Arrow-shot ibis lives, evades helpers

[theweaselking]

Ibis with an arrow through it evades would-be rescuers

Usually, injured birds are willing to give themselves up, the volunteers said. Hunt and Camp have rescued many birds with broken wings or who have gotten tangled in fishing lure.

But this is a traumatized and very young ibis, probably born this spring because its feathers are still brown. Adult white ibises are all white.

Ibises are wading birds that hunt for small fish. The injured bird is believed to be a part of a flock that looks for dinner in the retention pond between Gladiola Avenue and Nova Road.

The injured bird was first reported on Thursday night, according to the Bird Rescue Center.

"He is one lucky bird," Camp said, because the arrow appears to have missed the vital organs and chest muscles used for flying.

From the angle of the arrow, it looks like somebody shot at the bird while it was on the ground. The arrow pierces the bird's body at a diagonal.

The arrow also looks like a target arrow, or the type shot at barrels of hay, volunteers said.

The link contains a bunch of other cruelty-to-animals stories from that area. Florida, naturally.

Comments

[drjamez.livejournal.com]

Back when I was in television, one of the first things I shot for a local Long Island (NY) PBS station was a documentary on a wildlife refuge that also cared for such wounded critters. There was a goose who's neck was broken when a punk swatted at it with a golf club. Remarkably, the neck wound healed into the shape of that very club wound. There was a radically unnatural bend where the head of the club struck the ling neck, but apparently no motor damage occured... although it was difficult for the goose to support its own head when it dipped forward to drink from a pond.

Humans suck. At least punk ones do. I am amazed at what some animals can do even after encountering such bastard humans, like the one in the photo you posted.

Makes me wanna go totally postal, to be honest.

- James -

[tsunami-ryuu.livejournal.com]

Amazing that the ibis is still alive and kicking, disgusting that someone would do that to it.

Florida. That explains a bit of it.

[gardenfey.livejournal.com]

It happened in NH too. Some idiot shot my cat with a bamboo garden stake. My cat survived quite well, thank God.

[tsunami-ryuu.livejournal.com]

Augh. I'm glad your cat's okay. Must've been a horrible experience to go through, though, for both you and the cat. Any idea who did it?

Sadly, there are senseless idiots everywhere.