評論
打印
If you think I'm trying to sound discouraging, I am. The adoption of a baby bird will probably result in failure. You might even cause a death that would not have occurred had you left the baby bird where it was. Your intentions might be good; the ethical impulse that motivates your actions might be of the best kind. But you should know that even experienced veterinarians have a low success rate in caring for wild animals.
如果你認為我是在潑冷水，那么你盡可以這樣認為。收養幼鳥很可能以失敗告終。你甚至可能導致幼鳥死亡，但如果你最初讓幼鳥就待在原地的話，說不定它不會死去。你的初衷可能是好的，動機可能非常符合道德標準。但你應該知道，即使一個經驗豐富的獸醫來養護野生動物，成功率也是很低的。
Perhaps the most important thing a child or adult can learn from an encounter with a baby bird is the difference between wild animals and domestic pets. Whereas puppies and kittens warm to human attention and become very much a part of the family, a wild bird never will. Attempting to make a pet out of a wild animal is a serious disservice to that animal—so serious, in fact, that there are laws against it. Life in the wild does not consist of friendly humans, readily available meals, and a protected environment. Wild animals must remain wild to survive.
或許，成人和兒童從與幼鳥打交道的經歷中所能學到的最重要的一點就是野生動物與家養寵物的區別。家養的寵物狗和寵物貓喜歡人類的照料，會成為家庭的一部分，而野生鳥類則永遠也不會。試圖把一只野生動物馴養成寵物是對那只動物極大的傷害——而且非常嚴重，因此，事實上，法律禁止這樣做。在野外生存，不會遇到友善的人類，沒有準備妥當的食物和給予保護的環境，野生動物必須保持野性才能生存。
