Ramos 1 Karen Ramos Professor Batty English 1134, 18 September 2014 ‘What Did I Do Wrong? Many wild animals require multiple needs in order to survive on their own. However, when you need to physically care for one, it can be a moderately difficult task. Some animals, such as birds, requir a certain det, car, and health that will help fulfill their needs. Which require having the right type of food and a suitable ¢ environment.) Ate sa Throughout my childhood, 6 never had the chance to have a pet of my own. I've always dreamt of having a large dog or even a tiny cat to have for myself. Something that could grow up with and have an attachment to, Sadly, whenever I brought up the idea of having one, my stubborn parents said'no ‘without a doubt or hesitation. It always made me furious whenever they said no but it never stopped me from trying. Although, I was never allowed to have a dog or a cat, there was this one acceptable time where I was able to actually care for a small pet. ‘Although, it wasn’t something that I initially wanted, I still felt like my wishes had finally come true. I was finally given the opportunity to take care of a pet bird. It all began when my beloved aunt stood across the cracked footsteps of my house and excitedly knocked on our black door waiting for someone to answer the door. After only ‘a minute of waiting, she started to become eager and anxious. Calling out for my mom and for the rest of my family, saying, “Hello? Is anyone there? It’s me, Gloria! Tessie, where are you? Karen...? Joy? Ed?” Finally, my mom had finally answered the door and_—> Ramos 1 / : Uf. greeted her with such joy since they haven't seen each other for a couple of weeks. They ‘were both laughing and conversing about random topics for hours. Suddenly, my aunt f brought up the topic that she had found something in the park and said, “As I walking back to my apartment, I passed by the park near Eagle Rock High School and heard some soft chirps of a small bird near me. I roamed the park floor for a little until I encountered it and it was just lying there and crying in pain.” ) Although my aunt had gone through all the trouble to save the bird, she had no intentions of keeping it. So she decided to give it away to anyone who was willing to care for it. Then all of sudden, my aunt randomly yelled out my name and said, “Karen! Come in here. I have a surprise for you. Hurry!” When I heard her call out my name, I slowly walked towards her wondering why she was so excited to talk to me. Once I finally arrived in the room my aunt and my mom were in, I was kind of puzzled by the smile my aunt had on her face. She first asked me, “How are you doing?” Then I kindly replied | back to her by saying, “I'm fine.” Then she asked me, “I don’t know if you're mom ‘would approve of this but do you want to have a pet bird?” and within a second, 1 ‘answered her and said, “Yes! Yes, please.” My mom quickly looked back at her with a blank stare and was kind of in a tough spot because my aunt didn’t discuss anything about me keeping the bird. Luckily, she just gave in and let me keep it. Later that same day, my aunt left my house to pick up the bird from her apartment ‘and quickly dropped it off at my house. When, I finally got a chance to look at the bird, the poor thing was just lying at the bottom of the cold cage just shaking and trembling. Even though, I hardly knew any knowledge of how to care for the bird. I still wanted to keep it no matter what for my own selfish reasons. For the first couple days that I had theRamos 1 small creature, I had no idea what I was even doing. I kept the bird in my small and semi chilly laundry room without any heat lamps or blankets to lie on. Whenever it came to feeding it, I basically gave it anything that I thought it would eat such as some soft fiber bread, small grains of white rice, and just plain old water. I never really limited the amount of food for it to eat. I just thought if I kept giving the bird some food, it would stop eating when it was completely full. Meanwhile, this whole time I thought I was doing some good and trying to nurse the weak bird back to health. I actually ended up doing more harm than good. It’s saddening how my very first pet was just lying at the bottom of that cold and rusty cage. No high-pitched chirpings, any small movements, or any breathing as I kept calling out to it. From that moment, I knew that the bird had died. After only caring for the small animal for at least a week, I was actually surprised why I didn’t feel any remorse or pain for my pet’s death. Looking back at what I did, I realized that I cared for the bird entirely wrong. My first mistake was actually accepting the generous offer my aunt had given me. For a bird to actually be protected and nursed, it has to be with its nurturing mother. The best. sina) | you could do for the stranded bird that has fallen out of a tree is to try and place the bird | ack in its original nest. If the bird is not with it’s mother it isn’t going to get the = _~ | appropriate help that it needs unless you take the bird to receive medical help. Since I left | the bird just lying on the unsupportive floor of the cage, it didn’t come across my mind to | add a blanket to recreate a similar home that it’s used to. As well as, even give simulate | the temperature that it lives in, All these little components affect an animal’s health and * Jife, especially there diet. I didn’t realize that baby bird’s had such a complex diet andRamos 1 had numerous amounts of needs. They need to be fed certain insects to receive some sort of protein, but I made an awful decision by feeding it small loafs of bread and grains of rice. Many birds should receive some adequate care to help reach up to its demanding needs. Specifically from it’s own mother or a veterinarian because they have the appropriate knowledge on what to do if.a predicament were to ever occur with a young baby bird. However, not everyone is capable of caring for a pet in general. Some people usually make the mistake by trying to care for the bird on their very own, No matter what the consequences are, Whether the animal is injured or sick. No person is able to know exactly what to do in that certain situation. A professional should check out all the problems instead of ignoring them and trying to fix it on your own. Clearly, I wasn’t able to fulfill the many needs that it required. I just thought it would just be easy to care for something so small. But if I was able to redo what I did, I wish I had taken the time to transport the bird straight to the vet to receive all the care that it needed. Then maybe it ‘would have been alive today. It’s upsetting to know that my poor decisions affected this, innocent animal's life, which resulted in death. (good Shy Ty Wes 9 BEN, ex jt hes an aly isa cltee Per pye t tre Sieg 5 verddle and an cord iied £ resolute, There / Altnagn Gee he inclv& Same Sensepy sletels, jit. ge Coit CME 64 Greve. Wher ot Are bind (oa We 2. Tt det thnk ge Cid hare Pt ore fwd lack tate t's(es Ty Aker Als’) ae ecavse She malin ¥ hed he gu ane 9%) ¢ been ae wae K Aw A ats (8S able t te (remy oo Kew Gl/ iw Ls sate