Is it unethical
Offline Walking out to the car to go to work this morning Sissy was excited about something by the steps. I looked and there was a baby bird looking at me. I was in a hurry to get to work so I just put it in the console of my car and drove to work. I have decided after researching on the internet to co-nurture this bird to adulthood with my young sister. We do have a bird rescue facility in town but it seems not so difficult to raise and release one. I distinctly remember trying to do this as a child myself but I didn't know what I was doing and ended up killing them by giving them water. I had always wondered why the few I attempted to raise as a child always died and it turns out you can't give them straight water, it goes to their lungs and they asphyxiate.
Of course I plan to release this bird into the wild when it is grown.
I would take and post a pic but my camera battery is fried ..again. I might take one at work tomorrow if this actually interests anyone.
Do you think this is a bad idea?
Faith is the word but next to that snugged up closely "lie's" the want.
"By simple common sense I don't believe in god, in none."-Charlie Chaplin
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Well, you do have the internet at your fingertips... What could go wrong?
I mean, most people raise dogs just by using tips from the internet/the dog whisperer... if you know things like 'Don't give them water' or 'Make sure the dog doesn't bite you', you'll be able to do it.
You could, of course, also go to the facility and ask if you can keep it, and for some basic tips from them.
I'm pretty sure it's "illegal" to keep any kind of wildlife so If I took it up there they would get it. I don't think law enforcement around here would care or bother us about raising a bird unless someone made a big stink about it but to take it up there would be pushing it.
I took an injured bird to the refuge last year and made a small monetary donation. It's basicly a large trailer house jam packed with bird cages.
Faith is the word but next to that snugged up closely "lie's" the want.
"By simple common sense I don't believe in god, in none."-Charlie Chaplin
Not necessarily, what kind of bird is it? My dad use to raise pigeons, watchout some birds have a funny way of not wanting to leave their imprinted caretaker. I've rehabilitated small mammals but never birds, I don't know enough about them. My cat brought a live baby bird home once, we fed it crushed up worms in a syringe (mmmmm) for the night cuz it was squaking away and slurping them down and then took it to the bird rescue place in the morning. You should call them and ask how exactly to keep it, they most likely will highly recomend bringing it in for a check up atleast.
We think it's likely a starling.
It looks just like this one: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dnJXVACNQkI and it's just as fiesty if not more so ><
Faith is the word but next to that snugged up closely "lie's" the want.
"By simple common sense I don't believe in god, in none."-Charlie Chaplin
Hm...it's illegal to keep the bird, last time you tried you killed it, AND you only have the internet to guide you. I say give it to the facility. In fact, I urge you to do this.
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This reminds me of what happened to me back in the early 90s in Northern Va. Not such a good outcome though.
We lived in a 1 story house with a chimney. A bird had built a nest on the side of the chimney. I didn't know that at that point.
So one day I hear sudden and multiple and loud chirping of all sorts, like a riot. So I go outside to the driveway where the chimney faces, and there must have been a dozen birds flopping around fighting over something. As I approached to dispatch them because of the noise, they backed off a bit from where their focus was and their fighting. It turned out a chick was yanked out of the nest and rival birds were fighting over it and the mommy bird I guess was trying to protect it.
Surprisingly even with the time they had to kill it, it was still alive when I got out there. BUT I could tell it was too frail and damaged not to mention burned alive by the hot asphalt. It was chirping in pain and could only move it's neck. I knew it wouldn't survive, so i stomped on it to finish the job to put it out of it's pain.
I hated doing that. But as far as your situation. I'd say take it to professionals who deal with birds. Unless it is legal and can be taken to a vet, it is a safe bet that it is not like a common domesticated bird like they sell in pet stores.
Plus even with homeless cats and dogs, they can and do carry diseases. So the first thing you should do if you insist on trying to keep this bird until you can free it, a a minimum for your own safety get it checked for disease.
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I don't think it is a terrible idea. You can forget ever releasing it into the wild- chances are that it will become dependent on you and any effort to release it will cause it to die. Your largest challenge will be to ensure you are providing proper nutrition but the internet can help with that. If you want any chance of releasing it into the wild, make sure you feed it live food, so it learns to hunt.
Disease is a concern, but really, in a bird shelter it isn't going to get better treatment for that type of thing and will get far more exposure to potential carriers. I would worry about the potential of disease that can transfer to you or your other pets. Proper sanitation will be very important. Keep everything super clean, scrub yourself before and after handling the bird, keep your other pets away, and you should be fine.
Personally, I would consider it more kind to kill an animal than to put it in most "rescue" shelters I have seen. Most of the ones I have experience with keep the animals in poor conditions. There are some good ones, but not a ton. Pisses me off when I go into some rescue shelter and the animals are going nuts, getting poor care and developing mental issues because some liberal do-gooder doesn't want to put the animals out of their misery. If you are going to care for the animal, great- if you are going to neglect it, just kill it. /rant
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Well it's been 24 hours now and the bird heard me get up and is screaming his head off wanting more food after I gave him 3 water soaked chunks of puppy chow.
I think they are all belly and mouth.
I already purchased a bag of soft hay and I'll brag a little about the "nest" I made for it, it looks very fitting and being in a smallish box it is easily replaced (cleaned). My little sister already has a supply of mealworms (she has a leopard gecko) and we shall ride to the pet store today to pick up some regular baby bird food.
A full day has passed and my confidence has grown as the bird seems even fiestier than when I found it.
Faith is the word but next to that snugged up closely "lie's" the want.
"By simple common sense I don't believe in god, in none."-Charlie Chaplin
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G-PbPSGTK-8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G-PbPSGTK-8
What an amazing coincidence! I just uploaded my first Youtube video ever, and it is about bird rescue. I wanna draw some attention to my new channel, and though I plan to vlog about Atheism and stuff in future, my first video is just sort of an experiment.
Please go and rate and comment, and Rob, read the description to my video to see my thoughts on rearing wild birds.
whoops! Forgot to post the link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2G1aCiMIqt0
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Looks like I double posted.
Magpie's are neat but as you said raising one at that age is probably not a good idea. It would never be particularly tame and it wouldn't learn it's adult calls from the parent birds. It would be disadvantaged both for release and for trying to keep it.
Faith is the word but next to that snugged up closely "lie's" the want.
"By simple common sense I don't believe in god, in none."-Charlie Chaplin
A small update on the starling: I have been posting vids every couple of days on my fb page but most here are not my fb friend so I'll give a brief rundown so far.
After researching it seems this bird was likely kicked from the nest. The next day another had been kicked from the nest, my little sister has the other bird. Severe drought conditions in this part of the country probably contributed to this birds fate as momma birds will evict young when food is scarce and they have too many to feed. I actually feel better about the whole thing because nature had apparently decided it didn't need these two birds. I have since purchased a medium sized flight cage along with other accoutrements for the bird. It is doing very well I must say and seems quite happy except for the times when I wont let it out of the cage to ride around on my shoulder...just like any other pet bird. I would probably let it out all the time but one of my dog's has "had" a bird and she wont be broken from wanting it.
My original intent was to release the bird but you can see where that went. It is not fit to be a wild bird and is actually what you would consider to be a "tame" bird now.
Here is mine and the other taking a bath, the cage bottom looks like it's full of poop but that was only a couple hours worth. They slow down to pooping every 15 minutes when they are grown and feeding themselves, untill then it's like every 5 minutes or less ><
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y00luoqICP0
As an aside these are "european" starlings which are apparently an invasive species and it is actually legal to keep them. I had been worried about both the ethics and legality of raising and keeping one but I shall have to worry no longer.
Faith is the word but next to that snugged up closely "lie's" the want.
"By simple common sense I don't believe in god, in none."-Charlie Chaplin