Ask anyone who knows me and you will learn I am not exactly a fan of getting back to nature. I have never gone backpacking. Car camping or day hiking are activities I care to do once a year. Maybe. If I have to. I prefer to observe nature through the window of a moving vehicle (car, train, boat, whatever, I'm not picky). Nonetheless, I really like knowing that there are wild birds and animals out there doing their thing (however messy and disgusting that thing might be to witness).
Unfortunately, when wild animals come into contact with humans or human detritus, the animals usually come out worse for the encounter. It's a dangerous world out there for birds, seabirds in particular If they aren't being impaled by barbed wire or loose fishhooks, they are being hit by moving cars or entangled in fishing lines. Worst of all is when they get caught in an oil spill and find themselves soaked in deadly petrochemicals.
Which is why I'm really glad there are organizations like Pacific Wildlife Care. Their mission is to rescue and rehabilitate wildlife that is injured due to human interference. They are situated near a bird sanctuary (in an absolutely beautiful part of coastal California) and so they unfortunately have no shortage of patients.
I think of it like a little bit of karmic balance for the human race. It may take many man-hours and a hefty chunk of change to save one bird, but that bird wouldn't have been in distress if it hadn't been for human interference in the first place. Every endangered bird facing a life threatening injury that they save and return to the wild is just one more out there doing that messy, disgusting thing that they live to do.
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