still be present. Yes! 🙂
She was a restless little hare, but Paddy was able to pick her up and place her into a rescue box. We’d bring her back to the base where an external driver would take her to a shelter. Which shelter depended on whether she was a rabbit (pet) or a hare (wild).
Wounded Pigeon
This pigeon was in a garden shed and didn’t move. The finder wasn’t in when we arrived, but he let us know that access to the shed was possible via the back entrance which was open.
A cat jumped off some garden seating as we entered. The same thought crossed all of our minds; was the pigeon a cat attack victim?
I opened the shed door and was surprised to see the pigeon resting peacefully on top of a pile of cushions! There wasn’t much space inside; it was going to be really tough to reach him – let alone catch him if he decided to move!
Paddy was happy to give it ago. I closed the door behind her so the pigeon couldn’t escape outside – but left it open a crack so I could watch. That plan didn’t work; I closed the door and chatted with Sally until Paddy emerged victorious!
2 Song Thrushes
Last rescue on a very busy shift!
These baby song thrushes were found on the driveway without any parents visible nearby. They were too weak to fly so we were to pick them up and bring them to the rescue centre.
The finder handed us the shoe box they’d placed them into, and we brought this directly to the ambulance where Paddy placed them into a nest in the rescue box. I ran back outside to return the shoe box – which had a tea towel inside lining it!
Rescue Centre and Base
We brought the pigeon and baby song thrushes to the wildlife rescue centre, stopping briefly on the way to retrieve the phone from the back of the ambulance. I’d left it there whilst Paddy and I prepared the nest for the thrushes, but up front I didn’t realise and worried I’d left it behind at the finder’s address!
At the base we put the donated food from the runner duck finders to one side so it could be brought to the animal food bank. Incidentally, I noticed some human food nearby in readiness for the DierenAmbulance Nederrijn 40 year birthday celebration! (I made sure duck and human food weren’t going to be confused! 😉 )
At the base there’s a special place we keep animals for a short time until they can be brought to a shelter. I asked one of the following team members what the protocol is for doing this (i.e. how do people know there’s an animal in need of a lift?). This is when I found out we’d picked up a hare and not a rabbit! It also turned out there was an external driver coming tonight, so we could leave the hare in the common room.
Final Feelings
‘Normally’ this would have been an awesome shift with many (different kinds of) animals, but I found it really difficult today. The incident at the start with the mouse really upset me. I did my best and fought for him and whilst some might tell me that’s enough and it’s all I cold do, the bottom line is that it wasn’t enough 🙁
For the future, my upcoming paraveterinary training will help me look after (and treat?) animals myself (under supervision) and have less reliance on others to do that. Then I’ll be able to do more. I’m really looking forward to this, but until then I need to build my resilience in dealing with people with (a lot) less compassion for animals than I have.
