I was thinking about Ben’s question about stepping up as I was doing errands yesterday morning. My mom is also giving up some of the responsibilities that she’s been shouldering (some a little unwillingly) for quite some time. It’s not going as easily as she would like.
When I drove back up into my driveway, the neighbor girls were eager to tell me that there was a cat out front. The grandparents were visiting as well and it was clear that between the two girls, the two parents and the two grandparents there wouldn’t be anyone who did anything except report the existence of this cat.
So YA and I ventured out the front door to deal with the cat. It was a big white cat w/ black and brown markings, very happy to come to me and get scritched and petted, purring quite loudly. It allowed me to pick it up and that’s when YA said she thought it belonged to one of the houses across the street. We took it over and talked to the owner through the door – apparently it’s an outdoor cat; there was food & water there on the front step. When I put the cat down, it went for the food immediately so we headed home.
This isn’t the first time I’ve been elected as official “animal wrangler” in the neighborhood. I’ve been called to deal with bats twice. Once an obviously pet rabbit was found in a yard and I got a call; signs up at the vet and around the neighborhood didn’t result in owners coming forward but luckily we found a good home pretty quickly. I’ve rescued four dogs who have been loose on the street (all four had tags so got home to their owners). And for several years there was an escape artist two doors down (Duffer) that everyone was afraid of except me, so I had to drag him home repeatedly.
I’m not sure why I somehow have been designated the animal problem solver but it seems my lot in life.
Have you ever been involved in a rescue mission?
Trail Baboon 
I’ve scooped a few spiders out of the bottom of the empty bathtub. Why can’t spiders climb up porcelain? They climb up tiles…
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If we are counting bugs and spiders, it will be infinite numbers of missions. I carefully carry spiders outside in a tissue. Then there are the worms on the road after rain…..
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Someone needs to rescue WP. It wants me to sign in with every comment. 🫣😡🤯
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I have been doing that for a whole week now. Really annoying. And it won’t let me “like” anything, either.
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Also, for some reason, there’s a delay in displaying random comments after posting. Not every comment, but every so often; there doesn’t seem to pattern to it that I can discern.
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Yes, all these things have been happening to me, as well. GRRR.
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For a few years it seemed like every stray animal in the neighborhood ended up in our yard. We rescued a green bird, somewhere between the size of a parakeet and a parrot in our grape arbor, the demented dog from down the street, and a big long haired cat the animal shelter people named Hagrid. He was a sweetie who had Feline Leukemia and was placed at a ranch in Montana were such cats could spend their remaining days being well cared for.
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Be careful as you head into retirement, VS…
(I forget – when is your last day, or has that already happened?)
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August 3
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Yeah… As both a farmer, and townboard supervisor, I’ve been called on to rescue a lot of things. Lost (dumped) dogs, kittens (MiG has one!) a fawn in a window well, cows, and calves.
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I was the designated bat/bird remover at my MIL’s house in St. Louis Park back in the late ’80s and early ’90s. Two bats and a bird. Used the old tennis racket method. We also had a bird in our house in Bloomington during that time. Our cats were going crazy because the bird got between the upper and lower levels and fluttered back and forth between the joists and floor/ceiling space. The cats couldn’t see the bird, of course, but they heard every wing flap or hop because they were laser-focused on that critter. They paced back and forth, always focused on the ceiling where they’d just heard the bird. Finally, the bird tired, and I caught it in the unfinished laundry room with no ceiling. Best guess–he fell in through an exhaust vent pipe or some other pipe sticking up through the roof. Maybe found a crack in the siding or under the eaves or something. Could have come in through the attached garage, but I can’t imagine we wouldn’t have noticed a bird flying into the house with us.
Animals, huh? Go figure.
Chris in Owatonna
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My best friend I in Howard Lake rescues turtles crossing busy highways.
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Like.
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i get the need to do that.
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When Husband, his sister, and I lived in an upstairs apartment in Uptown Mpls, we had a back porch whose screen door wouldn’t close. Ended up with Mom the Cat who birthed her two kittens in said porch. We ended up adopting the whole crew, and of course Mom chose Rose’s closet for their bed – the one of us who least likes cats. Eventually Boots and Pluff got other homes, but not before Pluff got stranded in the tree right by the back steps… I think Husband did that rescue.
I rescue insects and spiders all the time by catching them and releasing outside. And there’s a vague memory that I’ll try to catch…
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Rise and Shine Baboons,
My animal rescue missions are the usual animal babies and stray dogs. About a block from my house is a little dog who likes to escape. I have seen him out of the fence and out of the house a few times, but only once could I get him to cooperate enough to take him back home. Years ago I also took a note over to some neighbors who left their small dog outside, on a leash for hours and hours, waiting for one of the local foxes or coyotes to come along and eat it. I asked them to stop leaving the dog out unsupervised and barking AND without water. Thankfully, they left 5 years ago, but I hope their dog and their 3 children are OK. They were not great parents or neighbors. He was a very loud and public drinker, and she was a former exotic dancer. Her email address was associated with her former employer which was how I knew what she did for a living prior to the marriage and children. Who invites the neighbors to a child’s birthday party using her sex worker email? Yes, indeed. It was her. I thought she could use some rescuing, too, but I stayed out of everything but the dog’s welfare.
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One morning on my way to the bus stop I found a baby gray squirrel lying on the sidewalk–it had marks on its side so we assumed it had been grabbed out of the nest by a crow and then dropped. I brought it home and we put it in a shoebox with a Ziploc-full of warm water and a towel, then drove (I still had a car then) to Roseville. The Wildlife Rehab place wasn’t open that early, so we ended up waiting with a squirrel in a shoebox in the Roseville Library Dunn Bros for 40 minutes. There was a little girl there with her dad, and we offered to let her see the squirrel, but she didn’t seem at all excited by it. We never checked to find out if Harry, the Squirrel That Lived, actually made it; since Roommate had done wildlife rehab years ago we knew the odds weren’t good, so we decided we’d be happier just imagining Harry being released and living a full squirrelly life out in the burbs. We also found a Mallard drake with a broken wing and took it to Rehab as well (I think we did hear that he was fine). We’ve liberated two bats from this house (the first bat was flying in circles around my room and gave my elderly tortie the thrill of her twilight years). Once on a walk near Minnehaha Creek, I joined a group of people pulling baby ducklings out of a storm drain and reuniting them with Mama. Finally, there was a couple up the block who were recently married, and she didn’t like his cats (orange tabby brothers named Fred and George, such sweethearts!) so she forced the poor things outside all day, even though one was so afraid of the outdoors he tried to get into other houses. I heard they were getting rid of the boys, so when a passerby admired them I made sure to tell her they were looking for a new home, and she ended up adopting them. Last we heard from her, the brothers had settled right in and were doing great, and George was refusing to budge from the house. The couple ended up divorcing and leaving the neighborhood within a year, good riddance.
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Now THAT is a satisfying rescue story.
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Not very satisfying cat update. AFTER I wrote today’s piece, Buster came back twice. The second time we carried him back, someone came out of the house and was very effusive in his thanks but then didn’t take the cat inside (he said the owner was away). So by early evening Buster was back and making himself quite at home on our front welcome mat.
Of course YA was COMPLETELY obsessed with the cat and I’m sure she went out and cossetted it more than she will admit (because I told her not to). As far as we can tell Buster spent the night on our front steps. I called Animal Control and the options weren’t optimal since what I really wanted was for AC to come get the cat and take him back home and yell at the owners. Turns out AC won’t do that. Even if we told AC where the cat lived, without a chip they would take him. So I didn’t report Buster.
About 15 minutes ago, decided to take Buster back again. This time a woman came out and took the cat. Again blamed it on the owner being gone. When I asked her if she could keep him inside, she grudgingly said they would put him in the back yard but she seemed annoyed that I asked this. I sure hope the owner comes back soon!
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Considering what a busy street you live on, I’m amazed that Buster is still alive.
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That’s my biggest concern as well, especially since he’s not a young cat anymore and doesn’t move that fast! I really don’t want him hit by a car because he’s trying to get to our house.
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OT – Just read a therapist joke that cracked me up.
Therapist: What would you say to your dad if he were alive today?
Client: Sorry for cremating you. I honestly thought you were dead.
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LOVE IT!
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Oh DEAR!
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I had forgotten, but we’ve had both a squirrel and a chipmunk roaming around our house. I can’t say for certain how either of them got in but I think the squirrel fell down the chimney.
I was working in my office, which is in the basement, and the squirrel strolled by. He scarcely gave me a glance. I think he must have been there for days, making himself at home, snacking on cat food whenever he got peckish. Robin and I managed to corner him with a cardboard box, which allowed me to eject him into the yard. I don’t think of it as a rescue so much as a deportation.
The chipmunk, too, just appeared one day. I was able to sort of herd him into the living room, then prop the front door open and wait until he was convinced to go back outside.
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I’d like to add that my insect encounters are also deportations… not rescues.
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Best friend also encountered a great horned owl sitting on the ground beneath a power pole. One of its eyes was very dilated and she assumed it had a head injury. She put it in a tall box and drove it to a raptor center in the Cities. This was when she still lived in Luverne, so it was a pretty long drive. It hooted softly at her from the back seat. She never found out what happened to it
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Part of the townboard duties is dealing with stray dogs. I’ve picked up several over the years. Some I’ve kept, some I’ve taken to the pound, some I’ve found homes for. All were dumped and none were ever reclaimed.
Once I was busy planting corn in the spring when the sheriff deputies called me to come and get this stray dog that “doesn’t like men”. WELL, WHAT ARE YOU CALLING ME FOR??” I don’t remember details, but apparently it wasn’t that mean to me.
And once a call from a little old lady about a big mean dog outside her door. I was at the college and as I went to the office to tell them I had to leave for a bit, I grabbed a young student, Brian, and said, “C’mon. We’re going to go pick up a vicious dog.” Brian is one of my favorites; we’re still friends. He’s very low key in his reply. “Uh. No.” We still tease each other about that. Turns out the dog wasn’t vicious, just young and energetic. He was big though. And he just hopped in the back of my car.
Once I got a call about some sheep on a deck in a subdivision. They weren’t hurting anything, just pooping all over. But the wife, a city-girl, was freaking out. It was a several day long process of finding owners, trying to capture, and re-locating 6 sheep.
Rule one of stray pets at your place: DON’T FEED THEM.
VS, I’m not sure you’re encouraging it to stay… it just likes your place. You have a good soul and it knows.
Once, I came home and found a pony and a donkey in the yard. They were friendly enough I could get them back in the pole barn. Then spent several days trying to figure out where they came from.
And then while driving around, I passed a neighbor in their car. And I knew right then the animals belonged to them. While they live a couple miles away as the crow flies, it’s far enough by road that I never considered them. But out their pasture, across a field, and up the road of a subdivision and down our road and, just like that, we had a donkey and a pony. I waited for them to return and asked what they were looking for. We all laughed about it.
Over the weekend we rescued some more ducklings. I’ll write about them.
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No, no feeding. Because he isn’t acutally a stray – we know where he lives and don’t want to do anything that would encourage him to keep crossing the street!
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This is why I like to wait till late in the day sometimes. Others’ comments remind me of a couple:
– like CG, “on my way to the bus stop” when I was teaching just morning kdgn. in San Francisco and going to my afternoon job, I found an abandoned kitten. No one anywhere in sight… Scooped it up, took it on the streetcar and asked if anyone in the car wanted a kitten – it had a home by the time I got to my stop.
– I rescued a baby squirrel from Charlie the Cat when the mom squirrel, while trying move her babies from one nest to another, dropped the baby right near Charlie. Usually I tend to let nature take its course, but not this time – put Charlie inside till it was safe…
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Yes, rescued one of my young horses who was down against the barn wall and couldn’t get her legs under her to get up: took a lead line, wrapped it around her back leg that was under her and pulled her over to the other side where she could get her legs under her and up. Ironically, I had recently read an article about how to do that when you are alone. Also have rescued at least two goats who got their heads caught in a fence, also had to rescue goats from the gelding who thought he was a stallion when they got into his pasture. Rescued a standard poodle who was headed for the freeway on the exit road, then with help from a friend and a notice in a grocery store, found the owner’s son who was taking care of the dog several miles away. Well, and various “rescues” of chickens from dogs…some successfully, unfortunately some not. Life on the farm… Cynthia “Life is a shifting carpet…learn to dance.”
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So good to hear from you!
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My young Great Pyrenees rescued and “adopted” a wild little kitty last fall. All winter I found the kitten cuddled up next to him in the garage, in the horse barn hay stack. Then in the spring, the kitten disappeared then reappeared (and still does) but recently it/she has shown up in the barn with a kitten of her own. (Time to try to catch her and get her spayed…). My three other barn cats are aging, so it is good to have new ones.
Cynthia “Life is a shifting carpet…learn to dance.”
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Love this about the dog and the kitten.
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Good news update… Buster stayed home the rest of the day. Hopefully he won’t be on our front steps in the morning!
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Let us know…
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Lots of bird rescues. Pigeon. Chipping sparrow. Duck family unit.
Chipmunk. Flying squirrel. Multiple rabbits.
Most recently, my semi-tame squirrel who has been coming around for peanuts, showed up a few weeks ago with a nasty wound. I set out a pet carrier and kept throwing peanuts into it, thinking I’d take the squirrel to the wildlife rehab clinic if I could corral her. She would invariably skedaddle if I got close to her when she was in the carrier, though, so I gave up on that. I think she has healed sufficiently to declare her recovered now – the fur has grown back and she seems fine.
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