Rescuing Wildlife Is Futile, and Necessary

Sea World San Diego rescues tens of hundreds of starving seal babies, every year. Nothing more pathetic than these rail thin disoriented babies sitting dazed on a beach..Thank you Sea world San diego - you always respond quickly to all phone calls, and get the babies with little fuss.

The wonderful work Judith Wakelam is doing with the common swifts led me to think of the efforts of the pioneers of the social settlement house movement in the late nineteenth century. When Toynbee Hall was established in 1884 as the first and the model settlement house amidst the wretched slums and rookeries of London's East End, conservative critics sneered that a mere handful of the suffering thousands could be helped. To this charge the Reverend Andrew Mearns, author of the book "The Bitter Cry of Outcast London: An Inquiry into the Condition of the Abject Poor" (1883), responded by asking whether, since not all of the struggling survivors of a sinking ship could be saved, no life preservers were to be tossed into the sea. By doing what she can for these tiny birds, one common swift at a time, Ms. Wakelam is doing what each and all of us can do to make and leave our world a better place.

Thank you for this beautiful article!! I particularly love the phrase about the "intoxicating process of coming to know something quite unlike you." It is truly intoxicating and addictive, as is the feeling you get when you save a wild creature (or even when you rescue a cat or dog).
It always amazes me that so many people think of urban wildlife and birds as being on a spectrum somewhere between invisible and disposable. If you start spending time actually watching, you see that there is so much utterly fascinating life right in front of you. These creatures are smart, creative, graceful, gorgeous -- so different from and so similar to us in endlessly surprising ways.

This was beautifully written and brought me to tears. I rescued a Finch last year who's eyes were crusted over with infection. It was blindly hopping around on the sidewalk, soon to be doomed by a neighborhood cat or passing car. I drove it 40 miles to a woman who specialized in wild bird care and she saved it after three weeks care. I was overcome by emotion as I drove down the 405 freeway with the fragile bird in a shoebox, feeling the weight of responsibility in saving this tiny bolt of nature. In a small way I felt I had righted a wrong. The woman said the bird was migrating and would find it's partner after it was released, furthering my feeling of humble amazement at the intricacies of life all around us.

i am full of gratitude to the author, the new york times and all of the "critter lovers" who do so much to truly make a difference. i was fortunate enough to take part in the re-introduction of the american burying beetle to the wah-kon-tah prairie in west central missouri. learning about the little red and black insects was something i will always appreciate. it is unfortunate that most people who support the "save the ____" causes do so overwhelmingly for the megafauna. many times, the creature we are drawn to help cannot make it unless the connected chain of life that supports its survival is mended as well!

“I believe most people, especially children, simply cannot see a animal suffer,” says Norma Bishop of Lindsay Wildlife Experience.

That is certainly true of New Yorkers, who have brought literally thousands of injured animals—mostly birds, from hummingbirds to swans—to Wild Bird Fund, the city’s first nonprofit wildlife rehabilitation center, as the Times itself has reported:

A Place for Healing Broken Wings http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/11/20/a-place-to-mend-a-broken-wing/

Rescued Owl Is Getting ‘Cage Rest’ http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/10/15/rescued-owl-is-getting-cage...

It’s a terrible thing to find an animal in pain with nowhere to take it. (Most vets don’t treat wildlife, for a variety of reasons.) People are intensely grateful and relieved when they walk through the door and a wildlife rehabilitator is there to help.

WBF does this work with a small, part-time staff, lots of volunteers doing everything from animal care to website updates, and donations and grants. I myself occasionally write for WBF. If you are reading this and wonder what you can do, take a gander at the website: http://www.wildbirdfund.org

And yes, WBF treats ganders, too!

We're lucky enough to have a yard, with quite a few trees, even though we live in the city in a condo. A family of crows lives in the yard. Wonderful, as they keep the pigeons (and their droppings) away. Every year there are a couple new crows (as well as blackbirds, but that is a different story).

A few years ago a big storm knocked a couple of baby crows out of their nest before they could fly. We talked with local wild bird authorities. My wife and I (mostly my wife) tried to nurse the birds back to health. Mom and dad crow scolded and threw sticks and leaves at us until they realized we were helping.

It was very hot and dry that spring. One baby bird was too afraid to take food or water from us (where we set it out) and didn't make it. It was incredibly sad. Crow babies are pretty big and need a lot of protein and water. Seeing the second baby get the strength to hop up on a fence post was a huge relief. A couple days later she (we decided it was a "she") made a short flight to the wall on the edge of the property. She kind of watched us for a few hours, then took flight. Saving that one bird was extremely rewarding.

The crows are now are friends and family. They "play" with the dog. Really, they play chase and tag (without actually touching) with each other. It probably helps that the dog is little (3 kg). We see more than two crows very often in the yard, and like to believe - although as with Ms. Wakelam we know it's not - that one of them is the bird we saved.

Thank you. Brought tears to my heart because of your dedication to beauty thru your loving actions

I wish we could get cat owners to agree. In my city they release feral cats back into the wild and house cats roam everywhere. It's awful. I have a few feeding places set up for both hummingbirds, regular birds and migratory birds (at different times of the year). I am constantly looking out for cats. The wild ones and the domesticated ones. I guess we will have to have a rabies outbreak in cats before they do anything about it. The idea of letting feral cats stay free is frankly just crazy. It's the elevation of emotion over reason. That's the way things are now, facts have no place in society.

Basic things are easy, keep your cat indoors, minimize formal lawns, and maximize natural woodland settings.

Thank you for news that is real news. I read today's article on the brutal tactics of Jeff Bezos and management at Amazon just before I read MacDonald's piece. Knowing there are human beings who know and care about balance feels healing, but I am still about to cancel my Amazon Prime subscription and switch to my local library - and Powell's on-line to buy books. That won't stop Bezos, but it is akin to acting on the belief that one swift life matters.

I am president of the New York Wildlife Rehabilitation Council, the oldest state organization dedicated to helping those who help wildlife. I know first hand the sadness we feel caused by the many human-caused reasons wildlife comes into our care; the frustration of trying to resolve these many different problems in so many different species; the despair when we are unable to successfully remedy the problems; but, also the great joy in returning wildlife to their natural world, no longer in need of our help. We are often criticized for spending resources on common species and challenged that what we do makes no difference. The skills learned on those common species can in turn save the life of an endangered species where in fact one life does matter. The greatest value is in reinforcing in the public that it is good to care, good to be humane, good to not ignore suffering. These connections with someone who rescues a wild animal provide those teachable moments when someone, often unaware of the wild animals who share their backyard, gets to learn about them and can feel good about caring about them. I also applaud Judith Wakelam for her dedication to caring for a difficult species requiring specialized care.

While reading this essay, I can hear in my mind the sound of a flock of roseate spoonbills on the wing overhead.

‘‘I believe most people, especially children, simply cannot see an animal suffer.’’
-- Norma Bishop, in this article

"If slaughterhouses had glass walls, everyone would be a vegetarian."
-- Paul McCartney

Don't say that to cat owners. The first and best thing we can do is have leash laws for cats. Yes, require all cats be on a leash while outdoors. Next, require collars with I.D. with home address and phone number of the owner or an implantable chip, not forgetting regular rabies shots. I can hear the howls of most cat owners now, screaming, "My cat doesn't hunt(wildlife)." "My cat is a good kitty, wouldn't hurt a fly". The big "D" as in Denial reigns supreme in the cat lovers world.

The average citizen knows far too little about the average bird. I once watched a flock of swifts drop into the chimney of a house we were renting. They learned the technique from dropping into hollow trees, I suppose, and simply took advantage of a welcome addition to their options.

Thank you for taking the time to write this article. I saw my first chimney swift this summer, I transported the baby from Fayetteville to a wildlife sanctuary in Hubert North Carolina. I am bad at identifying song birds and couldn't figure out what it was, but now I know that only chimney swifts lay with their wings in such a way. I did more research on them for the sanctuary's newsletter, they are neat birds, very different than other songbirds. Sometimes I feel like people see local wildlife as boring or ordinary, but there is magic in all things.

Caring and preserving are, inarguably, necessary human actions -- especially considering that we are earth's dominant species. In addition to aiding our wild brethren directly, via rescue and rehabilitation, etc., let's not forget that our indirect assistance is also constructive, via gardens and bird feeders and the like....

And while we're on the subject, the efforts of Many in the caring and preservation arts have never been more important than now -- in the face of increasing Climate Change.

I just read an article about the whale massacre going on in the Faroe Islands, and wept over the image of a dead baby whale with its umbilical cord still attached to its dead mother. And I was feeling disgusted as a human being. Thanks so much for this article. People like Judith Wakelam gives us hope and also tells us of the amazing heights of human empathy that some of us have towards all things non-human. I hope history will judge us by the best among us, and not the worst.

Reading this article brought to mind the first of 33 stanzas in a long poem I wrote.

Taking wing
on a gust of air
cleaving space as it goes
eyes following with clarity
though the mind wavers
for within the heart
there lives
airiness and lightness
as the cosmos now turns
on the axis
of a bird’s fragile wings.

Here the image is that of a bird in flight whose wings form the axis around which the entire universe turns, where everything reflects and contains everything else: the cosmos as hologram. We are the birds and the birds are us.

Thank you .. so wonderful... and so beautifully described...

Beautiful and so necessary right now!

Breathtakingly beautiful story. Thanks.

A beautifully written piece, thank you. My son, when he was 5 years old, was the foster parent of an orphan Mallard chick. It followed him everywhere until it grew up and finally made its way back to the lake and wildness. I'm sure it influenced my son's life, an indelible experience that has made him a passionate lover of animals and nature and a fine human being too.

This piece reminds of the book I recently read, "The Bluebird Effect" by Julie Zickefoose.

Wonderful writing, Ms. McDonald. You beautifully expressed a fundamental truth of the human condition: we are animals, and that which makes us animals makes us most human. The concern we show for animals in trouble is an extension of our sympathy with our own family members, reflecting our common heritage with all life. We are joined to all creatures by a thread unbroken for nearly four billion years, since the first living cell was born from the substance of the Earth we share today. Why would anyone wish to believe otherwise?

I feel sick when I ride my bike through the nearby 72-acre infill construction that recently smashed what were easily thousands of Pacific chorus frogs to become a mega-gas station. I was so thrilled when I heard first these croaks in the spring of 2008, now they are gone. My boyfriend and I were able to catch about 50 before the bulldozers came. I hope they survive. Our lack of appreciation for "fallow" land that doesn't get mowed, driven on or tromped is what we need more of, not less.

Beautiful writing and a wonderful story - the first I've read by Helen MacDonald. She has a new fan!

I thought this was a wonderful story. I have rehibitated a dove, a grackle, and a blue jay before. It gave me such satisfaction when the birds flew off and I never saw them again because I knew I had given them the best possible start. The blue jay was my favorite by far because he was so smart. We named him Luie and he used to come into the house. Also, I have three peafowl that I've raised since they hatched. So this is definitely a story I can relate to.

Another brilliant naturalist piece of writing by one of a minority of writers who actually understand and appreciate on its own terms, Nature as it exists completely outside our anthropomorphic views. Her writing about the Goshawk she struggled to raise and train was one of the best books I've read in decades.

beautiful, beautiful, beautiful

After reading about raped girls captured by ISIS , and the stunning, heartbreaking crime that is the US Bail Bond System (especially as seen in New York), I needed an article like this.

I despair for the future of my once great nation, and the cruelty that man senselessly visits on his fellow humans in so many places around the world. An article like this reminds me there is still some faith, continuity, and beauty in the world.

Thank you.

If you enjoyed this story, check out the great work of Avian Haven in Freedom, Maine. https://www.facebook.com/pages/Avian-Haven/381894018553252?fref=ts

I recently got involved in wildlife rehab by volunteering at a local bird rescue, and yeah, all the "Big Questions" came up pretty quickly- mortality, morality, questions of futility, and more. But I've never done work before that felt so fulfilling.

The complement of rescuing a single animal: having a single fewer offspring (or better yet, none), is invaluable in slowing the exponential human growth and encroachment into the present and future natural environment.

Beautifully written and inspiring, thanks!

Articles like this just make me happy.

Recently I've been pondering the past artists driven by god and nature, that had a love of god and nature, that god and nature are inseparable.

If only today's god-loving people had a love of nature and realized that humanity is part of nature. To destroy nature is to destroy self and god.

Beautifully written about a wonderful person. This narrative reminds me of the parable of the boy and the starfish. To save one suffering animal is to change the course of the entire universe, if only in a very small way. Words are incapable of describing how I feel when I am in the company of another person who cares so deeply about anything. Resonant silence is often enough.

When we pay attention to the small real things of value in life (three dimensional, for preference, not the imagery I'm using how which has taken over and lets us use pixels instead of reifying life), we grow in the bigger things as well.

Thank you!

Wonderful piece. I once raised a brood of abandoned (and vilified in North America) European Starlings, and experienced exactly this kind of connection and awe at their otherness and vulnerability. Now I'm a full-time ornithologist and conservation biologist, and I see the same reaction when I let people hold and release the wild birds we capture for our research. People can't care about what they don't know. Also love the description of the swifts as 'a cross between mice and 'animate kindling' - perfect!

Gorgeously written, and the description of the swift suddenly turning into a wild bird and taking off into life brought me to tears. I didn't even look to see who wrote the article when I started reading but thought increasingly of "H Is for Hawk" as I went on, then felt both wise and foolish when I finished and saw that Helen Macdonald herself had written it. It's so sadly true that most of the time, even for those of us who love nature and its wealth of wild creatures, we live on almost a separate plane, but the connections we make in these mostly brief ways are as magical as she says, and something I wish everyone could experience at least once. (Imagine how the political discourse would change if that were true!) I'm grateful for all the rehabbers reminding us of what matters as they work to save the world, elephant by elephant and bird by bird.