Unusual pets....like Percy the Gull!

[HIGH PIT WILMA]

Hi all,seein' as aam guilty of gaan off-topic,withoot realising it till it's done,a thowt a wud set this one away aboot my tame..[???????????!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!],disabled Herring Gull.

Anybody else who looks after an injured/disabled bird or animal,a wud love ti hear from,being an avid wildlife lover!!

Mebbe Mods can shift me comments and stories aboot Porcy,[where a strayed a bit!],owa ti heor,alang wi comments applied to him from other Members....is that possible?

Just ti re-cap,aav had Percy,[hereinafter referred ti as Porcy!],more than three years since October past.

A tuk him in as an outreach carer for Jon at Blyth Wildlife Trust,which was savagely attacked twice last year by scumbags,who wrecked cages,released baby hedgehogs which were

being cared for constantly,as they don't hibernate as juveniles,and also released loads of other injured and sick birds and animals,in the middle of winter..leaving them to die.

Here's wor Porcy!

IMGP8338.AVI

[HIGH PIT WILMA]

Porcy was aboot eight or nine months old on that clip,he hadn't had his first years moult.

Note the smaller black beak and dark legs,also his disabled wing which he cannot straighten out,compared to his good wing which is pretty massive when spread fully!

 

[HIGH PIT WILMA]

Looking after a Herring Gull has to be a long-term commitment,as the longest recorded lifespan of one,was in America,and the bird lived for a known 42 years,...the average is over thirty years at least!

So not to be taken lightly!

Fortunately I have generous help from friends who are fishermen,and who donate spare catches from time to time,to help with Percy's upkeep,cos his main diet is

from cheap tins of dog meat,which I buy each week,supplemented with tins of cheap sardines as a treat once a week,and food scraps of fat etc,from our table.

[Canny lass]

Unfortunately this is not 'unusual'. Found, along with his 4 dead Brothers and sisters, in a cardboard box by the side of the road on a freezing Cold day. Like Porcy, he's hand reared and 5 years on he's living a Life of luxury.

Edited January 25, 2016 by Canny lass

[Canny lass]

On a happier note, these are my 'babies'. They cost me a fortune in crushed oats, sunflower seeds and carrots.They've learned to 'headbut' the bird feeder causing the seeds to gush out onto the ground and wait at the kitchen door for carrots. Not completely tame yet - they won't let me touch them but I can stand among them.

[Vic Patterson]

Oats, carrots and apples.

[Canny lass]

What won't we do for our four-legged friends, Vic!

[Alan Edgar (Eggy1948)]

1 hour ago, Canny lass said:

What won't we do for our four-legged friends, Vic!

Keep them outdoors seems reasonable. 

[Maggie/915]

This thread makes great reading.

A humanitarian response to suffering.

Help where help is needed and friendship is the result.

 

[Canny lass]

11 minutes ago, Maggie/915 said:

"Help where help is needed and friendship is the result".

That can be applied in so many situations, Maggie.

 

 

[HIGH PIT WILMA]

Aaaaaaaahhhhh!!!!!!

What a lovely response from canny caring folk!

A divvent swear,but a did quietly in me kitchen,when a saw the wee pup...the same type of scumbag who dumped LBJ oot the car onto a busy motorway in Newcastle,ti try and get her killed,rather than just take her to a shelter to be re-homed.....and the same scum who vandalised and eventually burned down the Blyth Wildlife trustsanctuary for birds and wild animals.[where Porcy came from before that happened]

Thanks for posting Canny Lass,and Vic.

[Canny lass]

The wee pup is a wee kitten, HPW, but I can understand you not being able to see the difference. He couldn't have been 24 hours old when I found him as the umbilical chord was still bleeding. That Picture was taken just a couple of hours after. Here he is today.

 

 

Edited January 27, 2016 by Canny lass

[HIGH PIT WILMA]

Eggy,I completely agree with you,on the basis that we are talking about a fully grown old ewe,or a stag,or any other big wild animal...house them in appropriate shelter outside if needed,due to either injury or starvation.I have had a tame ewe jump in and out of our small tourer caravan,if you turned your back for a second,and mind....they are pretty "warm"!!,to be kind to the species,as are goats!Noo!!,would you have left the cardboard box and it's contents lying in the freezing cold,which Canny lass rescued,above,or would you see a baby hedgehog lying dying because it has somehow strayed from it's mother,maybe the victim of careless drivers who deliberately go for these poor things at night,which I have seen drivers do many a time.

I would have thought that anyone with a heart in them would help the defenceless creatures...but then,I am just soft as clarts and crackers as weel!!

 

[HIGH PIT WILMA]

Jess poked among the 3ft tall thistles one stinking cold rainy night.....well....it was about 2-am-ish,in spring 2015,just along from our house..[about 200 yards away].

I tried to urge her to come with me but she set her feet,and was adamant that she wanted to investigate something,among the the forest of tall thistles.

I feared she would be prickled so I went to see what she was so intrigued with......

When I shone my torch among the thistles,I was expecting to find a toad or a hedgehog or something......

This is what I found,hanging, [soaked to the skin], by it's wee skinny featherless wings!

I gently untangled it from the thistles,which were totally embedded into thi poor thing's few feathers,and carried it straight home.

My wife woke and came through the garage to see if I was alright,and when she saw it,she immediately started to help me,by organising a piece of soft cloth for

the cage bottom to wrap him in,cos he was soaked and shivering,only a few days old.

She got a small vessel of water,and a cocktail stick,and he immediately started to gulp the water droplets from the stick.

I made him comfortable,cos he was too weak to stand on his feet unaided,and went to bed after about two hours watching him.

My Wife couldn't rest and kept getting up to check on him.

In the morning I hard-boiled an egg and mixed the yolk with some finely milled oats,and water,and started feeding him from the cocktail stick,with difficulty,at first,cos he was disorientated....but it didn't take long before I  was shopping for more eggs!!

He grew rapidly within a few days,turning from a dying weakling,into a happy singing fluffy bundle of healthy feathers!

Now he was on a diet of seeds and fruit,and bits of worm at his choosing,still with the egg and oats paste..and also Thistle-heads ["clocks"]

When I felt he was ready, I took Him to where he was found and released him,he went straight to the feeders and water-dripper bottles that I had hung discreetly among the trees.

I used ti hang his cage outside in the warm sun,and every time I whistled to him,he whistled back,cos I did that from the very first night I found him!

A happy ending to a very sad start for him!!

Eggy,what would you have done.....left him outside?.........to die?....balance of nature?

I think I will just keep on interfering with Mother nature appropriately!![she's getting on a bit noo,and needs help!]

'FLUFFY' FEEDING![SPRING 2015].AVI

[mercuryg]

Percy is fantastic! Meet Lizzie my resident reptile!

[Alan Edgar (Eggy1948)]

12 hours ago, HIGH PIT WILMA said:

Eggy,I completely agree with you,on the basis that we are talking about a fully grown old ewe,or a stag,or any other big wild animal...house them in appropriate shelter outside if needed,due to either injury or starvation.I have had a tame ewe jump in and out of our small tourer caravan,if you turned your back for a second,and mind....they are pretty "warm"!!,to be kind to the species,as are goats!Noo!!,would you have left the cardboard box and it's contents lying in the freezing cold,which Canny lass rescued,above,or would you see a baby hedgehog lying dying because it has somehow strayed from it's mother,maybe the victim of careless drivers who deliberately go for these poor things at night,which I have seen drivers do many a time.

I would have thought that anyone with a heart in them would help the defenceless creatures...but then,I am just soft as clarts and crackers as weel!!

 

I am softer than clarts, tears run down my cheeks when watching any creature trying to survive but I wouldn't have a pet, especially in the house.

Just because a wild animal appears to look at you for help would that animal think - must clean myself up before I allow the human race to help me, don't want to pass anything on to their babies eg.:- 

Disease                     Symptoms                                    Carrier

Plague typhus    Fever, skin rashes                              Flea, lice, chipmunk, prairie dog, squirrel

Lyme disease    Rash, fatigue, muscle and joint pain    Deer tick

etc. etc. etc.

 

[HIGH PIT WILMA]

Fair remarks Eggy,not pulling you down in any way,where Babies are concerned,you need to be very careful.

Having said that,I was about 3 years old when my Godmother gave me Tiddles,and Micky,my Kitten and Puppy,[lakeland/terrier cross],in 1947,at a time when we had no money to feed ourselves hardly,never mind pets!

In those days,the cats would feed themselves naturally,or get scraps of meat off our table,after dinner.[Rabbit pie with a crusty baked covering over a cup in the middle of the bowl was a cheap delicacy!!...rabbits were ruining the country's crops,they were so abundant!....hence Myxymatosis!!]

Our dog got everything we ate....full stop!...they were both healthy clean pets,no fleas and ticks....and no Vets!

Micky roamed the woods and fields every day with me,and never ailed a thing till he met up with a speeding opencast coal lorry driver on bonus-work,and Micky lost

his life,and I lost the best friend that man ever knew....

I've looked after birds and animals all my life,and at nearly 72 yrs old,I don't think I will die from any animal or bird disease............more likely to die from scumbag species who are supposed to be "humans",like the young blonde "girl",who drove a  stolen car,with false cloned registration plates,straight into the side of my car doing about 40 mph,broadside front near passenger side,knocked my Wife unconcious,wrote my car off,terrified both my Wife,and my little dog,[who was asleep in the rear of my car],for ever getting back into the car again.

Tried to drive away from the scene off the crash,her car seized up,she did a runner on foot,police helicopter,sniffer dogs,and police on foot searched the fields and streets,she escaped......probably doing the same thing again as we speak.....noo THAT'S where ya mair likely ti suffer from a shortened life-span!Humans.....not

wildlife! [or domesticated pets!]

My own Nephew,and a friends'  Grand-daughter, are the only two people I have ever come across in my entire life,who are allergic to cats,runny nose and watery eyes,bad enough but not life-threatening!!

Mind,Eggy,by the sound of things,you aren't living in England,where we don't have Chipmunks or Prairie dogs,but we do have Rats,and Squirrels,Weill's disease etc.

I've never heard of anybody being bitten by a rat,but every week somebody is either stabbed to death,or mugged and severely beaten up....even old people in their eighties and nineties,suffering at the hands of young male AND female scumbags who are supposed to part of the "human" race..presumably with more intelligence than "Dumb" animals..........!![not forgetting the carnage on our roads every minute of every day god sends...!]

Yes,fear of that which is not likely to happen is a common,[and I suppose understandable], thing,but you have to put life into context.

I am personally more [very!],wary of the dangers of being among the human race,than I am,of being in the wild,among my friends out there!!

[HIGH PIT WILMA]

Canny lass....HE is gorgeous!!.....had my hackles up seriously reading about his poor plight.

So pleased you were able to rescue him,sad about his family.[Scumbag things who did this....re-inforces my views expressed above...]

Merc,Lizzie is a lovely little thing....Lizzie the Lizard........!is that how you named her?

What species is she?...Newts and British sand Lizards are the only ones I have ever handled,so not an expert on Lizards at all![but willing to learn]

[mercuryg]

Lizzie (she was named when I was given her!) is a Bearded Dragon, a species native to Australia. She's currently about a foot long, including tail, and is surprisingly friendly. Likes to sit in my shoulder when I'm watching TV!

[HIGH PIT WILMA]

I was visiting my Sister one day,in April,2011,up at Bedlington,near the 20 acres field.

I came to say goodnight,at the front door,at midnight,and it was a very COLD night.!

As I came out of the doorway,something caught my eye,moving fairly quickly,along the gutter,in the road outside of my Sister's house.

When I went to see what it was,this little thing turned around in it's tracks,and came running straight towards me.

Well,seeing as I speak to every living thing in nature,as if it was a human being,I said "Hello" to it,at which point it halted in it's tracks,and turned away from me,obviously not recognising the voice as it's owner.

Each time I stood still,it came running towards me,stopping about three feet away,and sniffing up to me,as if it was sussing me out!

After a quarter of an hour of this carry-on,it started to tire itself out,and finally just plonked down beside my feet,like a little kitten!

I picked him up and he just sat in my hands content,looking up at me with the most gorgeous pink eyes!

He was shivering,freezing cold,god knows how long he had been running wild,and was probably starving with hunger,as it was obvious he was a domesticated animal.

I phoned my Brother ,who just lives a few doors away from my Sister,and who ran the Cat Protection League for donkey's years,until ill-health forced him to stop.

He came up with a cat carrier and I put this little bonny thing in and took him home for the night,giving him some supper of Jess's dogmeat.

Next day I did some research,and found a breeder/keeper who lived a few doors away from where this little animal was running around.

He hadn't lost any stock,but took him in and said he would contact people he knew who kept them,and would either return him to his owner,or keep him and breed from him as he was an unusual Albino Ferrett.

Happy ending once again!!...no way could I have driven home and left him to his own devices,knowing he was of a kept species..and probably wouldn't have survived long on his own.

Not good pics,as it was midnight,but better than nowt!

Here he is............

[2-4-11]ALBINO FERRET ESCAPED!.AVI

[Alan Edgar (Eggy1948)]

HPW - Seghill - cats dogs and Crufts Best of Breed, Bedlington Terrier 2014 all live in Seghill, but don't get in my house. I treat them all the same, cats, dogs, horses, goats, fleas, spiders, bees, Hedgehogs, earwigs, black Clocks, Daddy Long Legs etc. etc. etc - they all get shown the door. I would happily execute any animal owner, without trial, that mistreats their animals. But as Confucious would have said -  "One cannot herd with birds and beasts. If I am not to be a man among other men, then what am I to be?"  

[HIGH PIT WILMA]

Heh heh!

Okay,Eggy,everybody ti tha aan!

Like aa say,aav had mair harm done ti me and my family,been personally attacked innocently waaking owa ti me hoose by a young lad twice my size,who hit the deck

unexpectedly,and  twice as hard as he tried ti hit me,been verbally abused and threatened to be "filled in" while minding me aan bizniz waakin me little dog,by so-called "Humans."...and aa just waant a quiet peaceful life!

Aam happier owa thi fields,or doon the woods,aav never drank in me life,so divvent gaan ti places where ya likely ti encounter any bother wi drunkies or druggies.

Confucious was a wise man?[PC here....or Woman!],but so is HPW,and MY motto is...."Ye get nae grief off birds and animals,it's people ye get grief off"

Let's agree ti differ eh Eggy?!

Thanks for contributing,it aal meks interesting reading for members!!

Cheers Marra!

[P.S.]A thowt ye must be Ex-pat somewheor,when ye mentioned Chipmunks and Prairie dogs!!

Ignorance is bliss!

[HIGH PIT WILMA]

Cheers Merc! I have heard of that species,but never seen one....surprisingly deceiving,doesn't look that big!!

I am fascinated by snakes also,and would love one but my Wife would be terrified of one so I call it a day on that one.!

[mercuryg]

HPW she's a fascinating creature, my youngest cat loves her! So easy to keep. I have a friend with half a dozen snakes, pythons, but they take a bit more looking after! I 

[Alan Edgar (Eggy1948)]

22 hours ago, HIGH PIT WILMA said:

Heh heh!

Okay,Eggy,everybody ti tha aan!

Like aa say,aav had mair harm done ti me and my family,been personally attacked innocently waaking owa ti me hoose by a young lad twice my size,who hit the deck

unexpectedly,and  twice as hard as he tried ti hit me,been verbally abused and threatened to be "filled in" while minding me aan bizniz waakin me little dog,by so-called "Humans."...and aa just waant a quiet peaceful life!

Aam happier owa thi fields,or doon the woods,aav never drank in me life,so divvent gaan ti places where ya likely ti encounter any bother wi drunkies or druggies.

Confucious was a wise man?[PC here....or Woman!],but so is HPW,and MY motto is...."Ye get nae grief off birds and animals,it's people ye get grief off"

Let's agree ti differ eh Eggy?!

Thanks for contributing,it aal meks interesting reading for members!!

Cheers Marra!

[P.S.]A thowt ye must be Ex-pat somewheor,when ye mentioned Chipmunks and Prairie dogs!!

Ignorance is bliss!

Seems fair to me mate.