Animals Have Feelings Too!

Post Scripts, Chico Enterprise record ^ | Jack Lee

[OneVike]

In 2003, police in Warwickshire, England, opened a garden shed and found a whimpering, cowering dog. It had been locked in the shed and abandoned. It was dirty and malnourished, and had clearly been abused.

In an act of kindness, the police took the dog, which was a greyhound female, to the nearby Nuneaton and Warwickshire Wildlife Sanctuary known as a willing haven for animals abandoned, orphaned or otherwise in need.

Animals Have Feelings Too!


Jasmine and her brood of friends

[OneVike]

This story reminded me of a Blue Jay chick behind the shop at work about ten years ago. It was so young and unprotected that I was sure it would be just a matter of time before it was lunch for some larger critter. It was still featherless except for a few tiny fuzzy ones so I decided to take it home and start nursing it by feeding the bird anything it would eat. Not really knowing what a baby Blue Jay eats I tried everything, eventually I realized that it likes the same worms I fed my Box Turtle.

After about two weeks it began looking more and more like a Blue Jay as its wings filled in with feathers. We called him Jay and began teaching it to fly. Well, actually I threw it into the air until he finally started to flap his wings and fly. I had been keeping in a cage until he could fly for protection, but after he began to fly I let Jay stay outside. My hope was the he would return to the wild where he was born to live.

Every time I went outside it would fly down to my shoulder and squawk for food until I relented and fed it. The neighborhood kids loved that the guy down the street owned his own Blue Jay. Soon jay became more of a pain in the neck then a friend. I could not step outside without him landing on my shoulder and squawking in my ear for food. I realized he was not searching for food because he never learned to. After all, I had always fed him from the time I rescued him, so why should he forage.

Then one day I was driving to work in my truck and just as I began to turn onto Eaton Rd from my neighborhood, Jay decided to fly onto my shoulder. Unfortunately for him, he did not understand the concept of windows that you could see through but not fly through. It had been a problem in the past as he tried to fly into the house a few times when he was hungry. However, this time the window was moving forward at about ten miles per hour and when he hit it. Well lets just say that Jay is now bugging God for food.

It took me two years to tell my wife what really happened to him, until then she thought he just flew away. The moral of my little adventure is that some animals are best left to nature. Or maybe next time I'll send it to the Nuneaton and Warwickshire Wildlife Sanctuary where Jasmine can nurse it.

[humblegunner]

In 2003, police in Warwickshire, England, opened a garden shed and found a whimpering, cowering dog.

Dang, I thought this was a "terrorist captured" thread.

[Does so]

At the risk of alienating my FRiends, let me say that there is no question in my mind that animals (especially those high up in the ratings of such things) have feelings.

Some dogs have been so thoroughly "humanized", that it's scary.

Hopefully, I won't need to defend my view on this. :)

[mbynack]

My daughter started the Animal Rescue Center (ARC) of Bay County. They go to shelters and get aminals that are scheduled to be put down and find them homes. The "Rescue Center" is actually their back bedroom and they count on foster homes to provide housing for the animals until they can be adopted.

Good ol' mom and dad agreed to foster some of their animals - unfortunately we suck at it. We ended up keeping more of the animals than we adopt out. A couple of the animals have been classified as "unadoptable" so we kept them rather than have them put down. We adopted a blind kitten (that later regained its sight) and a dog with an unpredictable disposition. The dog had a brother and they're inseparable, so we kept the brother, too. We now have six dogs and three cats and no longer foster.

[NavyCanDo]

“Hopefully, I won't need to defend my view on this”

Not from anything I would say. My dog, a Shiba Inu has a new surprise for me almost every day. From the time he dropped his rubber chew bone on my crying baby boy's lap, to just yesterday when he got very excited when hearing the first ice cream truck of the year, he is always reminding me that though he has four legs and a tail, he is one of the family. One of us.

[OneVike]

My wife has said she would love to adopt dogs now that we have an acre of land to run them on. God help us if she does. I love dogs but as you can attest to it can get out of hand if you have a bigger heart then a brain.

I am not suggesting you are small minded, just big hearted.

[mbynack]

At the risk of alienating my FRiends, let me say that there is no question in my mind that animals (especially those high up in the ratings of such things) have feelings.

It's really fascinating to watch a group of animals interact. We have six dogs and you can watch them for an hour and figure out where each falls in the pecking order.

When you get to know them you can understand their moods. They grin when I get home from work and they look depressed when they see me get ready for work (they're probably mirroring my moods). I have a big Chow that slaps me when he wants something. When I ask him what he wants he'll lead me to it. He'll go to the back door if we wants out, he'll lead me to the utility room if he wants food, and he'll lead me to the water dish if it's empty. I'm a dog servant.

[fullchroma]

Great post!

[mbynack]

I am not suggesting you are small minded, just big hearted.

Thanks for your vote of confidence, but I may be both large hearted and small minded. I've spent $500 in vet bills in the last month and we have two more appointments this week. Two dogs weigh 40 lbs each and the others are all 80 lbs and over and two of them are on special diets. We spend $50 a week on pet food.

If one of us ever lost out jobs my wife would sell the house before she gave up one of her animals.

[OneVike]

If one of us ever lost out jobs my wife would sell the house before she gave up one of her animals.

I know my wife loves me, but I am convinced that if it came to the need of me and the dog needing to be rescued, she would throw the line to the dog first.

[Ditter]

A next door neighbor had a very similar story about an adopted Blue Jay. It refused to move into the woods and stayed around and demanded food for much too long.

[OneVike]

It refused to move into the woods and stayed around and demanded food for much too long.

I vaguely remember a story a few years back about some dolphins that got fed by tourists on boats that regularly stoped for the thrill of seeing dolphins. Eventually the dolphins began to expect them and quit hunting for their own food. The government had to stop the cruises from stopping so that the dolphins would begin fishing for their own food again.

Reminds you of the way we destroyed certain segments of our population with all our compassion. Every time I see perfectly healthy people standing on a corner with their hands out, I think about that bird.

[PzLdr]

Not to me. Owned by a series of dogs since childhood.

[pappyone]

“Jasmine and her brood of friends”

Yeah, until that cur on the left gets hungry, then its by by bambi!

[Ditter]

Your story about the Blue Jay flying into the truck window just reminded me of a squirrel that I raised on a bottle. Our dog found this tiny baby squirrel in the back yard and brought it to me (which is pretty amazing). I raised it on a bottle and it lived in the house with us. It would ride around on our shoulders and when you passed another person in the hall way it would jump to the other persons shoulder. One day, with the squirrel on my shoulder I stood in front of a mirror.

You guess it, Rocky jumped into the mirror and broke his back and died.

[OneVike]

Rocky jumped into the mirror and broke his back and died.

When will we learn that wild animals were created by God to live in the wild?

[Twotone]

Your story reminds me of author Gerald Durrell, who wrote many books about his interactions with animals (my favorite was ‘My Family & Other Animals’). He collected specimens for zoos. On one trip to South America he’d almost finished collecting when funding was lost & he couldn’t bring the animals back. He opened the cages, expecting them all to flee for their lives. Instead, the animals just sat there. They’d all gotten used to free meals & had no intention of giving them up!

[OneVike]

They’d all gotten used to free meals & had no intention of giving them up!

That was Jay. He was so lazy it eventually killed him.

Kind of like the people of this country. They have become so lazy it's killing them.

[gilor]

Blue Jays are brood parasites

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20090128211338AAUS82j

[OneVike]

Doggie Ping