Rescuing a chicken isn’t a simple job. When Justin Cannon encountered a stranded Frequent Murre on the shore, he was moved to take motion. The challenges had been many, however his perseverance paid off as he navigated the steps wanted to get the chicken to security.
Justin isn’t any stranger to the intersection of compassion and motion. Because the pastor of a church in San Leandro, CA, and the founding director of Holy Hikes, a nationwide ministry community, he has lengthy been impressed by the deep connections between nature, spirituality, and look after all dwelling issues.
This wasn’t his first rescue, having beforehand assisted in one other dramatic rescue of stray cockatiels on the UC Berkeley Botanical Backyard. Nonetheless, this second felt particularly important, because it in the end led him, alongside along with his Aunt Barbara Anderson and his husband Max, to start out volunteering with Worldwide Chicken Rescue simply this previous week.
After a devoted rescue effort, the murre was efficiently rehabilitated and launched on January 30. For Justin, this was an expertise so profound and shifting that he felt compelled to share it. Learn on to listen to about his rescue expertise that in the end led to a profitable, life-saving end result.
An Unusual Encounter With a Frequent Murre
Throughout our weekly Friday birding outing on January 3, this time at Elsie Roemer Chicken Sanctuary in Alameda, my Aunt Barbara and I had an encounter that may change the course of our total day.
Throughout this outing, we determined to go to Elsie Roemer as a result of I had heard there have been Snowy Plover sightings simply days earlier than. Whereas birding, we encountered a lady with a big digicam, and my aunt requested if she had seen the plovers. She had not, however proceeded to indicate us images of a Frequent Murre she had noticed. We had been shocked, as it isn’t a spot one would anticipate such a sighting. We determined to move in the direction of the seaside the place I might see an important huge congregation of gulls, cormorants, and shorebirds. All of a sudden, I noticed the mysterious lone Frequent Murre proper on the shore the place the waves break.
He was simply standing there on their own, passionately preening himself and shaking. We watched him do that for over half-hour. My aunt was involved. The gulls had been circling round him and getting uncomfortably shut, so I shooed them away. The murre stayed. By then I used to be most likely simply six to eight toes from him, which felt magical however regarding. Quickly after, a gull flew in and pecked him. He rushed into the water, appeared uneasy, and got here again to shore. At this level, I used to be satisfied by this report that one thing was certainly fallacious.
Looking for Knowledgeable Recommendation and a Rescue Plan
Whereas my aunt contacted rangers at Crab Cove Customer Heart, I reached out to native animal rescues to search out out what we must always do. I known as Worldwide Chicken Rescue and spoke with a volunteer named Coleman who was extremely useful. He suspected the chicken was oiled and certain hypothermic. He stated that if it’s not rescued, it might probably die or be killed off by the gulls that continued to loom close to.
He gave me numbers for native teams which may be capable to help, together with animal management. The objective was to rigorously retrieve the chicken with a towel (whereas sporting a masks and gloves for precaution), get him right into a field with towels, and convey him to Chicken Rescue earlier than they closed. I known as animal management and realized they weren’t on responsibility. In the meantime, my aunt was on her option to the closest shops, whereas I saved my eye on the chicken, defending him from gulls.
Inside 15 to twenty minutes, he was again to shore. This time I had the bigger towels my aunt had introduced, and figured I wanted to maneuver extra slowly. Once more, I labored my manner in the direction of him. I leaned over and performed with seaweed on the shore, pretending to be disinterested in him. As I moved nearer, he sensed my motion and bolted to the water once more.
The Dramatic Rescue
Shedding hope, I known as Crab Cove Customer Heart, spoke to Claire, and requested if they may have somebody include a web.
At this level, it’s virtually 3:00pm. We would have liked meals, water, and amenities. So we left, noting the place the murre was, to get some fast burrito bowls at a close-by restaurant. No ahead of we sat down with our meals, my telephone rang and I used to be advised {that a} naturalist and ranger had been on their manner with nets. We dashed out of the restaurant again to the shore. I ran in the direction of the ranger who had an enormous web, shouting for her consideration. We walked alongside the shore in the direction of the beached murre.
As we approached, the ranger, whose title is Kara, threw her web over the chicken with out hesitation. He managed to dart beneath the online and raced in the direction of the water. Considering rapidly, she pivoted quick, throwing the online over him once more…this time efficiently! My coronary heart leapt with pleasure!
We then positioned the murre right into a field, secured him within the again seat, and headed on our manner. I texted Chicken Rescue our ETA of 4:30pm. They replied, “Wow! Wonderful effort. Excellent news.”
As soon as we arrived, they instantly accepted the chicken. I realized he could be case #10 in care. We had our “lunch” at about 5:00pm within the car parking zone outdoors of the Chicken Rescue facility after which headed house.
Coming Collectively to Save One Extra Life
Simply three days previous to this occasion on New Years Eve, my Aunt Barbara, my husband Max Cannon, and I went to Level Reyes the place we explored Drake’s Seaside, Chimney Rock, and the Level Reyes Lighthouse. It was on a big rock outcropping beneath the lighthouse that we found an immense colony of 1000’s of Frequent Murres. At first I used to be startled by what regarded like tiny penguins, a typical manner folks describe how murres look. It was a magical day and an effective way to finish the 12 months!
After seeing so many of those birds my Aunt Barbara had discovered an article about Frequent Murres by the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service entitled “4 Million Murres Lacking.”
This text recounts: “In December 2024, the group revealed their findings within the journal, Science, revealing a devastating and catastrophic loss: roughly 4 million murres – half of Alaska’s inhabitants – had starved to loss of life through the marine heatwave. The die-off was 4 to eight occasions bigger than initially estimated, making it the most important single-species wildlife mortality occasion ever documented in trendy historical past.”
Given this devastation, I’m heartened that so many people might come collectively to make sure there’s yet one more murre who has graced the waters of the San Francisco Bay Space as soon as once more.
Thanks, Aunt Barbara, for being an unimaginable accomplice, the birders who introduced the towel, the crew at Chicken Rescue who coached us alongside the best way, Claire, Ranger Kara, the Naturalist at Crab Cove Customer Heart, and the sort lady with the digicam who advised us the murre was there. Thanks to everybody who was a part of this profitable saga, together with the parents at different rescues who spoke with me. And most of all, deepest gratitude to the murre who saved coming again to shore. I wish to assume that on some degree he knew we needed to assist.
