I'm beginning to believe.... - 1/13/2002

..... indeed, there is a God.

And I am being smited for having paganistic beliefs. Oh indeedy.

I continue on my previous exploits that Sunday is believed, by many religions, to be a day of Sabbath and rest. Right?

I am being punished for working on such a day.

*smirk*

We were shorthanded yesterday at the zoo, so had some catchup to do this morning. Okay, it's handleable, we just didn't have some food made, but with four keepers working, one of the T and B team instead of two could go to Children's Park in the morning and one could work on food, right? They'd finish at the same time, and could go on on their normal routine.

J and I would go to bears and start the daily deeds.

Not even to bears, the radio crackles.... "Keepers? Can someone bring a carrier to the Gift Shop for an injured..... I think Red Tailed.... Hawk?"

J and I already have "that look."

So we go, turns out this is a male Northern Harrier who seems to have wacked his head and injured his eye (people bringing him in thought some wing injury, too, maybe legs as he didn't try to get away, but seems he was just stunned and disoriented at the time).

Okay, fluids, tube feeding, antibiotics later and we're heading back out to the bears.

Get there, and it's already 10 something, and my big male has explosive diarrhea. Okay, this can be normal if he was given something for dinner the night before that upset his stomach..... fruit, fish, watever. But, reading back in the logs he's been progressively getting worse, it seems, since Friday..... for it to have been this bad this morning and all. I'll spare details, but I wouldn't have had to actually -scoop- anything away, I could just hose it all down the drain that it was already migrating to. Yep, -that- explosive. He was also still curled up in his shavings and sleeping when we got there, late, so I knew something was up. After talking to him a bit, he wasn't responding as per normal, he seemed pretty sluggish.

So..... call the Curator and Vet Tech and find out what to do, exactly, as the next order of business, as I'd hate to keep him inside all day if I didn't need to, or put him out when he's really not doing well enough or if the vet needed to come out to check him out. I'd rather one of them make the judgement call. However, I can't leave J alone at the bear enclosure (protocol is two keepers at all times, just in case) so have to radio T in order to get her on the horn, and interrupt -her- day. But, have to wait for all this to happen over radio and phone tag so we're a good half hour later finally getting him out into the enclosure (we worked on the female bear's den while waiting, to not totally sit there with our thumbs up our asses).

So.... now it's an hour before lunch. I can't get much done in raptors with an hour before lunch, especially as that was one of the areas that didn't get food made yesterday, and it's a pain to have to go all the way back out there as it's across the park from the Reptile House, just would waste time, which we didn't have much of, already. So decide to flipflop my afternoon and morning and make as much food for today and tomorrow, in all the areas, as possible before lunch. Being able to see my breath vs 80 degrees in the Reptile House.... well..... easy decision. The sun would be out later (hopefully) to make it much nicer to work outside.

We get all of today's and tomorrow's food made, by lunch, but man we were all ready to go home..... with mammals (T and B's area), half of Quarantine (J's) and raptors (mine) to go.

JUST as soon as we have the golfcart loaded up with mammal and raptor food, trashcan, and T, B and I..... you guessed it.

"Keepers?" comes crackling over the radio.

This time, injured Long Eared Owl. People thought wing injury because he wasn't trying to get away all that effectively. Mr. Super Keeper that I am trucks on up there with B and find that this owl's wings are fine (read: aiming at my head as he flaps to get away once I have his legs in my hand as per proper handling procedure). But his legs are cold to the touch, and his feet were white, while torso was warm.

Anemic, going into shock..... not looking good.

Whisking this little fella back down to the reptile house, another round of fluids, Emeraid tube feeding and setting the little guy up in a carrier with heating pad. Gotta get him hydrated and toasty. Also found that he had no response in his legs. This meant he was -bad- because all his blood had pulled to his torso, so he didn't even have enough in his legs to move them. His feet were white (normally fleshy colored with pink highlights) and his mouth was gray (normally nicely pink). However, he was otherwise in pristine shape.... no broken feathers, no mites, no injuries, no nothing.

THEN, T, B and I get mammals and raptors done in 1.5 hours. My girls are a badass team, I tell ya.

But what is WITH Sundays, huh? *laughs*

(btw, by 5:45pm, the Harrier was doing well, even picking at some food we gave him, so should make it until tomorrow, my male bear was slowly improving throughout the day given the wonders of Children's Kaopectate sandwiches (and can you imagine just how much you have to give a bear when a 50 pound child gets tablespoons?), and the Owl was beginning to fight back on the last tube-feeding, getting warmer, and his mouth had spots of returning pink plus tiny tinges of it in his toes, he just may make it til morning)

((and, for anyone questioning, YES that title and first sentence is being said facetiously *chuckles*))