Recently a speeding driver hit a sea gull at the corner of Bowerbank Road and Amelia Avenue. The bird was seriously injured and suffering.
I don’t like to see little creatures suffer, or big ones. Who does? Many people passed it by. I think someone carried it to my yard. I’m a retired, disabled person who was unable to assist. I also don’t drive and couldn’t take it to an animal hospital. The pound returned my call over an hour later to say they don’t help birds. “Not even the size of a chicken?” No.
The answering machine I reached first gave about five options. I tried all five, hoping to find someone I could reason with or get a suggestion. Volunteer non-profits like Wild ARC can’t do the rescues our taxes are paying for, I assume. Another agency the pound recommended, the animal control bylaw officer I believe, also had no one available but had multiple options on the answering machine. All very frustrating if you need help quickly.
After two hours I decided to call the RCMP, who would have someone on patrol. The officer I reached immediately on the non-emergency line kindly, sympathetically, said he’d send an officer over. She arrived in minutes and in my driveway said “I just got a text, my colleague just died.” Tearing up, she apologized for what she called her “unprofessional demeanor.” I said “no way, I’m so sorry.”
She said she’d send another officer by with a box to put the bird in and take it to the animal hospital, which they did a short time later. Despite losing a dear friend that day, the original officer called me later to tell me the bird was at the hospital and very feisty.
I’m writing to thank those officers who made my day and the bird’s.
Harve C. Pratt
Sidney