has anyone ever kept ?

[Fritillary]

My first animal I helped to survive was a baby mouse. I was about 8 y o. The roof where I lived as a child had mice and one day one baby fall down. The head was like a triangle (the impact of the fail) naked and the eyes were still closed. I fed with cow milk in secret. If my parents knew they would be angry and the little mouse survived .
I have nourrished several babies: Kittens, swifts, caterpillars, etc etc. hurt animals etc etc. I always take a hurt animal and i will do the best to recover. If not, I have learned for the next time.

12 years ago, I had a similar species of Magpie, I found it as a chick that had fallen from the nest. However I was moving of the country, and I left the chick with my parents in a big cage ( I made it specially for him). I left a mirror inside in order he could recognise his relatives with the idea of leaving him free when it would be old enough. Sadly my parents did nt and he lived about 10 years in the cage.

I dont care about what "experts" said. Generally they know about the animals but they dont have idea of what to do to help them. They are very pesimists about wild animals. With the swift chick, they told me I couldnt do anything for him. They were amazed when I told them I had already been feeding him by 2 weeks. Yes giving food every 2 hours, every day can be difficult because of jobs, but it is quite satisfying see them grow and finally flying away. And thanks to him, I learned a lot about swifts and the migratory journey. Now each year I see them flying around and I wonder if one of them is the one I had

[Fritillary]

About the graph here, I wonder why are there too many people that have say NO. I had thought that if you are in a fauna and flora forum, it is because you like nature and consequentely, you had had any animal at least once in your life.

[squeek]

hmm i dont know.

anyway i have on a few occassions tried to save birds.
i'd never keep one as a pet.

if i see an injured animal or bird in my garden i will try to help it.
we had an injured pheasant last year, thought we may have to catch him to help, but instead we fed him specially and he gained strength and repaired.
we were constantly watching for him. he only had one leg on the ground.
he recovered well. and he suffered no stress from being caught.
now we have a mixi rabbit, i was advised by 2 contacts to put him down, but he didnt look like he was dying, so i read up on the net and found that wild rabbits have developed an immunity to the disease and now 50% of them now survive.
well nearly 5 weeks now and he is still with us, eating washing and hopping all around the garden. he even spotted a cat from the other side and ran from him, so his eye site must be repairing too. im so glad we did not take the drastic action of putting him down.

[cara pace]

Originally Posted by Fritillary

My first animal I helped to survive was a baby mouse. I was about 8 y o. The roof where I lived as a child had mice and one day one baby fall down. The head was like a triangle (the impact of the fail) naked and the eyes were still closed. I fed with cow milk in secret. If my parents knew they would be angry and the little mouse survived .
I have nourrished several babies: Kittens, swifts, caterpillars, etc etc. hurt animals etc etc. I always take a hurt animal and i will do the best to recover. If not, I have learned for the next time.

12 years ago, I had a similar species of Magpie, I found it as a chick that had fallen from the nest. However I was moving of the country, and I left the chick with my parents in a big cage ( I made it specially for him). I left a mirror inside in order he could recognise his relatives with the idea of leaving him free when it would be old enough. Sadly my parents did nt and he lived about 10 years in the cage.

I dont care about what "experts" said. Generally they know about the animals but they dont have idea of what to do to help them. They are very pesimists about wild animals. With the swift chick, they told me I couldnt do anything for him. They were amazed when I told them I had already been feeding him by 2 weeks. Yes giving food every 2 hours, every day can be difficult because of jobs, but it is quite satisfying see them grow and finally flying away. And thanks to him, I learned a lot about swifts and the migratory journey. Now each year I see them flying around and I wonder if one of them is the one I had

I like the story about the little mouse!
I have rescued and tried to rehabilitate many wild animals over the years including,
6 two day old baby rabbits their mother had tried to cannibalise because the breeder just couldn't resist picking them up! Sadly, the mortality rate is very high in these cases, but I had to try.
The year before last I had 7 hedgehogs in the space of 2 months (it was a very bad year)
Successfully rescued a goldfish(not a wild animal - but came from a neighbours pond, so I thought I'd include it) a cat brought to my doorstep!
Many little field mice
2 myxomatosis wild rabbits (both at separate times, and both died)
A snapping turtle from a local pond - the poor thing had swallowed a fishing hook
Too many birds to remember (the nicer ones of this year are the 2 baby blackbirds and a starling which I hand reared - all of which were then taken on to a sanctuary to be acquainted with normal bird behaviour and other birds, before they were released into the wild)
Luckily I work at a vets, so have access to all the medication and advice that I need, but that hasn't always been the case. I am sorry to hear, Fritillary, that you have had some bad experiences but there are many wildlife centres, vets and rehabilitation keepers out there who are only happy to help and advise - don't be put off!

[Fritillary]

You are right cara pace (funny name ). I think I should aclare somethings. By one way, I have wide experience with little animals and also I am from Mexico. There, 30 years ago, there were not all these centres to help wild animals as all you have here. I remember that as a child vets were to cure cows and horses and mistakes on dogs and cats were more or less frequents. I remember one day that a vet gave an overdoses to one of my cats and almost died.

Also I am biologist so I have some criteria about what sort of food animals should have, what to do to avoid the animal be too much close to humans in order to survive in nature, etc. Of course, I am open to listen what can be done but I analise the information given .

And when I say experts, well in France there were people for saying, knowing a lot about birds (identification, migrations, giving talks to public about these subjects, etc), however, they knew nothing about how to help a bird if it was hurt. And like that, instead of saying humbly "I dont know", they gave a negative view... "nothing can be done for baby birds, they die..".
Now in UK, I heard the same commentary of a scientist that study bird behaviour of tits and she said the best it is leaving chicken to die than collect them. I disagree completely. Of course there are species that can manage to feed their youngs from ground but just leaving to die, I dont agree.. If I had never taken any little animal with me, I had never learnt all what I know now about them. With the little swift, I kissed him at the end when he left because before meeting him, I did not know their cycle of life of these wonderful birds.

[Elean0r]

We rescued a little hedgehog from the road outside our house one November. We kept it overnight, in the bath with a pile of leaves and a dish of cat food. We took it to a proper rescue centre the next day.

Originally Posted by Fritillary

I wonder why are there too many people that have say NO. I had thought that if you are in a fauna and flora forum, it is because you like nature and consequentely, you had had any animal at least once in your life.

I think that if you like nature you want things to live as naturally as possible, and that means trying to make sure wild creatures stay wild, as well as knowing your own shortcomings. I wouldn't know how to look after an injured animal, and might end up killing it through ignorance, which would be terrible.

[cara pace]

I see what you mean Fritillery. Thanks to people like you and many others on here who give up their time and devotion, we can make a difference. These people who are willing to learn and try to make that difference are the real 'experts'(whether or not they undertake the care themselves or pass that animal on for help).

[Fritillary]

Eleanor
<<I think that if you like nature you want things to live as naturally as possible, and that means trying to make sure wild creatures stay wild,...I wouldn't know how to look after an injured animal, and might end up killing it through ignorance, which would be terrible.>>

Yes I understand what you say, but it depends of the person and if he/she feels suited for the responsability that this situation may be.
For me I dont think if the animal is going to die, if it was going to die anyway, what can be lost if it dies with me? Even I have learnt things about this creature and that it is something positive . It is true that not everybody can do things right, generally people take wild animals like they were pets.

One thing that bother me is in zoos (since I have watched some tv programs) where it is shown that vets there give sweets and cokes to monkeys (why do they give them this rubbish??) It is supposed they are with wild animals not pets (even you must not give to your pets any sugar things)

Sometimes I had taken bad hurt dogs to the vet to put them down. This is another way to help but it is very hard decision.

[Lance Morgan]

I breed butterflies and moths every year.