Greetings!
I
have one more garden post after today. There is not much left. We have
not taken down the greenhouse yet. The peppers are hanging on and I
gathered this lot yesterday.
Now for the Raptor Center. Some of you know that Mr. M. and I drove into Eugene just to spend the day with the birds. With the lingering tourists and the road construction it took forever to get there. Then, finding the place was another adventure. Finally after backtracking we found the tiny dirt drive way with a very small sign. We drove up the hill and immediately I got a sinking feeling. We followed the signs to the visitors center, which is a small gift shop, to pay. A young man showed us where the paths were and NOT to go by the hospital. Staff Only. I can understand that. I want to say right now that the birds on display are permanent residents. As we walked down a wet rocky/dirt path to the first cage I wanted to cry. (You have to also remember that I am a retired Vet Tech and have worked with small, large and wild animals including raptors.) There was a bald eagle that was not well. We watched him for awhile. At times he walked sideways and just couldn't get balanced. He tried to jump from a log to retrieve a small raw chicken bone. He got it up on the log and then just dropped out of his mouth. If you have ever seen, in real life or on TV, Eagles don't eat like that. I had to walk away. All of the birds are stressed and or depressed. They are in cages of wood and wire and not enough room to fly. Plastic grass covered wood for the birds to perch on. Dog kennels were in each cage. I know these are used to carry the birds to hospital but several birds were inside the kennels. Most of the birds were facing a wall and would not respond to any kind of bird sounds that I made. I have been to and worked at a few Raptor centers, and other centers for rescue animals. All of them had habitat for the birds and animals. This felt like bird prison and not a happy place at all. I have written a letter to the board and will go further with the state. Here are a few photos that came out.
My camera focused on the wire.
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This is what I believe to be a sick bald Eagle.  |
Can't keep hold of the chicken leg.  |
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The birds looked well fed. Just stressed from environment.  |
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These are very small and not enough room to fly for permanent residents  |
Horrible.  |
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When we left, we both felt sick to our stomachs. Just not a good feeling for this place.
I hate to leave my post on such a negative note.
Here are some muffins I made yesterday. I forgot to add butter. I got them all in the pan when I remembered. So I added a little piece of butter to each muffin and baked them. They are not as tender as normal but not bad and very eatable. I filled the cup 1/2 full, then added some homemade Apple Butter. Cover the with batter and bake. To get a high muffin top, bake muffins for 5 minutes at 475°F then turn the over to 350°F
Have a nice Saturday.
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17 comments:
So sad to read about the living conditions of the birds. It’s hard to imagine they could ever get well under those circumstances. Best of luck in your activist efforts.
What a pretty bell pepper! The muffins look delicious.
I wonder if you'll hear back from the raptor center management...
Sorry your visit was so traumatic for you! Have a good weekend and enjoy your muffins! Valerie
It seems it was just yesterday you were prepping your greenhouse for the summer vegetables to come! Oh no on the poor birds, a kind of zoo. Glad you cheered us up with muffins, that works strangely enough.
...I will watch a bit to pick pepper and tomatoes
Oh dear ~ sad post of our feathered friends ~ at least they are protected from the wilds ~ not much but something ~ life is not fair ~ ~ Xo
Living in the moment,
A ShutterBug Explores,
aka (A Creative Harbor)
Barbara these are (supposed) to be healthy birds and permanent residents. The sick birds are in the hospital that no one can see.
It is sad that facilities such as this exist in the 21st century.
Your bell pepper is so much better looking a larger than all of mine still on the vine.
I am so sorry to read about these poor raptors. With your credentials, I hope the state and "board?" will take your concerns to heart and investigate.
Your apple butter muffins look good. At least it was a nice way to end this rather sad and depressing post.
What a very sad sight, glad you interfere.
In our little zoo we have seen one Kookaburra, all alone and not "laughing" at all. I hope his mate had died and they got him a new one.
Would you care to tell more of your work with animals?
Apple Butter?! Sounds interesting, how do you make that? Uh-oh. I still have home-made "something-butter" in the freezer, I think I used chilli...
Sunday here, have a great day over there :-)
Do these raptors get released later, or will they spend their life in these cages. It is sad to see the conditions they live in. I bet more AB would be good, but those muffins look tasty. Happy new week Nicole.
so sad to see the images from the bird hospital. Makes you cry for sure. :(
It's good that you get in touch, I also think it's horrible how they hold the birds. Good luck!
It's great that you still had something to harvest and baked such delicious muffins.
Happy week, hugs, Elke
Oh, no❗ How can they build such small and horrible cages. Actually, there is not enough room to fly.
Your muffins look delicious! ... yesterday my daughters made muffins with pumpkin 🍪 Really good!
Have a nice weekend ahead of you ☀️
Es ist traurig zu lesen, wie die armen Tiere gehalten werden.
Ich dachte in der heutigen Zeit werden Vögel und andere Lebewesen artgerecht
gehalten. Das ist ein sehr trauriger Bericht.
LG. Karin M.
So sad! One of the things I most hate is to see birds in cages! If they have to be caged for health reasons, they should have enough space to fly. I hope that your letter gets results!
Hugs,
Alison
oh those poor birds :(
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