It's been really stormy lately and my head doesn't do well with that; so today at work I was feeling quite under the weather.
Just in case anyone was curious, this is really not the job to have while you're feeling sick.
Friday, August 21, 2009
Wednesday, August 19, 2009
So Generous
Today I had a ride-along.
One of the girls on a co-op position from college had been working in the back with the Animal Care Staff but this morning they decided to send her along with me to see another aspect of what the Humane Society takes care of.
Apparently today was the day for dead raccoons, we had about five, but it was nice to have someone to chat with. Usually my other passengers are so quiet.
I teased her saying that she'd have to pick something up, as I did with another ride-along that I had in the past, but I didn't actually expect her to do it. But after watching me pick up a few raccoons I asked her if she wanted to get the next one and she said she would... except when we got there this raccoon was teeming with maggots... especially crawling out the eye sockets and inside the mouth.
I told her she didn't have to get it and at the very least offered to get her the shovel -but after a few deep breathes she stooped and scooped that stinker right up.
Most of it anyway, a bit of it's face fell off but I picked that up for her.
I was impressed! Far be it from me to horde all the exciting stories for myself!
One of the girls on a co-op position from college had been working in the back with the Animal Care Staff but this morning they decided to send her along with me to see another aspect of what the Humane Society takes care of.
Apparently today was the day for dead raccoons, we had about five, but it was nice to have someone to chat with. Usually my other passengers are so quiet.
I teased her saying that she'd have to pick something up, as I did with another ride-along that I had in the past, but I didn't actually expect her to do it. But after watching me pick up a few raccoons I asked her if she wanted to get the next one and she said she would... except when we got there this raccoon was teeming with maggots... especially crawling out the eye sockets and inside the mouth.
I told her she didn't have to get it and at the very least offered to get her the shovel -but after a few deep breathes she stooped and scooped that stinker right up.
Most of it anyway, a bit of it's face fell off but I picked that up for her.
I was impressed! Far be it from me to horde all the exciting stories for myself!
Tuesday, August 18, 2009
Oh Deer...
Yep! That's right! I got my first deer today!
Well... part of it anyway.
This call came out to us as "a skinned carcass on the side of the road". We figured it was a deer so two of us went out to deal with it (often they are too big for one person handle... and they'd certainly be too big for me to lug around alone).
However, when we got there we realized that there was no actual body to the deer... just a pile of intestines and organs next to a skinned head. I was told that in all likelihood a hunter probably dumped the parts there rather than properly disposing of them.
Thanks Mr. Hunter, because of your laziness I had to pick up after you.
The other officer got the pile of inner-bits while I got the skinned head; except he dropped one of the organs so I picked that up too... I think it was either a lung or the liver... perhaps I should brush up on my anatomy so I can recognize the different parts that I come across.
...Future field trip option for an authentic learning opportunity with real-life application?!
Maybe not.
Well... part of it anyway.
This call came out to us as "a skinned carcass on the side of the road". We figured it was a deer so two of us went out to deal with it (often they are too big for one person handle... and they'd certainly be too big for me to lug around alone).
However, when we got there we realized that there was no actual body to the deer... just a pile of intestines and organs next to a skinned head. I was told that in all likelihood a hunter probably dumped the parts there rather than properly disposing of them.
Thanks Mr. Hunter, because of your laziness I had to pick up after you.
The other officer got the pile of inner-bits while I got the skinned head; except he dropped one of the organs so I picked that up too... I think it was either a lung or the liver... perhaps I should brush up on my anatomy so I can recognize the different parts that I come across.
...Future field trip option for an authentic learning opportunity with real-life application?!
Maybe not.
Monday, August 17, 2009
What's the Point?
I've never owned a cat. I've never been inclined to own a cat. Although I don't mind cats, I'm much more of a dog person. Personally, I consider this to be incredibly helpful because quite often I find myself scraping cats off the side of the road or bagging cats that have crawled off and died in the bushes. Really, starting your day bagging a couple dead cats each morning is not really ideal... but I can imagine it being much worse if I had owned any cats in the past.
Warning: rant
...When I do find myself picking up cats, although it's sad, I find myself thinking about the (pardon me) stupid owners who let them run around outside. Seriously, it is a pet owner's job to protect and care for their animals. Cats don't understand crosswalk signals and I can guarantee you that they're always on the losing team when up against a vehicle... so I don't understand how people are actually surprised when their cat gets hit by a car.
End rant.
Anyway... before I started this job little did I know that there were multiple types of Siamese cats that are classified by different 'points' noted on their face: seal point, chocolate point, blue point, and lilac point. So I pull up behind this cat by the curb and note that it looks like a Siamese.
"Interesting," I think to myself, "I wonder if I can remember what kind of point it is!"
(Okay... give me a break here. My days are not exactly intellectually challenging and anything that keeps my brain thinking turns out to be exciting for me.)
However, when I walk around to the front of the cat all I see is a bloody mashed in and popped out head. I think the eyes get to me the most. And it was still dripping. Needless to say, I was unable to classify the Siamese's point.
...Honestly, keep your darn cats inside.
Warning: rant
...When I do find myself picking up cats, although it's sad, I find myself thinking about the (pardon me) stupid owners who let them run around outside. Seriously, it is a pet owner's job to protect and care for their animals. Cats don't understand crosswalk signals and I can guarantee you that they're always on the losing team when up against a vehicle... so I don't understand how people are actually surprised when their cat gets hit by a car.
End rant.
Anyway... before I started this job little did I know that there were multiple types of Siamese cats that are classified by different 'points' noted on their face: seal point, chocolate point, blue point, and lilac point. So I pull up behind this cat by the curb and note that it looks like a Siamese.
"Interesting," I think to myself, "I wonder if I can remember what kind of point it is!"
(Okay... give me a break here. My days are not exactly intellectually challenging and anything that keeps my brain thinking turns out to be exciting for me.)
However, when I walk around to the front of the cat all I see is a bloody mashed in and popped out head. I think the eyes get to me the most. And it was still dripping. Needless to say, I was unable to classify the Siamese's point.
...Honestly, keep your darn cats inside.
Thursday, August 13, 2009
Friday, August 7, 2009
The Capture of the Cockatiel
I got my first stray today!
Generally speaking, I do DOAs (Dead On Arrival), injured birds, animal transport (to and from vets), other errands, and some licensing... but today I got a stray.
A pearl cockatiel had escaped and was found by a couple, ushered into their kitchen, and was being kept under a laundry basket. Although the husband wanted to keep it, the wife had vetoed that option and so there I was.
The little guy didn't want to climb up on my hand while my gloves were on, but the husband reassured me that he was really friendly and that I would probably be fine without them. Sure enough, gloves removed, the cockatiel soon hopped up and climbed up to perch quite comfortably on my shoulder. Obviously I couldn't go outside with him there as he'd fly away but when I tried to get him on my hand again he flew over to the husband.
This was the plan: have him hop up on my left hand, pet him with my right, and then gently hold his wings down so I'd be able to bring him to the crate. (You know, my ideas always seem to work so well in theory... but by now I should really know ahead of time that they're going to somehow mess up.)
Cockateils, as I soon found out, do not like to be confined like this by strangers and they also have really bendy necks. Meaning, very effectively biting my hands and fingers was not a problem for the littly guy.
"Oh, he's really biting you there eh?"
"Yea..." And so I ask the husband to help put a glove on each hand while I hold the bird in the other.
"Oh, well it can't be all that bad.." chimes in the wife.
"Well," I laugh and calmly say,"it's enough... I mean, he's drawing blood and I'm bleeding from my fingernails so... I wouldn't mind the gloves..."
The bird was contained and I brought my first stray back to the Centre without any further problems. But realistically, just throwing this out there, bleeding from the fingernails is not exactly pleasant. I didn't exactly see her going within 5 ft of the bird...
Generally speaking, I do DOAs (Dead On Arrival), injured birds, animal transport (to and from vets), other errands, and some licensing... but today I got a stray.
A pearl cockatiel had escaped and was found by a couple, ushered into their kitchen, and was being kept under a laundry basket. Although the husband wanted to keep it, the wife had vetoed that option and so there I was.
The little guy didn't want to climb up on my hand while my gloves were on, but the husband reassured me that he was really friendly and that I would probably be fine without them. Sure enough, gloves removed, the cockatiel soon hopped up and climbed up to perch quite comfortably on my shoulder. Obviously I couldn't go outside with him there as he'd fly away but when I tried to get him on my hand again he flew over to the husband.
This was the plan: have him hop up on my left hand, pet him with my right, and then gently hold his wings down so I'd be able to bring him to the crate. (You know, my ideas always seem to work so well in theory... but by now I should really know ahead of time that they're going to somehow mess up.)
Cockateils, as I soon found out, do not like to be confined like this by strangers and they also have really bendy necks. Meaning, very effectively biting my hands and fingers was not a problem for the littly guy.
"Oh, he's really biting you there eh?"
"Yea..." And so I ask the husband to help put a glove on each hand while I hold the bird in the other.
"Oh, well it can't be all that bad.." chimes in the wife.
"Well," I laugh and calmly say,"it's enough... I mean, he's drawing blood and I'm bleeding from my fingernails so... I wouldn't mind the gloves..."
The bird was contained and I brought my first stray back to the Centre without any further problems. But realistically, just throwing this out there, bleeding from the fingernails is not exactly pleasant. I didn't exactly see her going within 5 ft of the bird...
Tuesday, August 4, 2009
Inevitability
The fairy-tale ending in a chick-flick...
Frizzy hair on beach day...
Massive blisters after breaking in a new pair of heels through a night out dancing...
Some things in life are just inevitable...
...like how on long weekends, lots and lots of stuff will get hit.
Today was really busy (catching up on all the death from the weekend); yet, when looking back on my day, I thought that nothing particularly abnormal struck me as noteworthy.
Then I begin to think --today I picked up...
-a dead cat that had an eyeball dangling from it's socket
-half a dozen squirrels (it's a wonder they keep their population up)
-a ridiculously, wretched smelling opossum that I had to tie outside of my van
-another dead cat that seemed okay from the front, but had essentially pooped out its insides
-a bloated raccoon
- and I'd also fended off a horde of wasps in picking up a dead duck along some trail
There were more animals I'm sure, but after a while they start to blend together. Again, another inevitable result of my job I suppose. However, I'd like to note that in my case becoming jaded as an incredibly good thing.
What I can't understand is how, in my line of work, some other people choose to ignore the inevitable problems that arise from dead animals; i.e. stench, flies, maggots.
Last week I got a call for a dead opossum in a family's backyard. (For the record, calls on people's property are generally fairly intact as they haven't been rotting for too long before getting called in.) But this mom decided to go against the grain. This animal had been rotting for, oh, probably a month. The smell was unreal. I stood there and just looked at the darn thing for two minutes watching its skin literally crawl and ripple from the maggots.
I had two options:
1) Gloved/normal bagging technique
2) Shovel
Ah, I'll just grab it and get it over with -it's faster as it's a hassle fumbling with an open bag, and I didn't really want to deal with the obscene amount of maggots for any longer than necessary.
I chose wrong.
I grabbed and bagged him, but a lot of good that did. I basically got the skeletal structure and head while the rest of the flesh just kind of... schlumped off... and what I was left with looked like a 5 lb bucket of maggots, fur, and fleshy bits had been dumped out on the grass (mostly maggots though). I tried using the shovel (for the first time might I add) but... I think I just ended up spreading it around more.
Ah well, what did they expect? To leave a rotting animal and have it magically disappear without a mess? It would have been so much easier to deal with if she'd called it in right away... or just picked it up herself (she probably doesn't have a pair of Man-Pants though).
Frizzy hair on beach day...
Massive blisters after breaking in a new pair of heels through a night out dancing...
Some things in life are just inevitable...
...like how on long weekends, lots and lots of stuff will get hit.
Today was really busy (catching up on all the death from the weekend); yet, when looking back on my day, I thought that nothing particularly abnormal struck me as noteworthy.
Then I begin to think --today I picked up...
-a dead cat that had an eyeball dangling from it's socket
-half a dozen squirrels (it's a wonder they keep their population up)
-a ridiculously, wretched smelling opossum that I had to tie outside of my van
-another dead cat that seemed okay from the front, but had essentially pooped out its insides
-a bloated raccoon
- and I'd also fended off a horde of wasps in picking up a dead duck along some trail
There were more animals I'm sure, but after a while they start to blend together. Again, another inevitable result of my job I suppose. However, I'd like to note that in my case becoming jaded as an incredibly good thing.
What I can't understand is how, in my line of work, some other people choose to ignore the inevitable problems that arise from dead animals; i.e. stench, flies, maggots.
Last week I got a call for a dead opossum in a family's backyard. (For the record, calls on people's property are generally fairly intact as they haven't been rotting for too long before getting called in.) But this mom decided to go against the grain. This animal had been rotting for, oh, probably a month. The smell was unreal. I stood there and just looked at the darn thing for two minutes watching its skin literally crawl and ripple from the maggots.
I had two options:
1) Gloved/normal bagging technique
2) Shovel
Ah, I'll just grab it and get it over with -it's faster as it's a hassle fumbling with an open bag, and I didn't really want to deal with the obscene amount of maggots for any longer than necessary.
I chose wrong.
I grabbed and bagged him, but a lot of good that did. I basically got the skeletal structure and head while the rest of the flesh just kind of... schlumped off... and what I was left with looked like a 5 lb bucket of maggots, fur, and fleshy bits had been dumped out on the grass (mostly maggots though). I tried using the shovel (for the first time might I add) but... I think I just ended up spreading it around more.
Ah well, what did they expect? To leave a rotting animal and have it magically disappear without a mess? It would have been so much easier to deal with if she'd called it in right away... or just picked it up herself (she probably doesn't have a pair of Man-Pants though).
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