Other Witnessed a recent animal death and I feel pretty bummed out about it. (trigger warning ofc)

[Vibe_Lad]

-PLEASE DON'T VIEW THIS IF DEATH IS SOMETHING THAT AFFECTS YOU

-YOUR MENTAL HEALTH IS MORE IMPORTANT THAN MISSING OUT ON A FORUM POST

-NOW'S YOUR TIME TO TURN BACK AND READ NONE OF THIS
(mods if you wanna remove this thread, I have no problems about it.)


















SERIOUSLY I SAID TURN BACK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!









































As the title says, I witnessed a recent death of an animal.
Not a human or anything. It was a pigeon.

Thing is, my grandpa attracts alotta pigeons because he leaves water for them.
Theres this heatwave thats been hitting our city. And naturally there was a drought.
A flock of pigeons joined me where I work. And they refuse to eat bread because they are eating well.
My grandpa buys bird seeds and what not.

The whole story (now you turn back if you don't want to hear about dead or sick animals)

Spoiler: The whole story

I continued his routine and fed the pigeons. Also added water to bowls laying in shade.
Today at work though, while I was refiling the bowls, I saw a pretty sick looking pigeon.

It had yellow muck over it's eyes, which was wet but with a hard texture.
I observed the pigeon and it appeared not to notice me until I walked straight infront of it's field of view.

Scared at first, it tried to sidestep and avoid me. Clearly in fight or flight.
I decided not to pick it up, and tried a more indirect method of gaining it's trust.

So I went back to the bar area, got a bowl of water, and gave it to the pigeon to drink hopefully.
I also gave it crumpled bread, but the pigeon displayed NO desire to eat what so ever.

Observing it further, it appeared to focus it's good eye on me.
The pigeon was backing itself into a corner, near a crevice.

I didn't want it to go into the crevice and escape from me. So I just left it be and went to the bar.

I did some sports hall work, got some heavy synthetic fabric drapes rolled up so oxygen can come into the sports center.

Returned no less than 10 to 15 minutes later.

The pigeon appeared to stand in the bowl of water, cooling it's feet.
But the bread remained untouched on the dry concrete.

I approached it once again, gauging how close I can get without the pigeon trying to leave the cool water.
Once I was close enough, I reached out to grab it with a small towel.

It escaped me, because in truth I never HELD a pigeon before, and I was trying to be gentle.
It tried to run, but I swiftly grabbed it. Once I realized how actually LIGHT a pigeon is, I grabbed a firm grasp, but left alot of room for the pigeon to safely breathe.

I wasn't rough, I even dropped it.
But the pigeon tried to soften the fall with it's wings.

Once it was on the floor, I grabbed it again. This time holding it with one hand, making sure the wings aren't in an awkward position, and making sure not to bend ligaments or break bones.

I took a sharp knife. It's a regular butter knife, but fashioned into a sharp shiv.

Usually it's used for BBQ cook outs, but now I was using it as a medical instrument to try and get that yellow gunk out of it's eyes.
I was very careful with it, and didn't cut nor stab it ONCE.
I had a sponge as well, which I doused in sink water and proceeded to brush the yellow gunk. Making it less durable and more mushy.

I used the knife to gently scrape the gunk out of the birds eye. And I did so without incident. Taking bird head movement into account.

Some times I had to take a more HANDS ON approach and actually take out a loose feather that was hanging out of it's head.
I didn't yank the feather hard, I merely just pulled on it until the bird yanked it's head opposite of my pulling.

But in the end, the bird wasn't hurt. It was VERY frightened, but now without GUNK nor any injuries from me.

I returned it where it came from. It was clearly awake and looking at me..... well, looking trough me.
As it was looking at me, I approached to observe it while it sat.
One wing was lower than the other, revealing the birds back.
It had a pretty nasty injury, but I didn't take a long look at it.



I went back to the bar, and googled symptoms which I observed during my contact with the bird.
1. Crusty gunk around eyes
2. Slow movement, delayed reactions
3. Shambling movement
4.Partial blindness of the eye.

The symptoms narrowed down the possible illness into 2 most likely diseases:

• Bird pox
• avian conjunctivitis

I removed the crust and made sure to clean the bird around it's eyes. I cleaned small amounts of blood from the pulled feather. And it didn't appear to bleed anymore.

After 1 hour, I returned to the place where I left the bird.
I saw it, but it was laying on the ground. It usually stood.
The wings were laid flat on the concrete bellow, motionless.
A bloody gash was visible on the birds back. It wasn't trickling with blood.
I did not touch it, because I didn't have a towel with me.
I observed the body for 2 more minutes, no motion.

The bird was dead.
1:20PM, (GMT+2), 8/18/2022

I was very disappointed, sad even.
I had to do a double take just to make sure it wasn't sleeping in an awkward position.
Clapped loudly two times, whistled harshly with intent to wake it up.

No response.

I couldn't look at it any longer. I left the bird where it laid, and returned back to the bar.

An amateur not trained civilian field autopsy

Spoiler: Forensic autopsy

Forensic autopsy:


Date: 8/18/2022

Time: 15:42

Exact time of death:
From 12:20 to 13:20

Cadaver identity: animal

Cause of death:
Heart attack or bled out

Performed by: [REDACTED] (untrained civilian)

External examination:
Age: N/A (suspected anywhere between 8 months to 2 years due to the state of the feet pre-death)
Race: Avian/Pigeon
Weight: 240-300g
Color: Grey and white feathers mostly, skin color unknown
Teeth: none
Beak:
The integrity of the beak is solid when touched, but the integrity is lower due to age/disease.
*Left wing:
A few plucked feathers, but overall it was intact without visible injuries
Right wing:
Same overall condition as the other wing.
Body front:
No visible injuries on the bird's belly nor sides
Body back:
Backside had a red visible gash with blood on it
No blood on neck or hind quarters
Leg's:
Both legs appeared healthy and with no known abnormalities
Face description:
Slightly decayed beak, both eyes enveloped in yellow crust
Eyes: black

*pre death, the left wings position was awkward and visibly disjointed. Most likely broken or torn in ligament.

Internal autopsy: N/A

 

[Foxglove_Rae]

I'm sorry...but something that helps me is remember that they were probably suffering, there isn't much you can do to help birds it's difficult. Personally I believe that when you pass you get reincarnated into a new being there soul is now someone new that isn't hurting. You can always give them a burial as well it's why humans do it it helps us move on and process. I'm really sorry this has happened and you had to witness it but time always heals and you can always talk to someone if needed

 

[Vibe_Lad]

I'm sorry...but something that helps me is remember that they were probably suffering, there isn't much you can do to help birds it's difficult. Personally I believe that when you pass you get reincarnated into a new being there soul is now someone new that isn't hurting. You can always give them a burial as well it's why humans do it it helps us move on and process. I'm really sorry this has happened and you had to witness it but time always heals and you can always talk to someone if needed

Thanks for the concern, frankly I got over it. I've had frequent encounters with animal deaths, but it sucks when you literally see one die in your "care".

Frankly, I didn't think I did a good job.
I could have hosed down the hot concrete and cool it down for the bird.
The internet says "You should put the bird in a box and let it heal"

I did none of those things. No predators we're present. I could have put the bird in a box and left it water somewhere isolated and safe.
Heck I was in a bar, I had access to boxes.
Ultimately I'll forget about the bird in like a week or so. And that'll be it.

If your beliefs are correct, I'm hoping the pigeon reincarnates into a cat.

So if a cat is pissed off at me or really dislikes me for some reason, I can just rationalize and say the pigeon remembers me.

 

[Foxglove_Rae]

Thanks for the concern, frankly I got over it. I've had frequent encounters with animal deaths, but it sucks when you literally see one die in your "care".

Frankly, I didn't think I did a good job.
I could have hosed down the hot concrete and cool it down for the bird.
The internet says "You should put the bird in a box and let it heal"

I did none of those things. No predators we're present. I could have put the bird in a box and left it water somewhere isolated and safe.
Heck I was in a bar, I had access to boxes.
Ultimately I'll forget about the bird in like a week or so. And that'll be it.

If your beliefs are correct, I'm hoping the pigeon reincarnates into a cat.

So if a cat is pissed off at me or really dislikes me for some reason, I can just rationalize and say the pigeon remembers me.

Just remember hindsight is 20/20 and most vets won't even take in birds cause of how many diseases they carry. It's awful but true so even if you did those things I still have my doubts, on the bright side the little guy could have had a very long life

 

[Vibe_Lad]

I don't know about the longevity of pigeons in the wild. But I guess one year is a good enough run.

As you say, hindsight is 20/20

Can't fret over every dead bird. If it was bound to happen it was bound to happen

 

[Edric Blight]

This is pretty wild. Written so professionally with that autopsy report tbh.

You did everything you could mate, Godspeed.

 

[Vibe_Lad]

You did everything you could mate, Godspeed.

ay cheers, thank you.
As a wise man once said, accompanied by a choir of his peers:

"it is what it is."

 

[Mitheral]

You got further in your attempts to help than I ever did - except once. Then again, my last attempt was in the early 90's just after the WWW was born, but before Google or Yahoo. So, no looking things up.

At age 11 I took a black cat to the American hospital in Ankara. The cat was a stray. It's eye had become infected. The emergency surgeon there was a friend of my Dad's. He probably broke a few rules and did a little vet work. Had to remove the eye, but "Inky Fur" survived to eat more than a few chickens from our freezer. (A lot of other strays also enjoyed these feasts. Most were Inky Fur's foster siblings and shared the surname of Fur. As kids we weren't all that creative about names.)

At age 12 I tried to help a baby bird - unsuccessfully. For my efforts my aunt dragged me into a bathroom and scrubbed ME head to toe in case of lice.

+++++

Spoiler: Kittens

Skipping to the end - and probably the most successful attempt - I was in the summer after my first year of college. It was 1990. I saw a lady drop a paper grocery sack into a dumpster and leave while I was out working as a mover. Shortly I heard noises coming from the dumpster. When I investigated I discovered the sack was filled with newborn kittens. Well, I couldn't go home right away. I had no way to keep them hydrated and I was staying with my parents while starting college. (I was an out of state student.) My parents would not allow pets.

So I went to see my Lab Coordinator. She was a big cat lover. I figured she would know what to do. As soon as she opened the front door her two sons poked their heads around and started with the Awww's. Well, I had basically moved her whole family into their home almost entirely by myself. (Her older son, age 14 had helped with the two person pieces.) I even moved her piano. So she sort of felt she owed me one.

She knew the local shelter and got the stuff needed. It sort of kept her awake most of the weekend. Late Monday morning I dropped by her office for news. Very bleary eyed she had been trying to look up with items to order for the lab from a list I had added some things to. She asked me what a couple of the items were. One was a left handed beaker; the other a counter rotatory stirring rod. I felt pretty bad because she was serious. I wish I could say I didn't laugh, just little. Even she did, admitting that any other time it would have been funnier. Then she told me that I had officially used up her one favor.

The good news is that the kittens did survive and found homes.