A Little Compassion

So I saved a life yesterday.  Granted it wasn’t a wounded soldier.  It wasn’t even a civilian, but it was a life nonetheless.

There is a burn barrel not far from our building where classified materials are destroyed and people can burn pieces of mail with addresses and such on it.  It is not for burning trash. However, that didn’t seem to stop someone from burning plastic and cans in it.  Such substances produce toxic fumes and carbon monoxide that are poisonous to people as well as animals. 

The owl was found unconscious on the ground in a room where the fumes had built up, the smoke from the smoldering barrel drifting into the area.  A member of our platoon familiar with raptors found it and thought it was dead, but it woke up and was very confused and uncoordinated.  He took it out into the air and was trying to get it recovered when I saw him.  The poor bird was wobbly and barely able to stand.  He tried to get it to fly and it sort of glided, then crashed falling off of an object he should have easily landed on. 

I watched for a few minutes to see if the bird would recover, and it wasn’t doing very well.  I thought it would be a shame if the owl died from exposure to toxic fumes because of someone’s negligence.  I asked him if he would like to try giving the owl oxygen.  I said it couldn’t hurt.  So we took the bird into the medic supply shed.  *I found a used bottle of oxygen with about half left in it. **I grabbed an oxygen mask and put the bird on “blow-by” oxygen at 15 liters. As it turns out a mask will fit over an owl’s face perfectly, almost as if it were made for it.

So there the owl sat, lying on its back, talons in the air, breathing oxygen from a non-rebreather for about ten minutes.  If it hadn’t of been for the sad reason for the treatment, it would have been humorous to see. The owl didn’t even seem to mind the mask. Eventually his breathing slowed and he perked up a bit. He sat up and started hopping about.  So we took him back outside and he flew off to an unused bunker.  The other guy tracked him down and said he was breathing a little hard, but he seemed ok.  As of the last time anyone saw the owl he was doing well, back to his normal routine and wouldn’t let anyone near him.

So there you have it.  A little story about the guys who saved an owl. 

*When we use a bottle we replace it regardless of how much is left since they last only around 15 minutes when full, so a half full bottle is out of service waiting to be turned in.
**No equipment that could still be used on soldiers was used.