My friend was
walking over the Clearwater bridge at dusk when a drunken man on a bicycle
stopped her, almost toppling off as he waved an arc with his arm: “There ish a
shick pelican by zhat biiig tree. Can ya do shumthing?” He knew he wanted that
pelican saved, but he needed all his concentration just to stay on his bike.
He’d picked the right person — my friend is a regular Gerald Durrell who used
to collect animals and insects from the wild as a child in the dubious belief
that they would be better off under her care and protection – ants, tortoises,
rivetingly exciting cocoons.
As she was
observing the large flapping bird to figure out what to do, another friend
texted her about something and, hearing about the pelican, said she was driving
right over. Pelly was by now trying to commit hari kiri by waddling out onto
the busy highway so they parked the car between him and the highway, at which
point he ducked under the car and they were stuck. Now my friend is the sort of
person who swerves on her bike to avoid ants, oblivious of her own death and
the impending pile-up behind her, so here she was out on the busy highway
trying to push Pelly back the way he had come so at least he wouldn’t get squashed.
By now another
compassionate motorist had stopped to help, and the three of them had to
conclude that this was the not the way to go about the rescue. So the
friends went home and picked up a large cardboard box, thick gloves, a blanket,
and a flashlight. Now, I don’t know if you’ve ever tried to pick up the closest
thing we have to a pterodactyl when he doesn’t want to be picked up. The only
advice they’d managed to garner from any animal welfare person on the phone was
“Grab it by the beak”, which seemed a bit of a tall order. After an adventure
in the darkening undergrowth, they did manage to throw the blanket over him,
grab his beak, and put him in the box.
They drove to
the well-known sea bird sanctuary in Indian Shores where, despite the late
hour, a competent bird person was waiting. She picked Pelly up by his
wings and his beak, making it look rather simple considering, and took him in
for rehabilitation. He had been starving, but she managed to fix him.
In this way, at
least five human beings were involved in the rescue of one bird, and everyone
felt better for their part in it. There is nothing particularly remarkable
about this tale. There are countless small, unnoticed acts of kindness like
this all over the world every single day, and also countless huge acts of
heroism.
By Luna Kadampa
