Our Future Veterinarian

As James and I were playing in the front yard this morning we noticed our dog, Buddy, chasing something in the bushes. We went to take a closer look and discovered it was a black crow. It must have either fallen into our bushes or been on the ground looking for food when Buddy came across him. Anyhow, by the time I rounded up Buddy the bird was injured to some degree, but I wasn't sure how much. I kept the dog in the house for the remainder of the day, hoping the bird would recover and fly off.

After school I told Maddie about what had happened. She immediately went over the where I had left the bird in the morning and assessed the situation. The bird was still injured on the ground and having such a tender heart toward animals she asked if we could call an animal rescue operation to come pick the bird up. I found the Poway paper, which I recalled had a few wildlife rescue phone numbers in it. The first one we called didn't answer, but said we could drop it off at their little hospital in Escondido. I told Maddie that it probably wouldn't work out and we'd see how the bird was in the morning. My future veterinarian was upset and took matters into her own hands by calling the other numbers in the paper. She finally found a place that was open, but we'd have to drive to Ramona to drop the bird off. We couldn't do anything right away because Owen was still working and I was busy with both boys, but I told her we'd see what we could do if she could be patient for a bit. She was, and when I finished feeding Matthew, Owen agreed to watch him so I could take Maddie and James to the wildlife refuge. Maddie gathered a box and towels and went out and scooped up the bird all by herself as Owen supervised. I was very proud of her calm demeanor with the injured animal. She held the box on her lap and calmly talked to the bird when he got nervous during our drive. Some very nice women met us out front and visited a bit before taking the bird into the hospital. They are going to work on him for about a week and then they will deliver him back to our yard and set him free. This made Maddie very happy and we will enjoy seeing him back soon.

On a side note....the wildlife animal refuge was very cool. They specialize in predators and had coyotes, bobcats, mountain lions and birds of prey on their property. I wanted to ask for a tour, but didn't think it was appropriate at the time. I'd love to go back and check it out.