I wrote this article for the Dierenambulance Nederrijn (Animal Ambulance) Issue 47 magazine. This is the original in English. Photo used with kind permission.
A Bird in the Bush
An injured pigeon was found and called in by the Handhaving (Enforcement Agency) at the side of a country road. Its exact location was unclear because there was no house number but only the name of a very long road.
A road so long we wondered how we were ever going to find the pigeon. But it was obvious when we spotted it – near the Enforcement Agency Officer’s car with hazard lights and the uniformed officer standing protectively nearby, ensuring other cars weren’t going to make a pigeon pancake.
The pigeon lay on the road uncomfortably with a suspected broken wing, and it must have hurt because he hadn’t flown away already.
As the co-driver approached the pigeon, I chatted with the enforcement officer to gather more information about what had happened to the bird. But there was nothing much further to tell – he’d found the pigeon on the road and stopped to phone us.
When we pick up birds, we try to hold the wings so that they don’t fly away. But now a wing was damaged and sticking out at a funny angle. The co-driver didn’t want to cause any further pain or injury and this made it difficult to handle the pigeon. And this is why, as I was chatting to the officer, I saw from the corner of my eye the pigeon fly – complete with a broken wing – across the road, over a ditch and into the undergrowth.
The poor thing was so nervous it had struggled free from the co-driver’s grip!
Unluckily for the pigeon (so lucky for us and therefore lucky for the pigeon…) he’d caught himself amongst some brambles so it couldn’t easily move away. I was closest to where he landed and I hope I freed it without hurting him. For now, it was safe in my hands, and with thanks to the driver we got the pigeon into the rescue box.
It rained heavily as we drove to the Avolare rescue centre in Doorwerth, and randomly, the sun broke through. I didn’t see the rainbow, but at least there is promise of hope for the pigeon.
