Strange But True Animal Rescue Stories

[BurtWorm]

Here's how much of an animal-loving nut I am. I just dipped my pinkie into a public urinal to rescue a tiny ant that had fallen into it.

What have you done to save your brother and sister living creatures from oblivion?

[Archae]

1. I saved a cat from a dog attack last year.

The cat would have stood NO chance against the dogs.
She's declawed.

Lucky is still living with me, and is the sweetest cat you've ever seen.

(You can see her in the Gallery.)

[BurtWorm]

5. She's adorable!

And so is Salem. I take it she's not named Lucky for nothing.

[Archae]

7. Correct!

I named her Lucky because she was damn lucky I was there.

She's a ragdoll, and absolutely a total lap spud and purrbox. :loveya:

[DagmarK]

18. Then I am going to call YOU lucky as well, Archae!

Cause you are darned lucky that you were there too.....you got lucky the cat as a result! :-)

[lkinsale]

2. We catch deer mice and pack rats in live traps

Bravely ignoring the fact that they are the carriers of Hanta virus, we bait live traps with chocolate and apples and when we catch one in the garage, we transport it to a nice shady spot near a creek just inside the edge of the National Forest (Land of Many Uses) and then worry about its little chances of survival.

We used to catch rats and let them loose at City Hall, but we don't live in Texas anymore so we haven't done that lately.

This is illegal. Please don't report us to the FBI. ;)

[BurtWorm]

8. Deer mice are desert critters, right?

I was worrying about the little ant's chances in a men's room, but I couldn't find her after setting her down on the floor. I should add I was in no position to take her out to the lawn, but I wish I had now.

[lkinsale]

12. Deer mice seem pretty ubiquitous

Not just desert, though they seem to do pretty well here in the high desert of New Mexico.

Shtudies have shown them to return up to 3 miles from where they were trapped, so we take 'em as far away as we can. (They're cute, but this Hanta thing is just not something we can encourage, ya know!)

[BurtWorm]

16. I've heard about the Hanta virus in NM.

I presume that's why live trapping and moving is illegal.

Interesting that they have such a sophisticated homing system. I don't usually think of mice as intelligent, but that's a sign of intelligence.

[Kookaburra]

3. Baby Robins

A storm blew through here and destroyed a nest with 3 baby robins in it. They were tiny and featherless and on the ground -- I knew they wouldn't survive unless they were back in the tree. I got a small wicker basket, lined it with hay and grass and nailed it high up in the same tree (well, as high as I could climb). Then, one by one, took each baby back up to the nest. After I went back inside, I watched through the dining room window as the mama and daddy birds took turns feeding the babies in their new home. It sure made my day when those babies were big enough to fly -- got to witness them flying from the nest.

[BurtWorm]

4. That is a great story, with a happy ending yet!

Welcome to DU!

:toast:

[Kookaburra]

11. Thanks -- great to be here

[radwriter0555]

24. A mourning dove chick fell out of the nest and I called the local

fire department. By gum, it took them a couple of days, but they showed up with their ladder rig and took that little bald baby right back up to the nest and set it in there as gentle as you'd ever seen.

Big old bunch of mush-heads all googly over a baby bird!

[trotsky]

6. Sorry, I draw the line at insects and vermin.

Exceptions: spiders OUTSIDE where they are catching pests. Earthworms are OK too.

Uhh, that's probably about it.

Sorry, I am pretty darn liberal but I don't go overboard in my support for animal rights. (And yes, rescuing an ant from a filthy urinal is OVERBOARD.)

[BurtWorm]

9. But it was so little and helpless

I wouldn't call ants vermin. What disease do they carry? (Beside whatever she may have picked up while trapped in a urinal?)

[trotsky]

13. It's an ant.

Its colony consists of thousands of workers. The ant system is set up to lose untold numbers of its own to insect eaters. And while those eaters generally get displaced by human encroachments, the ants do not (and in fact thrive due to increased food availability) and so have no check on their population.

Or so I guess...

[BurtWorm]

14. I had that debate in my mind before dipping the pinkie

but my suckerish heart won. I didn't want to consciously kill the poor thing. It was struggling, panicking maybe even.

The only animals I feel no guilt at all about killing are biting insects.

[anti_shrub]

10. The shop cat who came home....

My dad was a welder, and the shop he worked at had a near forest in the back, chock full o' critters. One cat in particular showed up to get scraps of food off the workers, get some shelter from the weather, etc.

One day the shop cat turns up pregnant, and the workers - brave hunters that those guys were - decided the proper course of action was to kill the mother and the kittens. My dad thought they were just busting his stones since they knew he wasn't a hunter, but indeed the drowning bucket was prepared and the mom cat was bonked on the noggin with a piece of metal. That made it clear to my dad that they weren't kidding so mom and the 6 kittens were scooped up and brought to our house.

12 years later, mom and most of the kittens are still here and healthy however one of the kittens was Sidney, the cat who's battle and recent passing from hyperthyroid disorder was documented here.

The ironic part? My (hugely Catholic) dad's given name was Francis, and St. Francis is the patron saint of animals.

[BurtWorm]

17. That's another great story.

I don't understand how anyone in their right mind could even think about icing a kitty like that.

[FireHeart]

21. We found...

A little kitten who had been shot with a pellet gun, beaten and had a rubber band tied around her neck. We took her home, cleaned her up, removed the band (hard to do--it was very tight) and took her to the vet. 10 years later, she's a sweet, loving lady. But it took 3 years for her to trust us like she does now.

I can't imagine any normal human doing something like that to a defenseless kitten. But I live in the south, so...

[GOPisEvil]

15. My mom rescued a baby squirrel.

She was feeding it with an eye dropper; keeping it warm, etc. Then, she and my dad went on vacation, so I had to become mommie to this squirrel. The first time it opened its eyes, it saw me! Freaked the hell out of it, I'm sure! :o

Anyway, after it grew up enough, my folks released it. It still comes by the house, and eats out of our hands. You haven't been scared until you've had a squirrel jump out of a tree onto your shoulder when you're not paying attention.

[BurtWorm]

19. Do you ever worry if it will catch rabies?

Just a horrifying thought.

I happen to love squirrels myself, though I know they're not popular with bird watchers (like my late father).

[GOPisEvil]

20. Not too much...

...I think my mom worries more about it being run-over.

[Hell Hath No Fury]

22. To many to recount...

them all.

Our family is full of "bleeding heart" animal lovers. We do just about anything to save just about anyone from harm.

I've pulled a neighbor's Rottwieller off of a cornered, injured raccoon (who then found his way into my basement and lived there for a month, and came back with his extended family a little while after that).

I saved a giant sewer rat who was cornered up in the highest fronds of my pony tail palm by my cat Junior (who had also brought him IN the house). Grabbing that guy with nothing but a garden glove on was scarier than the Rottwieller!

My Mom's neighbor in Tahoe had come back to his vacation home to find a small cat stuck in his wood stove -- poor thing had come down the chimney and was stuck there for at least a month. Dumbshit neighbor just opened the stove, opened his front door and let the poor thing out into the street. Luckily he said something about it to me -- I went and got the cat, who was skin and bones and could barely walk. Brought her back to Mom's and didn't think she would last the night. But she was a tough cookie, and now rules the roost in her new home.

Just the other night I was outside my house and saw there was a hole in the blacktop near the corner sewer, where dozens of little mice were coming out of to snack on street leftovers. I saw a local kitty a few yards away ready to pounce so I ran over the mice and chased them back into their hole.

There are only two animals I actively kill -- fleas and mosquitos. Two out of 100s of thousands ain't TOO bad. :)

[buddhamama]

23. i have stories

i'll leave it at one.

driving home on the interstate there was a hawk that was gliding too low and clipped the roof of a car. i saw him go flying back and land on the side of the road.

i pulled over and wwent back to check her out. she was still alive but dazed(unconscious really, not moving).

i placed her on my lap and drove her home with me.

then i rested her on the porch and waited.
after about an hour or so, she started to stir and soon after flew away. YAY!