Some of you might remember my fondness for animals and rescuing them in particular. Just saw this and agree with it 100%
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-wkdH_wluhw&list=TLPQMTAwMjIwMjK21P8-6NAVRw&index=6It backs up what I have learned on my own. I get into arguments all the time with people who say things like, "it's dangerous because its wild" or don't help an injured animal, blowing it off because they think its nature.
5am in the morning a few weeks ago I heard splashing in my pool, turned on the light, and saw what I assumed was a raccoon swimming around. It turned out to be an armadillo. These guys don't swim very well, and the edge of the pool was too high for him to climb out, so wasn't far off from drowning and was in a panic.
Anyway, so I picked him up out of the pool and brought him inside for a bit. Mostly due to curiosity and to give him some time to settle down before releasing him as he was pretty stressed out and tired. He had to be a little surprised as the inside of my house must have seemed like another dimension to him, but once he realized I wasn't going to hurt him he just started casually walking around and sniffing stuff. We hung out for about 30min or so and then I carried him outside and he was on his way. The reaction I got from him was similar to the Pigeon and Crow I talked about in my other thread. If I had kept him longer because he was injured or something, he would have eventually learned he was in a safe space and be tolerant of us.
Before the armadillo, one of my dogs caught a baby roof rat in the backyard. They will sometimes come by to eat the seeds that fall out of the bird feeder. Anyway, I was able to pull him out of my dogs mouth but he was pretty messed up and I had no idea what kind of internal injuries he might have. So I brought him inside and put him in a spare cage, and nursed him back to health over the next few days before releasing him in the backyard here:
But while I had him, since I was working from home, he spent most of the day next to me or with me, like in my shirt pocket where he mostly curled up and slept.
Some might be grossed out with it being a rat. Some friends asked why not feed it to my python, but I have a soft spot for all baby things. Once it gets to adulthood, whatever happens happens, but I would like to see everything get to adulthood and think it's a tragedy when it doesn't. This guy is just trying to hack it out in the world like everything else, and it's no fault of his own that he was born as a rat.
I find animals very interesting and very misunderstood. The guy in the video gets it. We are so arrogant and in belief in our own superiority that we dismiss obvious signs of their intelligence and feelings. I have no doubt that humans are the worst species on the planet. Maybe mosquitos are the worst, but at least they are food for other species. We literally take everything and give nothing back but trash.
BTW not all wild animals love me. This guy was a total jerk: