Wife’s stupid cat got outside and got a bird. A house finch, I think. Small, reddish breast. Cat dragged it inside and tortured it for awhile. We found it, and the wife put it in a box. She’s a zoology student and said she’d “take it to school where it would be cared for.” She didn’t. She left it in a box on the front lawn to die in hot sun with no food or water. I’m pissed, but leave that for later.
I found it, gave it food & water & shelter but it’s not going to recover. One wing won’t work and one eye is shut and appears non-functional.
I called wildlife rescue and they won’t take it (natch) and referred me to an emergency animal clinic that will almost certainly euthanize it. But, they don’t do Fridays.
I called the humane society and they don’t normally take wild animals but I charmed them and they said “bring it in.” They’ll euthanize it too, no doubt.
The bird is alive. Very much alive. It just can’t fly anymore. It could be suffering but it sure seems awfully alive.
Euthanize? Keep and care for? Answer quick please. This needs to be done today.
I don’t want an injured wild bird, but I’ll take care of it.
What’s it going to be? Injured but alive and in a cage, or quick death?
The box inside a garbage bag and a couple minutes attached to the exhaust pipe of your vehicle is all it will take. Not to sound cruel, but you need to put it down.
But - and I say this as a bird lover from a family that has nursed wild creatures back to health and released them - the odds that such a traumatized bird would survive are extremely low. From what you describe the animal is almost certainly suffering, but even a domestic bird is unlikely to show suffering if it knows it’s observed, they hide it. Best case you’d have a crippled, half-blind wild animal that will have to live in a cage and be dependent on you for the rest of its life. There have been instances of formerly wild animals making such an adjustment but it’s rare.
This is really a personal decision, rather than an ornithological one.
Given the circumstances you describe - that you personally don’t really want to care for it, and you don’t have anyone else readily available who wants to take care of it - if I were in that situation I would almost certainly euthanize it.
Small birds often don’t live for more than a few years in the wild, and they often fall prey to predators. You shouldn’t feel responsible for keeping it alive just because you found it before the cat did it in.
It may survive and adapt to life in a cage. Birds are pretty resilient, and I would not rule out the possibility that it could recover enough to be released eventually, though the odds are probably not that good. But you should only keep it if you really want to have a bird.
Don’t keep it alive because you feel guilty about it. Death is a daily risk for any small bird. If you don’t want to care for it indefinitely, put it down quickly and humanely.
When I said I didn’t want a wild bird, it’s that I’m not a vet. I also don’t want a stray cat coming into my life - again. I don’t want to suddenly adopt anything.
I would have cared for it though. I’m a softy and get attached pretty quick and love to spoil.
But I’m not a vet or bird expert. Just got back from the humane society. It’s in their hands and quite possibly dead by now, but at least it’s not suffering, assuming it was.
I just lost my little girl cat almost a month ago and I really didn’t want to go to the humane society and see people there crying over their animals. But I did. Had to leave and go cry in the car for a minute. Geez, I haven’t cried in who knows how many years. I’m way too soft when it comes to animals.
I don’t know if they still sell it but there’s an aerosol spray for starting cars that have carburetors and it’s made of ether. When I was a kid and the cats brought in 1/2 dead things my dad would spray a little bit right in front of their noses until they breathed enough to die.