This Green Life
A Journal of Sorts
MY DAUGHTER SAVED THE WORLD!
So Can You
The Jews and Muslims share a saying: If you save a life,it's as if you saved the world. They're referring tohumans; I would go a step further to include animals,too.Frankly, I would not have said so a few months ago. But that was beforePidgie.Who is this remarkable creature that turned mythinking around? Nothing more than a gardenvariety pigeon. Just two things set him apart:the severity of his injuries
—
and the fact that my18-year-old daughter, Sophie, saved his life.I want to tell you the story of Pidgie as a storyin its own right, but ultimately as a way of talking about wolves and other wildlife. Theconnection between these animals may not beobvious
—
but the reasons we do and do notsave them
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and the reasons we should
—
share a great deal in common.Pidgie was a crumpled mess on the curb when Sophie found him lastmonth, but he was still living and she couldn't walk by. So she bundledhim up and traveled from vet to vet until she found a wildlife rehabilitatorwho could help. The rehabilitator, Rita, couldn't take him in. She couldonly prescribe a course of treatment and return him to Sophie, withmedicines and a cage, to care for at home. Meaning
my
home.Sophie called to say they were coming. At first, I freaked. We have a dogand three cats. How could a bird possibly be safe here? Besides, weweren't an animal hospital. And of all birds, this! A pigeon didn't seemworth the trouble. But Sophie said not to worry, she would handleeverything.She arrived a short time later, with the pigeon carefully wrapped in a boxand the other paraphernalia in tow. I followed her into her room,suddenly interested.What was the matter with the pigeon? She slowly unwrapped him andshowed me. A broken pelvis, no tail feathers, raw skin with superficialwounds on the back, and exposed muscle with deep puncture wounds onthe breast and under the wing. The pigeon was an utter wreck. I couldn'timagine how he could survive.His treatment entailed daily doses of oral medicines, including apainkiller, and occasional application of a cream on the wounds. Sophiehad been shown how to deliver the drops: firmly grasp the upper part of the beak and pull it up to stretch out the neck, then insert the dropperand twist a bit to move it down before pushing the medicine out. She didit just as instructed that night, and it worked.I found it interesting that firmness rather than gentleness was required.Days passed and little seemed to happen. The back wounds improved,but not the ones on the underside, and Pidgie remained unbalanced whenhe stood. Still, he was eating (and pooping) and appeared stable. Hewent off painkillers after a week and didn't seem to mind.
Sheryl Eisenberg
, a long-timeadvisor to NRDC, posts a newThis Green Life every month.Sheryl makes her home inTribeca (NYC), where
—
alongwith her children, Sophie andGabe, and husband, Peter
—
shetries to put her environmentalprinciples into practice. Nofooling.. . .
You can save this life.
Thebarely recovered gray wolf population in the Northwestwill lose its federal protectionon May 4, 2009 and oncemore be prey to wolf hunts.You can help prevent that.Give a BIG HOWL to theSecretary of the Interiortoday to keep wolves safe.
Photo: John & KarenHollingsworth, USFWS.
Sophie holding Pidgie (notethe featherless part of hisback).
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