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CAPE WILDLIFE CENTER @2006
A catbird is rehabilitated and released by the Cape Wildlife Center. |
You may have heard the saying, in the catbird seat… it usually means someone is sitting pretty, and in an advantageous or prominent position. The expression is said to derive from the habit of the catbird of sitting in the highest point it can find to deliver his song. But, the catbird the Cape Wildlife Center saw this spring wasn’t loudly proclaiming its territorial claim on a Cape Cod backyard. His seat wasn’t one of ease or favor…this catbird came stuck to a glue trap used by exterminators to catch mice.
About Glue Traps
Glue traps are a barbaric form of capturing and disposing of small animals which humans consider pests. We at the center would not favor one ever being manufactured or sold again… or better yet, prefer they be outlawed. Rehabilitators all over the country see reptiles, birds and mammals caught in these devices. Designed to make catching mice easy, glue traps are doubly harmful because the animal is completely mired in the glue but still alive. The person who has set the trap merely needs to pick it up with the living animal attached and throw both into a wastebasket, which results in a slow and needlessly painful death.
The damage glue traps do to birds is catastrophic. Birds find their feet stuck to the glue and when attempting to get free, their wings become coated with glue which then stick to the trap also. As the struggle continues, the birds’ already high metabolism switches into super-drive, rapidly causing stress and dehydration.
Back to the Catbird
The catbird brought into the center had feet covered in glue; his toes were tightly clenched and glued together. His chest and wing feathers were saturated, and his tail feathers were completely gone. The bird received immediate intensive care and forty-five minutes of painstaking work by clinic staff.
Treatment required massage and a hot bath. Warm mineral oil was massaged through his feathers and into the skin of the feet to break down the glue. The catbird was bathed in dilute dishwashing soap mixed with 104°F water, then rinsed and washed again. Toweled dry with a face cloth, the catbird was moved to an incubator equipped with a heat lamp. After two hours he was found to be warm and thoroughly dry. He was moved to the small bird ward where he had room to move and exercise his wings and feet. His weight and feather growth was monitored.
Eighteen days later, the catbird was moved outside to a small bird enclosure where he found space to fly distances and acclimate to the weather. He had gained weight, was perching, and his tail feathers were growing back. The catbird was on the mend. With a new set of tail feathers, still short but growing, he was able to fly and maneuver, and he was ready to be released.
Home Sweet Home
The catbird’s recuperation and release was a success story. He returned to his neighborhood, flew away from a cheering group of rehabilitators, and perched high in a tree. He was once again in the catbird seat, his rightful place in our environment.
As consumers the decisions we make and the products we use impact our wild neighbors in ways we don’t always foresee. Conscientious citizens, who are mindful of others in their community, make the best neighbors, and they don’t buy or use glue traps.
posted July 26, 2006
