On Blogs, Films and . . .

First the news, in case you haven't heard:

• Animal Acres in Los Angeles now has a blog by Philip called Vegan Sanctuary. Check it out!
• Tribe of Heart's heartbreaking yet inspiring Peaceable Kingdom: The Journey Home is premiering at the Moondance International Film Festival in Boulder, Colorado on September 26-27. For more information and to get the code for a widget to display your support on your Facebook page or blog, go here.

As for "and . . . "

For over two decades I have encountered animals just as they were about to die. Well over a hundred have perished within moments of their unfortunate sighting of Mary Martin. I'm quite the joke among my friends, who worry that their pets are going to drop dead after spending time with my lethal self. But the tide was turning, and a new day was dawning for me–one where I would encounter animals and they would live!

This morning I was running and I made it about two miles from my house when I saw a ringneck dove lying in the middle of the sidewalk of a busy road. The nearest tree was too far for her to have fallen. She looked comfortable and wasn't struggling at all. She was alert.

I could either run home and jump in my car to retrieve her, or carry her. I chose the latter, making a sling out of the bottom half of my T-shirt and holding her in my left hand in the sling while holding the shirt far enough away from my steamy body so she could get plenty of air. I was wearing one of those running shirts with the tiny hole so she probably had a nice breeze. And I never shut her in to her sling so there was plenty of air from above, as well. She moved a bit in my hand as I slowly walked home.

Two miles is very, very far when you're trying not to traumatize an injured creature the size of your hand.

I placed her in one of my injured wildlife boxes and drive the couple of miles to Busch Wildlife Sanctuary. No matter what you think of them and their connection to Jack Hanna and the fact that they use their injured animals for "educational purposes," they have a fantastic facility to rehabilitate and release wildlife. I'm ambivalent every time I bring an animal there and leave a donation. But as I've commented before, they do provide a service for me and are the best, closest place for me to get that service.

I filled out the dove's paperwork as best I could considering I had no idea what happened to her. At first I was told she seemed fine, which I didn't understand. But moments later I was told that her spine was severed and she'd have to be euthanized. I asked to say goodbye to her and as we walked into the examination room she was already dead. "Looks like she did it for us," said the vet.

She picked up the dove and showed me what she did for the brief examination but then she turned the bird over and there was a puncture would in her chest that was bleeding, and there was no sign of struggle or feather-ruffling or feather loss. It wasn't a cat who was the culprit.

"I'm sorry, honey. I'm sorry your little friend died," said my husband when I came home and told him the story. But the jokester that he is, he couldn't resist delivering one of his infamous one-liners.

"At least you've still got your touch."