Christmas was for the birds

I've been really busy and haven't had much time to write anything down. But I wanted to tell a story of two birds: the one I tried to save on Christmas, and the one I ate that same day.

First...I was walking to my flat in the middle of the afternoon, when I saw a crowd of people gathering in front of a driveway, snapping photos. What were they looking at? A bird. There was an injured hawk sitting in the driveway with a possibly broken leg. Everyone wanted a photo op with the bird and expressed sympathy for it, but as far as I could tell, nothing else had happened. So I called 411, got the T-Mobile operator, and asked for some kind of animal rescue phone number.

She patched me through to Animal Care and Control. Don't confuse them with the SPCA, who rescues, rehabilitates, and finds new homes for animals. However, the SPCA does not deal with hawks. Anyway, first the Animal Control person told me to pick up the hawk and put it in a box and bring it to her. But, as one of the bystanders said to me afterwards, "Isn't that their job? To pick up animals? How many city dwellers know how to pick up a hawk, anyway?"

Finally I got them to come out and get the bird, who had now figured out how to fly across the street, just to complicate things. It was hiding in a bush near a real-estate office. I hate it when hawks do that.

I waited till the Animal Care van arrived....the crowd of photo-takers left, expressing their regrets as they sped off to more important engagements, cell phones in hand. Eventually the woman arrived in the Animal Care van, and though she picked up the bird very gently and cradled it to her, she told me that the bird's leg was badly broken and that it was unlikely they could rehabilitate it. Which meant that I was sending it to its demise, which was not my intention. Perhaps it's better than dying an agonizing death from a voracious dog nipping at it or kids tormenting it or whatever....but I did think they'd make some effort to help it. Do they ever save an animal? Or should they be renamed "Animal Euthanasia and Control"?

Now, here comes the contradiction: I went to a Christmas dinner with some friends who invited me to share a dinner of goose with them. And I must say the goose was quite good....it tasted like chicken, only the meat was darker. It was delicious and as far as I'm concerned, if you're going to eat a big bird: skip the turkey, and go for the goose.

Yes, I know....it makes no sense. I spent my afternoon trying to save a bird, and then I ate one. But that's the paradox of the 21st century. We live in a world where people drive Hummers to the organic food shop. I am no better, I guess.