LITTER BUGS US ALL

When we are doing programs, I am forever telling children that they shouldn’t litter… and that even if they weren’t the ones to put trash into the environment, they should pick it up. The reasons for that were made very obvious to me with the following two cases:
We took in a ringbill gull that must have been in the wrong place at the wrong time. Sadly, for that bird, the wrong place was probably along some waterway… where he belonged. The wrong time was simply when he was looking for something to eat. This poor bird had a treble hook (the kind with 3 hooks at one end of the lure and 3 at the other) caught in its nares (nostril) and its lower eyelid. It took three people to properly restrain the bird while one of us used wire cutters to remove the barbs and extract the hooks. The bird was immediately put on pain medication and antibiotics…and given a good meal since he was quite thin. We were all very happy to see that bird go back into the wild.
We also received a call from a woman who was concerned about a raccoon in her yard that had a can stuck on her head. Every other place the woman spoke to said they could take the raccoon away and euthanize it, but that wasn’t what she wanted. The raccoon was perfectly healthy…its only crime was again… being hungry. Although we don’t take in raccoons, we are still willing to help them whenever we can. When I arrived at the woman’s home, I saw the poor animal curled under a tree. According to the homeowner, the entire family lived in that tree.
The can couldn’t have been on the raccoon’s head for too long given how warm it was out and the tight seal the can had on her head. Hard as I tried, I couldn’t get the can loose. I asked the woman for a can opener to make a hole in the end of the container…hoping to release the pressure that had built up. Luckily, that did the trick and the can popped right off. As per usual… there were no niceties exchanged between the victim and myself. Instead, she bit my glove and then scooted up the tree. I was okay with that. Seeing her climb up the tree was all the thanks I needed. The day had been a rough one up until that time… and this made up for all the previous problems.
Bottom line… trash isn’t just unsightly…it can kill. Please take the time to pick up trash when you see it. You may be saving a life.