Paul the Pigeon....

I just wanted to make a little note about my last day in Australia. With all of the excitement of finding out we are pregnant, I forgot to write about Paul the Australian Pigeon and my last day in Melbourne! Well, it was my last day in Melbourne and I had a driver that was going to pick me up at 9:45 am to take me to the airport. I took some cereal out to feed the pigeons (there is one that is missing a foot that I had been feeding all week). After feeding the pigeons and walking down to the pharmacy to buy a couple more HPTs  I was headed back to the hotel to pack when I noticed a pigeon out in the street who had been hit by a car. I was sick to my stomach, as I knew it would be my one-footed friend as this was around the area where I fed him every day. I was straining to see if the dead pigeon on the street had one or two feet, when I saw the bloody ball of feathers and fluff move. I gasped, as I couldn't believe (and prayed) that it was still alive. But it was. It was bloody with bones sticking out all over the place....but it was struggling to move a bit to stay alive. Oh, God, I was sick!!! At that point, all that I could do was pray that another car or tram would run over this poor little bird to end its misery. I thought surely it must be so close to death that it was going to die any minute. But he didn't. He was still breathing, I could see that from where I was, and the cars and trams just kept passing around him. I thought, well, I better just get going....he is going to die any second. But I couldn't do that. But, I was so afraid if I tried to help him that he was going to be so badly hurt that everything was going to fall apart if/when I tried to move him. Finally I decided that I had to do something....so I found a plastic 7-11 bag and ran out into the street and scooped Paul the pigeon up with the bag. (He was not the 1-footed pigeon by-the-way) I looked down at the little guy and his good eye looked up at me, and I knew I had to help him. (I had originally thought that I would just get him out of the street and put him under a bush somewhere so he could die peacefully.) So I moved quickly along back to the hotel, not knowing what I was going to do and with only about 50 minutes until my driver would be arriving to take me to the airport! I made it back to the hotel and asked the porter to find me a veterinarian that was open (Aussies open for business a lot later than we do in the US and it was a bit before 9:00 am). They found a vet about 10-15 minutes away and I got a nice taxi driver who did his best to get Paul the pigeon and I there as quickly as possible. In the meantime, I noticed that one of Paul's eyes was swollen, that one of his legs had been injured, and of course his wing (from which all of the blood and bones could be seen) but that other than that he looked okay. He continued to breath...and look up at me with his good little eye when I checked ion him to be sure he was still alive. We made it to the Claredon Rd. Animal Hospital and met Dr. Hart as soon as I walked in. He was so nice and offered to euthanize the "stray pigeon" for free, but was happy to help when I said that I wanted to try to save him if possible. So....to make a long story short, Dr. Hart gave him an antibiotic and a pain injection, wrapped him up in a warm cover and let him rest so that they could get him stabilized. He promised to do some surgery on the wing (which he pulled out and I could see that it had been mangled beyond recognition) as soon as he could. Dr. Hart also told me that there was a strong possibility that Paul would not make it through the surgery due to his condition. I left a nice down payment ($250 Aust) thanked this wonderful vet who really cared about animals, and jumped in the taxi (with my nice fast driver who had agreed to wait for me) and headed back tot he hotel. We made it back, my driver was waiting....so I threw my bags together and was off to the airport. It wasn't until I was in the air to Sydney that I actually thought about what had taken place that morning and I prayed for the life of that little pigeon and his little eye that kept looking up at me, trusting me to do the right thing for him. As of today, Paul is well. He had most of his wing removed and one of his legs is injured, so he hobbles about in his cage according to Dr. Hart. But he is eating a bit....and is expected to live!!!! We are looking for a sanctuary of some sort that would take him....he deserves to live after what he has been through. It looks like Paul the pigeon will live to see many beautiful days!!! I am so thankful that I decided to stop...I could have easily just kept on walking.