|
Click on one of the underscored titles below to go to that home page:
VETERINARY
> |
Film crew to aid birds Company to pay for care of pigeons hurt in blast
The Arizona Republic
It was your basic Hollywood movie scene: lights, ladders, nets . . . baby pigeons. Four days after filmmakers blasted scores of pigeons from their roosts at an abandoned West Valley racetrack, they were back on the set rescuing baby birds left behind in their nests. [None of the filmmakers rescued any of their victims. In fact, Wildlife Concepts and the Urban Wildlife Society rescued nearly all of the victims. The movie company, along with For the Birds Rehabilitation Foundation represented by an animal rights lawyer, and Ken White, head honcho of the Arizona Humane Society, actually obstructed the rescue of 100 or so more casualties. Those poor pigeons were left stranded in the frigid rafters -- severely burned birds who could not fly down and babies who's parents were so badly injured they could not get home to care for them. Terrified, desperate, lonely, and confused, they slowly, agonizingly, starved or froze to death -- or fell from high above, shattering bones on impact with the concrete bleachers, far below -- only to be savagely ripped apart by predators. Their devastating injuries carelessly and callously inflicted for the sake of nothing more than a few minutes of B-movie film. Adding death-dealing "insults" to those injuries were the hypocritical, so-called "humane", "bird rehabilitation", and "animal defense" organizations that sacrificed the remaining victims for their own greed and glory.] At least 140 pigeons were injured and perhaps as many as 50 were killed Thursday during the filming of No Code of Conduct by Toddler Pictures at the old Phoenix Trotting Park in Goodyear. [The body count was much higher -- many times higher adding up those killed outright by the blast, patients who died, and the helpless, abandoned victims.] Film crews spent Monday locating equipment to help rescue baby pigeons from the rafters in the park's grandstands. [The film crew's decision makers did nothing but reject the Urban Wildlife Society's exhaustive efforts to arrange for equipment. When the final rescue plan was ready to implement (to be paid for with borrowed money by the non-funded and impoverished Urban Wildlife Society), the movie company continued to stall until access to the property expired -- along with so many lives in the process.] Assisting in the rescue were officials from the Arizona Humane Society and the Urban Wildlife Society. [If the Arizona Humane Society's self-proclaimed involvement wasn't so absurd, it would be laughable. Actually, Wildlife Concepts received the anonymous call, referred it to The Urban Wildlife Society, and joined in the investigation and subsequent rescue of 140 of the 150 or so victims lucky enough to be readily accessible.] Dave Roth of the Urban Wildlife Society placed many phone calls from the scene to For the Birds, pleading for their help. Why the difficulty? Get this logic: Barb Houston of For the Birds said they couldn't respond until much later because they were having a class on how to better rehab birds! When a couple of them eventually did arrive, only a dozen or so victims hadn't yet been found on the ground. How many who succumbed to their injuries could have recovered had they received more treatment, sooner? And what did the Arizona Humane Society actually do? First of all, they routinely refer pigeon calls to the Urban Wildlife Society. When they arrived, uninvited, on the scene, there wasn't anything left for them to do -- except pander to the news media.] The production company also plans to pay for the feeding and medical care of the birds, said Michelle Marx, a spokeswoman for Toddler Pictures of Los Angeles. The action adventure movie stars Martin Sheen and Charlie Sheen. [According to a subsequent Arizona Republic report,
"They certainly had every intention of doing this right from the beginning," Marx said. "Now that they realize some mistakes have been made, they want to do whatever they can to rectify it." [The production company and Marx, their public relations (spin) representative, promised the Urban Wildlife Society everything, yet delivered little but cruel and fatal delay tactics.] Barb Houston of For the Birds Foundation Inc., a Valley agency that cares for injured and orphaned wild birds, was among several wildlife advocates called to the track Saturday on an anonymous tip. [Wildlife Concepts received the anonymous tip and referred it to the Urban Wildlife Society, who had to practically beg For the Birds for help.] They found more than 100 adult pigeons on the ground, feathers charred, their squeaking babies hundreds of feet above. They placed the birds in boxes and bags and headed back to Phoenix, then returned Sunday for a dozen more. [For the Birds "found" more than 100 patients who Wildlife Concepts and the Urban Wildlife Society had already rescued, triaged (evaluated), and placed in labeled and charted emergency carriers awaiting transport.] "Their condition goes from very, very bad, with burned beaks, burned feet, eyes seared shut, to some that are going to have to be held for anywhere from six to 12 months so they can molt and get new feathers," said Pat Welsh, who took five of the most badly injured pigeons into her home. Houston said she counted at least 50 dead birds on the ground Saturday, but they had been carted away by predators by Sunday, she surmised. But the rescuers also found the feathers of owls, which are protected species, at the site. The Arizona Humane Society retrieved the bodies of two birds that were burned beyond recognition, but are not believed to be pigeons. The society is planning to have the carcasses analyzed. [The Urban Wildlife Society and Wildlife Concepts are still awaiting the results of the promised analyses.] Before and after the blast, Scott Paulsen of the state Game and Fish Department inspected the site for protected species, but found none, said Pat O'Brien, a department administrator. [Paulsen and the Game & Fish Department have repeatedly demonstrated their blatant disregard for Rock Doves and other species not "protected" by state game or federal laws. He/they played a key role in this holocaust.] *** |
