Animal Magnetism…
I don’t know exactly why but I seem to be an animal magnet. At any given time of the day when I’m at home it is likely that two of our three cats will be clustered around me, no matter who else is home or where I am — my office, my bed, my bathroom, my living room chair. And, often, it’s all three cats. But that’s not what I find so interesting.
I seem to find a disproportionate number of wild animals that need rescuing. In the past several years, I’ve found several injured birds, a squirrel that had fallen out of a 30-foot palm tree onto concrete in my apartment complex, even a baby possum in the driveway of a friend’s house with what appeared to be a broken leg. Yesterday, I made the trip to the Wildlife Center of Silicon Valley with an adult pigeon I found in the bushes of a parking lot at a local Home Depot. It seemed unable to fly or walk properly and was spastic, jackhammering its head repeatedly into the dirt, like it was pecking but it really wasn’t. I knew it was not OK when I walked up to it, stooped down, and it allowed me to pet its back feathers. After a few seconds of apparent fright, it actually calmed down and stopped jittering. It was obviously a victim of some neurological head injury, confirmed by the unofficial diagnosis of the volunteers at the wildlife center. It seemed intrigued by the ride in the car to the center, and didn’t attempt to fly away despite the fact I kept it in an open box in my lap in the front passenger seat. Unfortunately, not that it could even if it did try.
This year’s charitable donations have already been made. Maybe next year the Wildlife Center of Silicon Valley will be on my list. I’m sure it is a service I will be using again in the future (based on my past experiences!), so I want to ensure its continued success. Many kudos go to the City of San Jose for leasing out the facilities the center occupies for only one dollar per year. I don’t like to see animals suffer, but I like doing what I can to help and it’s nice to see others doing the same.
