The Will To Live

We went to meet my friend Oliver at Heathrow this morning. We were very early so the driver took us to the McDonald’s where all the drivers stop for a break. Hmmm, Big Mac and fries – yum yum.  As Mummy and the driver were about to eat their lunch sitting at one of the outside tables, another driver came running up to our table. He was in a hurry, and in his hand was a dying bird.  He had found it on the ground, too hot, too dehydrated and gasping for breath. He was trying to make the bird drink from a cup, pleading with it to drink, and pleaded with us to take care of the bird as he had to leave and pick up his client at the airport.

We put the bird on a bench in the shade and made a bowl of water out of the burger box. We angled it’s head over the box and encouraged it to drink. And he did – as he gasped for air. He was dipping it’s beak and took breaths. We could see bubbles each time she breathed – or that’s what someone told us. He wanted to live.

We sprinkled water on it’s feathers to help it cool down. Our driver and I sat by the birdie while Mummy went in to get some more water.

We then made the birdie another container from a cup where the water does not leak through.  Because we couldn’t stay around much longer, we wanted to be sure it will have water to drink.We wanted to leave it on the cool grass under the bushes but were afraid that some cat or fox would get it. And as the sun rose, we could no longer leave it on the cool bench. It was a dilemma. In the end, we carried the bird and set it by the side of the building under the shade with some fresh water.  Do we have to leave the birdie, Mummy?Unfortunately we had to go. But by the time we left, it seemed more alert and twitched some as it drank more robustly.

While sat waiting for Oliver to come out of the terminal, both of us thought about the little birdie. We forgot to tell someone at McDonald’s to maybe look after it.

We hope he got well enough to fly off.May’s comment: The weather is unusually hot for London and some animals are suffering from it. This poor little bird was gasping for its life.

But what touched us was the driver who found the dying bird by his car as he got ready to leave the parking lot at McDonald’s. He picked it up, ran into McDonald’s to get it some water but as he had to leave for his job, he ran over to us and pleaded that we took care of it. He tried to make the bird drink. He so desperately wanted it to live.  That was all we could do too as we too had to leave.

Kept thinking about the bird. 🙁

Our driver said – it’s nature. Yes, but we were early for a flight arrival so we ended up at McDonald’s and there appeared before us a dying bird. That’s fate. We were obviously meant to be there to help. We don’t know if it survived but it gave us a glimpse into the struggles of nature.

We just hope she’s well enough to take care of herself.