What a mess....

There was nobody there that cared about the birds themselves. They pulled up in an open half ton truck and the crowd pushed to look into the crates. These birds had already taken one flight and overnighted in Winnipeg, took another flight, were loaded into the truck and then passed around for about 15 minutes until they finally let them go. I felt like I was at a zoo and I hate zoos.

This was supposed to be a release back to the wild and it turned into the Boy Scout Leader and Harry Potter's bird. No regard was taken for the welfare of the birds, there was no Conservation Officers in attendance and the only people that seemed bothered were the birders in the crowd. There were people standing in the sightline of the birds so they wouldn't take off, flash cameras going off through the slates of the crates, what a mess but the birds are now free and didn't look any worse for wear, I probably took it harder than they did.

It begs the question, where do we think we get the right? It's like my hatred of zoos, we put them in an unnatural environment and then want them to act naturally. I don't even know where we think we get the right to even see a wild creature. When I am out birding I try to remember that the bird is allowing me to see it, it is not my right to see it at all. Anytime that a wild thing gives me the pleasure of spending time with it no matter how fleeting I try to thank it for allowing me.