Baby Robin
July 28, 2004
Barrie, Ontario, Canada
This afternoon I was photographing a young robin that was living in one of my friend's trees in his front yard. The mother was nearby and was feeding it worms and every day the little bird was getting bigger and stronger and was soon ready to fly and survive on it's own. It was nice to see that my friend's two young sons could see this sort of thing and learn about and appreciate wildlife in their own yard.
After I went home, I recieved a call from their mother who was upset that a neighbour's cat had attacked the small defenseless bird and nearly killed it. She had to grab the cat and shake it so that it would release the young robin. I fear that enough damage was done that the bird will not survive. It has a severely broken leg and cannot stand, let alone learn to jump up and fly as it will soon have to do.
As I write this, the little bird is suffering inside a box in my friend's garage. In the morning, I will be making a call to the local wildlife sanctuary to see what our options are in regards to possible rehabilitation of the robin. I hope it can be saved and have a fair shot at survival. To many, this may seem silly as it is just a bird. But to me it is a living thing (like us) that was just trying to live a normal life.
There was no need for this to happen. Having hundreds of cats roaming around the city killing small animals just because they feel the need to do it for sport/entertainment is not natural. There have been many studies done (the ones I have seen have been mainly in the UK) have shown that each cat has the capability to kill dozens of birds and small animals in a single day. This must stop.
I live in the city of Barrie, Ontario, Canada and our city council is working on passing a by-law that prohibits cats roaming around free. They should be kept inside the house (as my two cats are) and contained to prevent the meaningless slaughter of the naturally occuring wildlife within our city. It's bad enough we have wiped out most (if not all) of the larger mammals due to urbanization. The last thing we need is to have our cats destroying the smaller animals that are left among us. I have counted at least 3 or 4 cats that visit my yard on a regular basis and I have found dead and mutilated birds on many occasions. I am about to install 9 birdhouses on my backyard fence, and I will not stand for any more of this carnage. I will take action, even if it means setting live traps to catch these cats and let the city deal with them. I am also fed up with these cats using my gardens as their bathroom. Every time I water my garden I'm finding cat shit in many areas. It's not a nice thing to have deal with.
I hope that our elected officials will have the common sense and decency to make sure this law is passed and enforced. Conservation of our natural surroundings have to start somewhere, even if it is with just one single little bird.
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