Thursday, May 03, 2007

An eventful day....

...but not for me. I have been busy lately, I have covered Gumball 3000 and Mayday among other things, in fact if anything I am very, very happy that Getty Images is now selling some of my work (as of yesterday), but today the story was one that touched me in a different level, it's a story about second chances.

Anyone who really knows me knows that I am an animal lover.

The story today starts in a bizarre and sad way but ends with a happier ending (but not for me, personally). This story concerns, Gizmo.

This little one here is Gizmo:


Ignoring the technicalities of the photo (as the focus on Giz's face is a little off as he decided to step forward to stare at me), Gizmo, as I decided to call him/her as he/she came home with me in my gear bag, is probably an orphan duckling.

I was shooting some bird shots in Hyde Park to kill some time while waiting for friends. As these friends of mine were taking their time and I had appointments at 4pm today, I decided to call it a day and head back. As I was heading back through Hyde Park, I went to my favourite courner to take some shots of small birds (robins and blue tits). To my surprise, I see some ducklings running around alone and looking very scared, inside this area which is actually sealed to the public (that corner is very far from water for ducklings to be and I didn't see a mother duck anywhere around, it felt strange). I ignored them as I thought maybe they got scared because they saw me. As I prepared to take a shot of a blue tit that was about to take off from a branch, I hear a lot of comotion coming from inside the fencing.As I look down I see three ducklings running out of the area scared and to my surprise, a rat holding one in its mouth! The rat was apparently hunting the ducklings! As these ducklings come out along with the rat, they all got surprised to find me out there, so the rat winged it like a bat out of hell with a duckling in its mouth, the other two went back into the fenced area and Gizmo here was just frozen on the floor at my feet. I picked up Gizmo and he was trembling, very likely in shock. I didn't really know what to do as I did not see any park guards, I did not know where to take it and then, very likely, if I took little Giz to the park guards, they would very likely would kill it as he is now motherless (previous experiences with RSPCA). Now Gizmo is a healthy little spark of energy, (he spent all of the day jumping inside the bag, jumping and running everywhere until he realized that I was ok, so he decided to sleep on my hands and chest); so why should he get a second chance? I decided to find a bird sanctuary. I don't know how Gizmo and siblings ended up in that situation and honestly I don't care. But, he/she deserves a second chance. After all, the rats are really an infestation which is partially the fault of all the construction works going on in the sewage lines, they are driving them out. I have never seen Hyde Park so full of rats before. All I wish is that his/her siblings are ok and I wish I could have saved them all, but they would be all bunched up together in my bag, there was only really comfortable space for one, even if I could have rescued them all.

So here I am now, with this duckling which now follows me, likes to jump on my head, sleep on my chest or hands and stares at me for long periods of time.

Tomorrow, I'm gonna phone a proper bird sanctuary, before I start having to go to work, go out, etc, with a duck following me everywhere. :D

So, any Bird Sanctuary workers/reps that may come across this, please contact me and give Gizmo a chance.



Until next time,



Luis

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