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[Waddle Dee]

Doesn't have to be recent and pets can count too but this is mainly about encounters you've had with wildlife, where you helped them out.

Almost 3 years ago I lived with my family in a small house in Los Angeles. We heard some noises in a palm tree in our backyard and thought it must be baby birds. We heard them almost all day so we were worried that the mom left them or died. When my dad got home from work at night he said he saw a dead squirrel on the road so it was probably baby squirrels chirping instead. I got a pool net and we tried to carefully scoop out the babies. It turns out that he was right and we got all three of them out of the tree and put them in a plastic bin with plenty of small holes in the top and with the lid slightly off. My mom looked up how to feed infant squirrels (they looked no older than a couple weeks) and me and her started taking care of them that night. We put the bin they were sleeping in inside my sister's room (who lived at her college at the time) and would continue feeding them, putting them in a little box to poop, and tried to get animal control to take them. For some asinine reason, animal control wouldn't take them in since they were "too young" so we just continued taking care of them in secret for the next two months.

Once they got older (they were big enough that we eventually put them in a used cat cage we had) we carefully let the outside of the cage to run around but we'd leave the cage open for them and at night we'd see if they all came back and close the cage. You could say we were being overprotective, and I'd agree but we were becoming fond of them. Having to hold onto them and carefully feed them with syringes for about a month will do that.

Not long after we let them go and got rid of the cage but they still came back again and again. They'd come by nearly every day for some food and one of them even allowed us to pet it. I live with my girlfriend in an apartment not too far from home now and when ever I visit I ask my parent how the squirrels are doing since at least one of them (who has had a very distinct marking on one of his legs for years) keeps coming back, along with younger squirrels.

Another story for me was when I saved a skunk who was in the pool in my parent's backyard (happened just last week when I was visiting them). The water was deep enough for a skunk to sink in it, but not high enough to climb out. It was doing a weak doggy paddle in the pool and clearly wasn't going to last in their forever (skunks can swim but not well and it's mainly a last resort). I got a shovel and tried to scoop the skunk out. After a bit of hesitating, it went onto the shovel and sat on it as I pulled him out. To be honest, I wasn't even thinking about getting sprayed, I just wouldn't have been able to live with myself if I let that skunk die. Thankfully the skunk didn't spray me and instead did a casual little waddle out of the backyard, through a hole in the fence. When that skunk clung onto the shovel, and I was pulling him out, I felt like I was communicating on a deeper level with it. I know that sounds dumb but that stupid skunk left an impression and I've thought about him every few days, hoping he's safe with his family or whatever.

So that's enough from me. What are some of your stories?

 

[Cat Party]

I found a parakeet in my front yard one morning about 5 years ago. I think I even posted on GAF trying to identify it. It was either abandoned or it escaped. We took it in, even though I hate birds. It lived about 3 more years.

 

[DiipuSurotu]

When I find a spider or a bug in my house, instead of crushing it I do this:

and then I throw it out the window

 

[Erekiddo]

I saved a family of ducks from being ran over.

 

[Drewsan]

rescued a few pussies here and there

 

[Pinkuss]

When I find a spider or a bug in my house, instead of crushing it I do this:

and then I throw it out the window

I think most house spiders can't survive outside.

I don't eat any if that counts, and I put the odd spider in my spare room as I never go in there.

 

[teh_pwn]

I constantly inspect for and choose not to mow baby bunnies. Does that count?

 

[TheOnlyOneHeEverFeared]

I saved both my cats, they were both random strays their owners didn't give a shit about.

 

[Baliis]

Girlfriend works at a wildlife rehab center so I occasionally help out with the baby opossums and squirrels that she brings home. I've helped catch and release some crows and delivered a coyote to be released as well.

In the wild, only animal I've really helped was a loon that was stuck on the beach.

 

[ArgyleReptile]

I'm that guy who swerves to avoid squirrel and chipmunks that run in the road if that counts.

 

[Waddle Dee]

I saved a family of ducks from being ran over.

Awesome! Duck families are some of the cutest out there. How'd you do it?

I'm that guy who swerves to avoid squirrel and chipmunks that run in the road if that counts.

That should be everyone.

 

[Rockk]

I don't know about "saved" but I've pulled my car over to help turtles get to the other side of the road.

 

[evil solrac v3.0]

A couple of pigeons, some cats and other injured birds.

 

[Vital Tundra]

I've picked up a ton of tortoises that we're taking way to long crossing the street.

 

[DiipuSurotu]

I ate a vegetarian pizza yesterday.

 

[Almond]

I found a baby Mourning Dove in a dumpster because the mom/dad was sitting on the edge looking down inside trying to figure out what to do. There was no way I could put it back up in the tree so I took it home and cared for it until it was old enough to fly an released it.

When I was hiking once up on this tiny hill I heard some shuffling in the leaves and looked and there was a painted turtle climbing nearly to the top of the hill, he was almost there with me, but he tried to climb over a stick and flipped over backwards and rolled alllll the way back down the hill. So I picked him up and took him to nearby pond, which I assume he was taking the long way around to get to.

I've had to remove multiple possums and raccoons from our yard late at night so they wouldn't get torn apart by my dog.

 

[Silverbolt]

I have an attempted rescue story. This last Sunday my girlfriend and I were driving next to the freeway and saw a dog laying by itself on the grass on a very hot day in LA. This was a busy street, but we flipped a U and parked in a red zone to see if it was okay. The dog's collar had no identification, and the leash was ripped in half. The dog was bleeding from her mouth and paws and tried to get up when she saw us. It was clear that she was hit by a car and abandoned there. She was very scared so we didn't approach it too closely. We called animal services, animal hospitals, and the police but no one would send help. They kept telling us that it was someone else's problem. The police told us to call animal services. By the time we found her, animal services was already closed, so we only got automated messages. The 24 hour animal hospitals said they didn't take animals off the street.

Frustrated, I just said fuck it and wrapped her in a towel and put her in the car so she could at least get out of the heat. Still, no one would help us as we called and called and called. After about 30 minutes of people telling us tough luck, I just decided to drive to the nearest animal hospital still open and just plead for them to help us. The dog started convulsing on the way and died before we got there. To its credit, this hospital (not the ones we called before) said it would have helped us if we got there sooner. They helped us remove her from the car and gave us alcohol wipes to clean up the blood. They scanned the microchip of the dog and said it would find the owners too. I hope her owner's find her.

TLDR: Sorry, not exactly a rescue story, but we tried our best to rescue a dog. It was eye opening how little people cared and just told us that they couldn't help us.

 

[hydrophilic attack]

no

but i've seen a cow

 

[zeemumu]

There was this lost dog covered in bristles and stuff from bushes that we found and took in for a while before we gave him to a friend.

A not as successful story a boxer who was wandering the neighborhood and seemed pretty shaken because my energetic golden retriever was enough to get him to panic and run, but when we walked away he followed us at a bit of a distance. We eventually got him to come hang out on our porch for a bit with some food and water but he went away later and we found out that animal control had picked him up.

 

[HammerOfThor]

5 or 6 years ago I found a newborn squirrel lying in the alley. I took it to a local animal hospital.

 

[Retro]

Saved a starving kitty in the middle of winter. My wife made a thread about it.

 

[ArgyleReptile]

Oh, I remember someone abandoning a dog near my mom's job a few years ago in broad daylight. Her and her Co-workers tried their best to lure it towards them, but it wouldn't come.

She called me and I came over to check it out. I got it to come over to me and gave it some Ceasar dog food I brought from home.

It was like a pit bull/boxer mix or something and it was pretty obvious it'd been abused.

We were going to take it in, but we already had two small dogs and we live in an apartment, so room was an issue. He was a puppy, but he was already pretty big.

We ended up calling a shelter to get him. I wish we would have kept him though.

 

[Pankratous]

I was on an island in Croatia with a large peacock population (Lokrum) and my girlfriend and I were watching a baby chick struggling to surmount a wall that was ever so slightly too tall.

After numerous attempts it eventually managed to climb over the wall, but in its haste to catch up with its mother it ran full pelt into this big ass hole in the ground.

I say big ass, I'm being relative. This hole was probably between 2 and 3 ft deep. It could not get out.

It was shrieking loudly enough that mum noticed and came back, but the gap into the hole was way too narrow for her to fit down and even attempt to grab her chick back.

Mum was now making worried noises and seemingly calling for reinforcements because a bunch of other peacock/hen showed up to have a look.

Now it took me a while to do anything to help, because five minutes previously I'd seen the mum absolutely tank a rabbit that wandered too close, so I didn't wanna get fucked up myself.

I started to edge closer and closer, and I probably could have reached in with my arm and grabbed the chick but I'm pretty sure the Mum & Co would have pecked me to death.

So where the hole was, behind it there was a brick wall, like a foot tall. So I walked along that and my girlfriend had the genius idea of using her scarf to lift it out, like a sling. I lowered the scarf in, in such a shape that the chick could just walk into it.

It was scrambling around in there trying to get out, so it walked into the scarf pretty quickly. I gently and slowly lift it out. Pretty sure Mum doesn't even really know I'm doing so because of the sling technique. That or she realised I'm not trying to eat her baby.

Anyway, I put the chick on to the grass and let it run off with Mum.

Had to share because it felt really good. They were both panicked as fuck and it felt nice to resolve it.

Quoting myself from my own thread a few weeks ago.

 

[Jobbs]

Found a turtle upside down in the middle of the road. Stopped, picked him up and took him to safety.

 

[Darth Karja]

Saved a dog that was hanging out in the middle of a highway last week. It was dark out and we almost hit the car in front of us when they stopped because it ran out into the road. Once we pulled over it almost caused several more accidents by repeatedly going out in the road. We finally got it to come to us by feeding it some sour cream and onion chips. Some other people who stopped to help us ended up taking it home since the police wouldn't come out.

 

[Waddle Dee]

I remember that thread, Pankratous. Made my day a lot better.

 

[Nista]

I've saved a bunch of animals over the years. Whether putting the derpy fledging hummingbird back up in the nest so it didn't get eaten, or warming up some poor anoles that got half froze to death in a cold snap in Florida, every creature deserves a chance.

Only things I kill on purpose are pest bugs eating our vegetables. Lot of those are invasive species anyway. I even leave our goofy daddy longlegs looking house spiders alone if I can help it when vacuuming.

 

[kimbaka]

I save lizards in my house from being murdered by my cat quite frequently.

 

[bluethree]

Not me, but one of my cats back home was rescued by my sister. He was abandoned along with his brothers and sisters outside a local supermarket. The others got home and after some thinking we decided to adopt him.

 

[Omadahl]

I saved some bunnies who wandered out of their warren. They were still hairless and blind so I know they weren't ready to be out. I threw on some gloves, put them back and covered them up with the nesting they kicked out. The neighborhood hawk probably got them though

 

[Malreyn]

I ate a vegetarian pizza yesterday.

did it have pineapple?

 

[Cilidra]

I saved a musk rat from drowning. He was tangled in some rope on our dock. He was panicking and have a hard time breathing. I de-tangled him and put on on the shore. It took him several minute to recover and be able to breathe normally. He swam away after that.
Before you laugh at me saving a rat, musk rat are not the parasitic rat that plague the cities. Their lifestyle is much more like of the beaver.

 

[LostCaress]

I stitched the mouth of a salamander once I guess :|

 

[Sojgat]

A couple of feral kittens who wandered into my front yard became my spoiled pets.

 

[Giga Man]

Just last month, I freed a lizard from my dad's glue trap. It was surrounded by stuck bugs tickling it endlessly. It would have been tortured till death.

 

[GAFmeansLIFE]

So I was driving down the road one day, and I noticed another car getting ready to pull out of a housing development onto the main road. When I looked closer I noticed there was a leash closed in the back door of the car, and a poor little lap dog being pulled along behind the car.

He was driving slowly enough since he was still in the development that the dog could keep up, but he was just BARELY able to stay on his feet. He turns onto the main road, and I pull my car in front of him to block him off. It was a really old couple, and I'm sure it was a senior moment as opposed to anything intentional. I wasn't even sure what to say other than, "Uhhhhhh I think you forgot your dog there".

This was a few years ago, but I still shudder to think of what would have happened to that poor dog if I hadn't been in the right place at the right time.

 

[Stasis]

Baby birds a few times, and all of them nursed back to health and ended up flying off on their own and being OK.

Saved a rabbit being chased by a cat. Though who knows what happened later.

Something got trapped in our old condo's bottom floor patio area that was a few feet dug down in concrete with no way back up for things that can't jump/fly. Not exactly sure what it was. I saw prints, saw it dash under the BBQ. It was terrified of me so I left it alone but made a ramp out of snow. Waited a bit and it never came out but it I saw the prints leading up the ramp the next morning and it was gone. Yay! Muskrat maybe. Marmot. I have no idea.

And two cats were rescues from outside. One when I was young in a park that was clearly separated from it's mother somehow for several days and not in great shape. Was following me around meowing so I brought him home. He had been attacked, had ear mites, was starving. A few vet trips, food, and love and he was top shape within a week. Never left my side. Had him for 15 years. He's been gone for a while now. Still miss him.

And one cat we currently own was an outdoor litter that would come around our back patio for food with the mom. The kittens were approaching the age where the mother was pushing them away, no more nursing. So we adopted one and our next door neighbor took in two. She's an awesome cat with TONS of personality, super social and never wanted to go back outside. Total indoor cat now but with the outdoor instinct level that's above most cats we've had. You can't push her too hard or she'll go into attack mode for a second but she's easy going and can be touched/pet anywhere. Paws, belly, whatever. Has claws (we don't declaw any cats) and is totally OK.

edit: She also fetches, anything. Will bring to the person who threw it, even if that person walks around and goes elsewhere. Clever in general so we have to be careful. If she grabs something and you put it away you can see her watching you. She won't go for it then when you're present but she will totally go get it later when you're not around, even if it's a spot she never checks. Definitely remembers. Also knows her name perfectly. Not just the sound of it. Similar words/sounds she doesn't react to at all and it's not even tone because I can be talking to my gf about something she did and her name is in the middle of a much larger sentence said to a person, she'll look at me when she hears it. It's pretty cool. Yes I know dogs do all this but she's a cat. None of that boring/solo/indifferent cat behavior. Always comes when called, fed or not, and to a different floor too.

So those are my stories.

I've hit a few low flying birds though =/

 

[Pankratous]

So I was driving down the road one day, and I noticed another car getting ready to pull out of a housing development onto the main road. When I looked closer I noticed there was a leash closed in the back door of the car, and a poor little lap dog being pulled along behind the car.

He was driving slowly enough since he was still in the development that the dog could keep up, but he was just BARELY able to stay on his feet. He turns onto the main road, and I pull my car in front of him to block him off. It was a really old couple, and I'm sure it was a senior moment as opposed to anything intentional. I wasn't even sure what to say other than, "Uhhhhhh I think you forgot your dog there".

This was a few years ago, but I still shudder to think of what would have happened to that poor dog if I hadn't been in the right place at the right time.

Jesus man thank fuck you were there

 

[louiedog]

I've helped a few turtles across the road. Indirectly I volunteer at an animal shelter weekly.

 

[Engell]

My cat ozzy.. He is just the best

 

[GoingToDelete]

I have helped a bird get unstuck from the soft tar on the edge of the road. It probably didn't live as its feet were covered in it, but at least it didn't cook in the sun.

 

[Waddle Dee]

My cat ozzy.. He is just the best

This is extremely coincidental to me since when I was 7 my family adopted a stray kitten and we named him Ozzy (after a character in a shitty Land Before Time sequel). We gave him to a shelter after a year since we didn't have the space for him but he was a real sweetie. :3

 

[Glass Rebel]

I was jogging one evening and saw a hedgehog in the middle of a moderately busy street. It just stopped because it was scared, I guess. I don't know much the rest of you know about hedgehogs (I'm an expert) but they are pretty difficult to move because they have fucking spines all over their back so I took off my shirt and carried it off the street, put my shirt back on again and jogged home.

I was full of fleas obviously so I took like three showers.

 

[super-famicom]

I adopted 2 kitties that someone left in a box in front of a local animal hospital. They are super adorable.

 

[choodi]

Every time I go hunting and kill feral cats, foxes and pigs, I save thousands of native Australian animals.

 

[zethren]

My cat. She had no front claws, was dirty and skinny, and outside in an area that had lots of other cats (chances are they had claws). She was living off of scraps from people in the complex from what I could gather.

Took her in and cleaned her up, now she's spoiled rotten hahaha

 

[Wandering Robot]

When I was younger, my sisters and I recused an abandoned little kitten outside my grandmother's house. She (the kitten) had apparently been sitting alone in the sun for a while, and as it was the southern Louisiana summer, we couldn't leave her.
I loved that cat, but we didn't keep her for more than a month because my dad's allergic. The shelter to which we gave her adopted her out ages ago, at least.

 

[Kolibri]

Loads. Mostly bugs, but a few birds.

 

[super-famicom]

I adopted 2 kitties that someone left in a box in front of a local animal hospital. They are super adorable.

In the past, I've chased down neighborhood dogs that escaped from their yards, and brought them back to their owners. This only happened twice, but that's two times too many.

 

[CreepingFear]

Maybe. Was walking home one day when a puppy was running around the side walk and street. I managed to get him to follow me and I went to a few houses before I found out who his owner was. He might have been run over if I didn't get him to stay by me and find his owner. There was a pretty busy street near by.