You Can Tell A Lot about Someone by the Way They Treat Animals

I’ve always had a pet. There is not a time in my life when I didn’t either have a dog, a cat, a gerbil, a guinea pig, fish or a bird or a menagerie.

For many years, my brother’s and I would win at least one gold fish at our county fair. In order to take home the coveted prize of a very unhealthy goldfish, you had to toss a ping pong ball into the little fish bowl where the gold fish was kept. Looking back, it seems a little cruel, but as a kid, I just wanted a fish.

By the time the carnies had formed their caravan of tractor trailers loaded with the ferris wheel, the tilt a whirl. and various other rides and games to head to the next spot in the road, the goldfish would have already started its journey to the great beyond.

Ok, so, I would not be an ichthyologist when I grew up. But there are so many other animals besides fish that I could help.

One summer day, we found a baby bird in our front yard. It was too young to fly and had no way of returning to its nest. We had to save it! We brought it inside, put it in a box and made a perch for the tiny bird out of Tinker Toys. My two siblings and I took turns feeding the little guy small pieces of bread dipped in milk. I felt so proud that we were going to nurture him and help him return to the wild. I had visions of releasing him when the time was right and having the little fella come back to visit with us. The next morning we got up and rushed downstairs to check in on the fledgling. His cute little feet were firmly clasped around our homemade perch. Unfortunately, the bird was hanging upside down, dead. We learned that a bird will eat as long as you feed it, and that you can over feed a bird.

Undeterred, I never gave up my zest to help any animal in need. My next rescue was a chipmunk. One of my dogs had managed to capture him. I was able to retrieve the baby chipmunk from my dog’s jaws and saved him. Well, at least for a while. I discovered that the chipmunk was too young to be eating food of any sort. I got an eye dropper and began feeding him warm milk. He had a veracious appetite and really seemed to enjoy the warm milk. He enjoyed warm milk. Not hot milk. His last meal consisted of hot milk. I thought I had checked the temperature of the milk, but by his reaction and somewhat sudden death, I surmised I had not.

But that chipmunk had really touched my heart. We had so many of them around our house. I knew another day would come when one would need me. I waited.

Cats love chipmunks. Our cat, Molly, really loves chipmunks and if allowed, would literally play with one to death. I have saved many chipmunks from this deadly game. As soon as I manage to get Molly to drop the chipmunk, they typically run to the nearest hole in the ground.

One chipmunk though apparently had not been told about the escape plan. Molly was playing her favorite game with one of the chipmunks in our backyard when suddenly it ended up in her mouth. I got her to drop the chipmunk, and he just froze in place. I was concerned that he might be hurt. He needed me! I picked him up ever so gently. I needed to show him where the tunnel was where he could hide. First though, I wanted to show him to my daughter which would also allow me to teach her that it is our duty to help an animal in need.

With the lesson over, I proceeded down our steps to release my new friend into a safe place. Before I could reach the bottom of the steps, he bit me. The pain was minimal, but my brain went into overdrive wondering what sort of deadly infection he just gave to me. My fight or flight response kicked in, and I dropped him. I dropped him from a height just high enough that a chipmunk can’t survive.

I have finally learned my lesson. I now let nature take its course and have resigned myself to just shooting animals….with my camera.