do you have a love for all animals?

I used to assume that people who loved having pets/dogs, were essentially lovers of all animals... not loving them in that you would have one as a pet, but loving them as in you would not want to see harm come to it, or see it in suffering?

this is just in my mind because the other day I was driving at dusk and drove past a fledgeling wattle bird sitting on the road, the poor thing looked terrified and when I went to catch it it had obviously been clipped by a car, it was dragging its leg and its feathers had fallen from one wing, but it could fly along the ground pretty efficiently!

I took it home wrapped in my shirt and put it in a box to rest and met a Wildlife carer later to allow him to look after it properly (I would have no idea how to care for it especially if its leg was broken) so hopefully he doesn't just put it out of its misery but tries to help it live because it certainly had fight in it!

any way, I was telling some friends about it at a BBQ and one girl who supposedly loves her dog and grew up with them said "why'd you bother? there's heaps of them around who cares?"
I explained to her that I don't like seeing any animal in distress and would rather do something about it than see it crushed on the road when I drive past the next day. she kept trying to bait me and get me worked up about it but I just waved her off and didn't let her get to me. I just cant imagine that a person like that could really, truly love and care about their pet.

sorry for the long winded post, just wondering what your views are? do you love all animals? or just dogs? or just staffys? or just people? or just yourself? etc etc

I love all animals and would have done the same as you in the situation.

I would've done what you did also. I don't like to see an animal suffering

how weird is this, friday my youngest was coming home and saw a magpie on the floor and it could only move its head, so he asked me to ring the rspca, who told us to put it in a box and take it to the local vet. We did that, they put it in a cage and were monitoring it, we phoned up last night and they said it was recovering and a man from Trent Park was coming to pick it up to look after it

I love all animals and would have done the same. I've found that a lot of people don't understand it and do try to wind you up about it. We have semi-feral cats that live outside the home I work in and there is a wood at the back of it. One night on a break I heard a cat that sounded like it was stuck up a tree so I was off trying to find the tree it was in. The cat got down itself luckily cause the trees are at the top of a 10 ft bank and I couldn't even get up that to look around the trees. The people in work thought I was nuts for even going to look for the tree it was in but I couldn't just sit there and listen to it crying.

Would have done the same as you. Not so long back I left work and there was a pigeon cowering under a ledge, couldn't fly ans was soaked through because it was raining. Lots of people walking past it. So I got a box from the estate agent, popped it in it and called my mum who picked me up and we took it to the vets.

I haven't a doubt in my mind they just put it down but I would rather that than see it suffer. Well done you Xx

I'd have done the same as well!

Over the years we've had so many wild animals/birds brought home to recover from one thing or another. Off the top of my head we've had...

Several hedgehogs
A rabbit
Blackbird (Basil)
Robin (Jim)
Baby squirrel
Pheasant

The blackbird & robin we named because they were fledglings which then hung around our garden for years. They used to actually come into the house, even though we had Bandit there (he wasn't bothered by other animals, just other dogs! ).

What does it matter if there are 'loads of them'? They are all flesh & blood creatures & all feel pain & fear; if we can help them, we should.

I rescue anything i come acoss.Ive rescued several pigeons,people think im crazy,they class them as vermin.They still have a right to be here.
We rescued a baby jackdaw once.Its nest had been disturbed and it was the only baby left alive.The mother never returned so it came to live with us.He lived a long life.Loved eating porridge and loved catching wasps and peeling them before eating them

Me and my hubby have taken hedgehogs to Tiggywinkles which is about a 2 hour drive from where we live. We found one in our local park that needed attention to it's leg and the other turned up on our front doorstep last January. It looked quite underweight (and it was) and would not have survived the night, it was very cold. We boxed up the little fella with a heat pack and off we went. We didn't think twice about it.

We know they would be in very good hands at Tiggywinkles.

I love all animals and could never turn my back on one in distress. The trouble is one sometimes has to be practical so I tend to avoid rescue shelters and the like because is is too heart breaking not being able to rescue the lot.

I'm so glad you all feel the same way
I too would rather avoid rescue centres if I can do it myself (if the bird was just startled and didn't have any physical problems I would have kept it warm over night and released it the next day because it's parents were going crazy screeching at me when I picked him up - this was about 8PM)

I have also done my fair share of rescues over the years, usually birds. I found a cockatoo who we think had heat stroke, kept him in the bath tub and sprayed him with water, he couldn't fly so took him to the vet to get care, but physically he seemed okay so I'm sure he would have recovered.

I did some volunteer work with a lady who had a wildlife shelter, together we cared for joeys (wallabies and kangaroos), possums, tawny frogmouth owls, hundreds of parrots/birds and I'm sure we had something else but cant remember.

and I always stop if I see a dead roo on the side of the road to check its pouch for a bub!

yeh just cos you dont want a specific animal as a pet doesnt mean you hate them. all animals are precious. i'm not a vegetarian or a tree hugger but animals and the earth are upper most in mind. the animals be them domestic or other wise cannot speak for themselves so it is up to us to decide for them its just unfortunate that some places decide against animals rather than in their favour.

I think you are amazing for what you did
I too love all animals and would never harm them and have rescued birds, hedgehogs a cat spiders ect.
Im looking for a small pig or pigs at the moment my neighbour has a 64 acre equestrian farm 30 livery horses there are lots of kids who would give it loads of attention it would have a wonderful home and be very well cared for.

_julie_ wrote: i'm not a vegetarian or a tree hugger .

I am, been vegetarian for over 30yrs and i often get funny looks for talking to plants I stopped because of a mix of ethical and religious reasons.Some vegan friends keep on at me about having pets but even i think they are a bit silly sometimes :-$ I was in a taxi once at 3am when it hit a cat and the guy wouldn't stop, i gave him an earfull and he finally stopped. By the time i got the cat home she had died , buried her in my garden and we put an ad in the paper incase some one was looking for her.Her owners did phone and had been searching for her.

I would have done the same thing. I love all animals and don't understand how someone can have a dog and not have a connection to other animals, as well. I am a vegetarian (except for the occasional fish/seafood) and don't buy leather or fur. I do feed my pets food with meat in it because that's what keeps them healthy and happy, but I don't buy any leather collars/leashes/harnesses for Saxon or any fur/leather toys for the cats.

i may get slaughtered for this but to be honest with u in that sistuation i would of done the same but i wouldnt and havnt thought twice about putting an animal out of its misery if i feel its necessery. The thing i hate most in the world is 2 see animals suffering!

blaze wrote: i wouldnt and havnt thought twice about putting an animal out of its misery if i feel its necessery. The thing i hate most in the world is 2 see animals suffering!

Same here.

I too love all animals and would have done the same. I found a pigeon that had been attacked by a sparrow hawk on my dads garden years ago and there was no way it would have survived plus there is ALOT of cats round there so i did put it out of it's misery.

I also have put animals out of their misery. I had to kill a lizard that my dogs had attacked a while back, it was so hard for me to do though, but they had broken its spine. Mum wouldnt do it and I knew it had to be done, I ran in crying afterwards and called my mum a nasty name for making me do it! oops!

but in this case, the bird I found on the road I don't believe was in enough trauma to be killed. I believe it would recover if they did look after it, just sometimes I worry that wild life carers are so snowed under with baby joeys and possums etc that they feel they don't have time for something so common as a wattle bird. I don't know if I'm right though, I hope I'm wrong!

russdogmum wrote:I used to assume that people who loved having pets/dogs, were essentially lovers of all animals... not loving them in that you would have one as a pet, but loving them as in you would not want to see harm come to it, or see it in suffering?

this is just in my mind because the other day I was driving at dusk and drove past a fledgeling wattle bird sitting on the road, the poor thing looked terrified and when I went to catch it it had obviously been clipped by a car, it was dragging its leg and its feathers had fallen from one wing, but it could fly along the ground pretty efficiently!

I took it home wrapped in my shirt and put it in a box to rest and met a Wildlife carer later to allow him to look after it properly (I would have no idea how to care for it especially if its leg was broken) so hopefully he doesn't just put it out of its misery but tries to help it live because it certainly had fight in it!

any way, I was telling some friends about it at a BBQ and one girl who supposedly loves her dog and grew up with them said "why'd you bother? there's heaps of them around who cares?"
I explained to her that I don't like seeing any animal in distress and would rather do something about it than see it crushed on the road when I drive past the next day. she kept trying to bait me and get me worked up about it but I just waved her off and didn't let her get to me. I just cant imagine that a person like that could really, truly love and care about their pet.

sorry for the long winded post, just wondering what your views are? do you love all animals? or just dogs? or just staffys? or just people? or just yourself? etc etc

Well done you for taking the bird 'under your wing' and getting it the help it needed

I'm a lover for all animals but I would definitley say my weakness is birds. I love them. I can't watch any type of wildlife program because I get so het up about seeing wildlife in the wild getting attacked and what not. I'm a big softy though .. ! I wouldn't let that girl get to you .. I would have done the same if I could. I have a parrot and when we first had him, he was very ill (unbeknown to us) until his health started to deteriorate and then of course we became educated about his health needs .. he collapsed in my hands a few years ago and, apart from the time my staffy 'Ben' died when I was a kid where I absolutely broke my heart, I never thought i'd be in the position again of being close to a house pet and feeling that emotion again. That emotion now lives inside of me when I see all wildlife / pets in danger ! It's a bit soppy but too many people don't care about the living creature in our world and I find that a bit harsh !

I love all animals. Even the ones that frighten me a bit I can't help liking. Some irritate me, but I don't really wish harm on them (although I will confess to speaking violence to some like the cat who left a turd in my flowerbed). I also couldn't have reptiles as pets because I'd be too jumpy. Birds however are wonderful! I've had a few. One of my favorites was a lovebird I had in high school named Zazu. He was so loving! Ah, now I've gone all sappy...great.

I love birds too I have two quaker parrots

African Gray here - who is sneekily taking in my dogs little yelps ... which is annoying lol