A Different Kind of Rescue

[TerraMer]

http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/48706502/ns/today-today_pets_and_animals/

Wow! Well done to these hikers/climbers who went the extra mile to rescue Missy. This is an act of pure compassion.

Would you do this? I have and would do it again without hesitation.

Anyone have their own stories like this one?

[stepbystep]

In a heartbeat.

My wife and I have 'liberated' several mistreated dogs. One involved a 4 hr bush land search. The result of that search lived with us for the next 16 years.

This story doesn't say much for the local cops.

No wilderness rescues as yet though!

[Kinsayder]

I actually feel a little for the dog owner. He tried to get help for the dog and was rebuffed. The circumstances were probably quite difficult for him and who's to say he didn't cry himself to sleep each night missing his best friend. I think it's too easy to demonise people. That all being said, kudos to the rescuers. A job well done!

[christophermoore]

The strangest thing about that thread (admittedly I only got a dozen pages in...) is how, for a few pages, everyone becomes temporarily convinced it's a hoax. Interactions really are so difficult on the internet.

[clarence]

I would have done exactly what the owner did. People take priority over animals.

He cannot be demonised for leaving a dog while making the safety of a person a priority.

The fact that any charges would be laid is gross stupidity. This guy should be admired for making a sensible decision. Would they have preferred he take the foolish path of trying to save the dog as well as the young person in his care? It is a very dangerous society we live in if the well-being of animals is put on the same level as the well-being of people.

His greatest mistake was taking the dog in the first place.

I have been involved in a few quite dangerous resuces where people's lives have been a stake. I would do that again for a person, but would never do so for an animal.

Clarence

[north-north-west]

People are animals.

*shrug*
I've done some dumb things to help dogs and other critters in trouble, including running out of air whilst unhooking a Gurnard from a mess of fishing line, sinkers and hooks it'd become tangled up in.
I think it was grateful, but it's hard to be sure with fish . . .

[TerraMer]

People are animals.

*shrug*

It is interesting how many humans can't relate to being animals. It is even more interesting how humans can't understand and respect the right for ALL animals to live well. Who gives humans the right to decide what animal is more important than another, ie, humans are more important, because we're not.
Why not take advantage of opportunities to help the lives of another living beings.
We understand the needs of our own species to live well and cudos to anyone who works towards that but at what cost to the rest of the animal kingdom.
This entirely my own perspective and I don't expect any to agree but the spirit of each living thing, including plants, is no lesser or greater than my own.
I value life, therefore I value the life of all living things.

[walkinTas]

Whether or not all agree with you, I would observe that the world in which we live will be so much poorer for the lost or other species, and therefore we will be poorer for the loss.

[wayno]

People are animals.

*shrug*

It is interesting how many humans can't relate to being animals. It is even more interesting how humans can't understand and respect the right for ALL animals to live well. Who gives humans the right to decide what animal is more important than another, ie, humans are more important, because we're not.
Why not take advantage of opportunities to help the lives of another living beings.
We understand the needs of our own species to live well and cudos to anyone who works towards that but at what cost to the rest of the animal kingdom.
This entirely my own perspective and I don't expect any to agree but the spirit of each living thing, including plants, is no lesser or greater than my own.
I value life, therefore I value the life of all living things.

all goes right back to the caveman days when we had to eat and killing animals could mean life or death. we identify them as food and we're creatures of habit, if you grow up eating animals you're likely to keep identifying them as food and keep eating them... children raised in a particular religeon are highly unlikely to change their religeon or abandon it as adults..., may be the same with food? i had chronic fatigue and belonged to a support group. I suggest people change their diets which is what I did, amongst other things i stopped eating red meat. more for health reasons than anything... but other people just wouldnt entertain changing tehir diets, they woerent intersted in listening to any argument that said changes to their diet would improfve their health. they were so psychologically attached to what they ate.... so it may be equally as hard to changepeoples opinions on what animals they will kill or will stop killing.... i find now i dont view red meat as food, to me it's ded animal flesh, its not a conscious thought , it just happened since i stopped eating red meat... food is psychological comfort to people that goes back to childhood often and the security they may have felt then, , i'm no expert but it gets pretty deep seated in peoples psyches about wanting to maintain their right to kill animals for food. once apon a time it was legal to kill seals for their fur and leave the body. and kill whales for the oil and leave the body....

[phan_TOM]

Humans suck. Give me animals anyday. Theres plenty of people I'd happily leave stuck up on that mountain over the poor dog that was just going where its master led it. Then the gutless wonder did F.A. to try and rescue it himself but now wants the dog back! I notice the he did 'look online to see if anyone had found her' Big effort mate, I hope that dog goes to a home that truly cares for it.
I've helped save animals before and will happily do it again if the moment arises, one that I remember was while fishing and a ten year old boy had a seagull fly straight into his line as he cast. I told him to just reel it in and then held onto the bird while it held onto my finger with its beak (lucky they have F.A. bit force ) and his mum untangled it. We shared a nice warm and fuzzy feeling as it flew off

[stepbystep]

Humans suck. Give me animals anyday. Theres plenty of people I'd happily leave stuck up on that mountain over the poor dog that was just going where its master led it. Then the gutless wonder did F.A. to try and rescue it himself but now wants the dog back! I notice the he did 'look online to see if anyone had found her' Big effort mate, I hope that dog goes to a home that truly cares for it.
I've helped save animals before and will happily do it again if the moment arrives, one that I remember was while fishing and a ten year old boy had a seagull fly straight into his line as he cast. I told him to just reel it in and then held onto the bird while it held onto my finger with its beak (lucky they have F.A. bit force) and his mum untangled it. We shared a nice warm and fuzzy feeling as it flew off

+1
We did the same with a pelican, it was tangled in 20 or 30 metres of line and unable to fly. We lured it close to us with some baitfish and I rugby tackled it. It took 3 of us about 15 minutes to get the rusty line of gang hooks out of it's beak pouch thing and untangle it. The cool thing was when we let him(?) go he stayed with us all afternoon. The next day we went up the river again and he came back. A very special time!

[wayno]

anyone remember the aussie movie "Storm Boy" ? you'll be admitting yoru age if you do, came out in the mid seventies about a boy raising three young pelicans.. great movie...
whohps it was one pelican, played by three different pelicans

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Storm_Boy_(film)


some good anecdotes

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0076767/trivia

[phan_TOM]

They're funny old birds and that one looks like a real dude, excellent work sbs! I remember learning as a kid that some cockatoos can live for over 50 years and being amazed by that fact (I still am) and I always find myself wondering, when looking at a wild animal, how long it's lived and what its seen and done in its life and what percentage of its siblings and cohorts survived to be adults and what perils its faced etc. I get the general impression, by the amount of fishing line, pollution and other garbage in the environment, that most people never have and never will consider anything beyond their own selfish existence. I wonder how long pelicans live and how old that handsome chap (or lass?) was?

The cool thing was when we let him(?) go he stayed with us all afternoon. The next day we went up the river again and he came back. A very special time

Knowing pelicans, he would probably have been happy to be tied up with line and hooks again just for a few more of those baitfish

[north-north-west]

We did the same with a pelican, it was tangled in 20 or 30 metres of line and unable to fly. We lured it close to us with some baitfish and I rugby tackled it. It took 3 of us about 15 minutes to get the rusty line of gang hooks out of it's beak pouch thing and untangle it.

I hope the pouch was undamaged. According to what I've read, the thing won't heal once it's torn, and they'll then starve to death.

[stepbystep]

We did the same with a pelican, it was tangled in 20 or 30 metres of line and unable to fly. We lured it close to us with some baitfish and I rugby tackled it. It took 3 of us about 15 minutes to get the rusty line of gang hooks out of it's beak pouch thing and untangle it.

I hope the pouch was undamaged. According to what I've read, the thing won't heal once it's torn, and they'll then starve to death.

No we used pliers to cut the hooks out, seemed pretty happy to be able to fly again.

[Explorer_Sam]

Humans suck. Give me animals anyday. Theres plenty of people I'd happily leave stuck up on that mountain over the poor dog that was just going where its master led it. Then the gutless wonder did F.A. to try and rescue it himself but now wants the dog back! I notice the he did 'look online to see if anyone had found her' Big effort mate, I hope that dog goes to a home that truly cares for it.
I've helped save animals before and will happily do it again if the moment arises, one that I remember was while fishing and a ten year old boy had a seagull fly straight into his line as he cast. I told him to just reel it in and then held onto the bird while it held onto my finger with its beak (lucky they have F.A. bit force ) and his mum untangled it. We shared a nice warm and fuzzy feeling as it flew off

I see where you are coming from

[seagullhike]

I had a similar story to the pelican, I was beach fishing in the north of WA and as I let my line go a crested tern (small gull) flew right into the line of fire. The line wrapped around the poor little guy and I had to real him in for about 50m. When I got him on to the beach I had to untangle the critter, then he flew off like nothing had happened.

Probably not an uncommon occurrence but it was interesting.

[sailfish]

all goes right back to the caveman days when we had to eat and killing animals could mean life or death. we identify them as food and we're creatures of habit, if you grow up eating animals you're likely to keep identifying them as food and keep eating them... children raised in a particular religeon are highly unlikely to change their religeon or abandon it as adults..., may be the same with food? i had chronic fatigue and belonged to a support group. I suggest people change their diets which is what I did, amongst other things i stopped eating red meat. more for health reasons than anything... but other people just wouldnt entertain changing tehir diets, they woerent intersted in listening to any argument that said changes to their diet would improfve their health. they were so psychologically attached to what they ate.... so it may be equally as hard to changepeoples opinions on what animals they will kill or will stop killing.... i find now i dont view red meat as food, to me it's ded animal flesh, its not a conscious thought , it just happened since i stopped eating red meat... food is psychological comfort to people that goes back to childhood often and the security they may have felt then, , i'm no expert but it gets pretty deep seated in peoples psyches about wanting to maintain their right to kill animals for food. once apon a time it was legal to kill seals for their fur and leave the body. and kill whales for the oil and leave the body....

I don't think the food thing follows. My whole family eat meat and my son and I fish. I guess that should mean we like to hurt and kill animals but nothing could be further from the truth. We do eat some of the fish we catch but take care to dispatch them as humanly as possible. Don't like that part but it is part of a closer to nature way of living. We love animals and have rescued any we find in distress. I have pulled a bird out of a down pipe on a 3 story building, pulled apart a whole heating system to extract a duck that went down the flue, took hours when we should have been packing for holidays. There have been blue tongues, injured birds and many others including fishing line entanglements. I hate to see abandoned line and always pick it up when I happen across it. I have had 4 dogs in my life and a cat I rescued from an abandoned suitcase of kittens. One of the dogs was a rescue dog and was a bit of a problem but we loved and cared for him all the same. My son has an animal science degree because he wants to spend his life with animals. He has been raised with many pets and in appreciation of nature. So I don't think your food theory holds up at all though I think nurture is more likely, to value nature and love.