Found in the middle of the road; hit by a car? Who knows?
The russet-colored Eastern Screech Owl found his way to the Wildlife Center of Virginia.
He had two broken bones in his forearm [and yes, birds have forearms, but I think we can agree they don’t look the same as ours.] They were the type of breaks, when handled by experts in wildlife rehabilitative surgery could fix by threading two sewing needle-like pins through the middle of the bones.
But first, x-rays were needed to be sure there were no additional breaks, and the breaks were amenable to surgery – not all fractures are. He ‘died’ on the x-ray table…
But – an injection of epinephrine restored his vital signs. X-rays revealed the breaks to be surgically treatable. So, monitored and anesthetized, he went to surgery, where he, once again, went into cardiopulmonary arrest.
Again, the epinephrine; again, his heart and lungs began to work.
He was, once again, alive!
Then in post-op, with the vet sitting close by, he arrested for the third time! His monitoring indicated cardiac electrical activity, but no heart muscle activity, no pumping of blood. This situation has analogues in human medicine; the small pacemaker which all hearts are born with, may trigger a contraction of the heart, but if no contraction occurs, it’s like turning the key on a dead motor.
The vet, exhausted by a long day of surgeries and diagnostics, shook her head sadly and called off all further efforts to restore life. Two shots of epinephrine were enough. The monitoring and breathing appliances were removed.
The vet sat vigil with him as he passed, for him to die was bad enough, to die alone…? No, her heart would have it no other way.
Just then, the little owl again came back to life with full vital signs!
Days into his post-op period, the little owl managed to pull out the rods inserted by the wildlife surgeon, and succeed in creating two additional breaks; total: four. Even had the vet been able to re-pin the forearm, the scarring from the breaks and the surgery would have forevermore denied him flight.
But, he was alive and lively, and honestly, quite full of himself. He was sent to Sabrina to be an education animal, taken to various civic clubs, church groups, scout organizations and the like, to live out the rest of his life with us. The little owl’s name is ‘Zombie’ – evidently because of his stubborn unwillingness to die.
But, there’s another side to this tale, a question, really, one which lends itself more to supposition than to solution:
The vet had finished a long arduous day, and given the fact that she deals with wildlife every day, there was nothing especially unique in this case. You intake an animal, you diagnose, you treat the very best you can, but sometimes animals die. It’s a sad story, but not an original one.
Question: Her shift being over, why did this vet stay at work to look after this little one? Certainly a loving heart, and a compassion for her patients must have motivated her. But I ask again: Why this case?
Those of us who try to heal, to alleviate suffering will sooner or later come to the realization that we participate only to a degree in its outcome. But it is now, has always been, and ever will be Heaven’s prerogative to say when. When life is done.
I feel Heaven summons a heart – sometimes it’s inaudible, but heard nevertheless – or maybe it’s a nudging we cannot feel that is offered us; offered not ordered. And I believe this vet heard the whisper to stay with this little one; to be witness to this miracle, to this series of miracles from his being found on the road to his three death experiences. I rather expect, seeing her devotion, the Creator buffed His nails in pride.
– Lucky Garvin
