Don gave an excellent snapshot summary of the ethical and practical pitfalls of
bird rehab (which apply to any wildlife rehab). After subscribing to the
WLREHAB mailing list for about a year now, I find myself more often keeping
quiet as others thrash around about euthanasia vs. long-term captivity, problems
with "pettism", etc. I can only speak for myself when I say, I volunteer in this
field because I crave it. Not because it's logical, sane or planet-saving. Some
of the other volunteers have told me they also find the birds so attractive that
they want to handle them and be near them. So we're a little weird.

A fellow non-rehabbing birder here has dropped several hints, about wouldn't it
be nice if people could just send all the money (spent feeding, housing and
transporting damaged birds) to the homeless shelter or Catholic Charities. Hmm -
I truly believed the money is not being diverted from human charities. Most of
us Bird TLC volunteers give to human charities also, hoping it will help solve
social problems, but when we want some psychic income back for ourselves, we go
clean eagle cages!

Chris Maack
Bird Treatment & Learning Center
Anchorage, AK
73201.3124 at compuserve.com